February 16, 2018
CapitalPress.com
9
Business brisk at Colusa Farm Show
By TIM HEARDEN
For the Capital Press
Tim Hearden/For the Capital Press
Bret Adney of Valley Ag Resources in Visalia, Ca-
lif., shows a pump system that monitors the acidity
level in irrigation water at the Colusa Farm Show in
Colusa, Calif., on Feb. 6.
COLUSA, Calif. — The
booming economy has found its
way into agriculture equipment
sales, as vendors at the Colusa
Farm Show say their business has
been brisk in recent weeks.
Bret Adney, whose family’s
Visalia, Calif.-based Valley Ag
Resources was displaying pump
systems at the show, credits the
recently enacted $1.5 trillion tax
cut for making farm equipment
immediately deductible.
“This was the best January we
ever had,” Adney said. “Every-
thing’s good.”
Likewise, the Chico, Ca-
lif.-based Thomas Manufactur-
ing is expecting 2018 to be a
good sales year for its tree nut
harvesters and other equipment
as the economy picks up global-
ly, company representative John
Ray said.
“The phone calls are definite-
ly starting to come in,” he said.
“If you look at the whole picture
of exports, it’s a good driver for
us.”
That sense of optimism per-
meated the grounds at the 53rd
annual gathering, where hundreds
of vendors of agricultural goods
large and small set up displays at
the self-proclaimed “granddaddy
of farm shows” Feb. 6-8 at the
fairgrounds in Colusa.
The show included seminars
on new water management reg-
ulations, tree nut cultivation and
other topics as well as the annual
Ag Leadership Breakfast spon-
sored by California State Univer-
sity-Chico’s College of Agricul-
ture and its supporters.
Washington wines still well positioned in market
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
KENNEWICK, Wash. —
Washington wines are well
positioned in the premium
market but growth of that
market is slowing, competi-
tion is increasing and mar-
gins are squeezed at all lev-
els, a partner in the world’s
largest wine brokerage firm
says.
With a recent consolida-
tion, three distributors now
control 61 percent of the U.S.
wine market and 10 grocery
chains control more than 50
percent of sales, making it
tougher for wineries to get
into the marketplace, Glenn
Proctor, a partner in Ciatti
Co., San Rafael, Calif., told
attendees at the Washington
Winegrowers Association
annual meeting in Kenne-
wick on Feb. 7.
“Wineries will continue to
get bigger to be competitive
and hold margin. Imports
will continue to grow from
the bulk side and premium.
There is a margin squeeze at
all levels as labor and land
values go up,” Proctor said.
Large supermarkets are
labeling wines, which erodes
brands, he said.
But Michael Veseth, edi-
tor of The Wine Economist,
Tacoma, said a slower pace
of premium wine growth
is good because it was too
fast to be sustained. A slow-
er pace makes a new market
plateau more likely than a
collapse, he said.
There’s a proliferation of
new premium wines as con-
sumers are willing to pay
more for new wines in their
quest for authenticity, Veseth
said.
Washington is well posi-
tioned for success with land
and brands like Red Moun-
tain for growth in the premi-
um market, above $9 per bot-
tle, while the market below
$9 shrinks, he said.
Proctor said France, It-
aly, Germany, the U.S. and
China account for 49 percent
of wine consumption. Con-
sumption is flat in the three
European nations while it’s
growing in the U.S. and Chi-
na. Worldwide consumption
has been flat after declining
from a 2007 peak, he said.
Because of that, vineyard
planting is down 6 percent
in Spain from 2010 to 2015,
down 2 percent in France and
down 8 percent in Italy. Those
three nations produce more
than half the world’s wine.
The U.S., which produces 12
percent of the world’s wine,
increased plantings 4 percent
in that same period, and Chi-
na increased plantings by 42
percent, Proctor said.
A light world wine grape
crop of 30.6 million tons in
2017 tightened prices but the
2018 crop should return to 34
million tons, allowing prices
to come back down, he said.
Wade Wolfe, winemaker
and co-owner of Thurston
Wolfe Winery, Prosser, gave
his annual review of the past
vineyard season. He said
Washington’s 2017 crop was
243,000 tons, down from the
record 270,000 tons in 2016.
Mildew, freeze damage
and smoke taint contributed
to the smaller crop, but per-
haps the biggest factor was
the alternate bearing cycle,
he said.
Tom Collins, assistant
professor at the Washington
State University Wine Sci-
ence Center, Richland, told
of his wildfire smoke taint
research that began in 2016
using a commercial smoker
in a vineyard and studies of
wine compromised by wild-
fire smoke in the 2015 crop.
Australian
researchers
identified four smoke com-
pounds that can render wine
with smoky, ashy aromas and
Society for Range Management
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Wade Wolfe, a Prosser, Wash., winemaker, left, and Glenn Proctor, of the Ciatti Company in San Rafael,
Calif., visit after their speeches at the Washington Winegrowers’ conference in Kennewick on Feb. 7.
flavors that can leave long,
harsh after tastes, Collins
said.
“Looking at affected
wines of the 2015 vintage,
we saw a whole range of
compounds and complicated
mixtures,” he said.
He is seeking to under-
stand the chemistry and
mitigate exposure and said
smoke taint can worsen in
storage.
WSU President Kirk
Schulz talked about WSU’s
strong commitment to the
industry and how the WSU
Wine Science Center is a key
part of making WSU world-
class in research.
John Aguirre, executive
director of Winegrape Grow-
ers of America and the Cal-
ifornia Association of Wine-
grape Growers, Sacramento,
talked about federal-level
policy and politics.
He said the H-2C foreign
Tony Svejcar, left, of Burns, Ore., received the 2018 Sustained
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Range Manage-
ment. The award was presented by SRM President Larry Howery
at the group’s 71st annual meeting, technical training and trade
show in Sparks, Nev.
E. Oregon scientist receives
range management award
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Dan Wheat/Capital Press File
Pinot noir grapes await harvest. Washington state’s 2017 wine grape
crop was 243,000 tons, down from a record 270,000 tons in 2016.
guestworker bill sponsored
by U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte,
R-Va., gets little enthusiasm
from agriculture not only for
capping the re-entry of ille-
gal immigants who leave the
country to come back under
the program but also because
it requires them to purchase
health insurance, which
would fall to employers.
The associations contin-
ue to fight for the exclusion
of wine grapes under the
Produce Safety Rule of the
Food Safety Modernization
Act. Wine grapes should
be exempt because they are
not consumed on the fresh
market and the rule imposes
irrigation water testing, em-
ployee training, education
and record keeping — all at
a cost, he said.
For nearly 30 years, Tony
Svejcar served as research
leader for the USDA Agricul-
tural Research Service at the
Eastern Oregon Agricultural
Research Center in Burns,
Ore.
The Society for Range
Management recently hon-
ored Svejcar and his work
at the organization’s 71st
annual meeting, technical
training and trade show in
Sparks, Nev., where he was
presented with the 2018 Sus-
tained Lifetime Achievement
Award.
Svejcar is nationally and
internationally recognized for
his contributions in rangeland
science and management. He
initiated the carbon dioxide
Flux Network through the
ARS to identify the influence
of U.S. rangelands on global
carbon, and pioneered use of
the stable isotope 13C for car-
bon cycling research.
Svejcar and his colleagues
have also tested and refined
an array of techniques for re-
ducing or managing popula-
tions of western juniper, and
made lasting contributions to
understanding seedling ecol-
ogy of native plant species in
sagebrush steppe habitat. His
research has generated more
than 200 publications.
Though he retired from the
ARS in 2016, Svejcar con-
tinues to work as a professor
and senior researcher for Or-
egon State University at the
research center.
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