April 6, 2018
CapitalPress.com
3
USDA orders volume controls on cranberries Ruling overturns limit
on replacing Oregon
farm dwellings
Unsold fruit
spurs order
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Cranberry handlers were
ordered by the USDA on
Wednesday to withhold from
U.S. consumers 15 percent of
the 2017 crop to raise prices
that farmers receive.
The reduction applies to
cranberries grown by approx-
imately 1,100 farmers in 10
states, including Oregon and
Washington. Growers and
handlers petitioned the USDA
for volume controls to chip
away at a huge surplus.
The USDA projects the or-
Don Jenkins/Capital Press File
der will divert as many as 110
million pounds of cranberries Workers harvest Ocean Spray cranberries on the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington. The USDA
to charities, animal feed or has ordered handlers to withhold 15 percent of the 2017 crop in a bid to increase producer prices.
foreign markets.
Consumers are unlikely
to see higher prices, but the been flat for several years, would have left a surplus of year’s harvest. The order also
reduction likely will help while production has been on 90 percent and not lifted pric- exempts handlers who take in
farmers, according to the an upward trend, especially in es, according to the USDA. fewer than 125,000 barrels, or
USDA. The agency didn’t Wisconsin. The industry has The market committee is also 12.5 million pounds. The ex-
seeking a volume reduction of emption applies to 88 percent
forecast a specific bump in not self-corrected.
The Cranberry Marketing 25 percent for the 2018 crop. of the handlers, but only cov-
grower returns. Even with
volume controls, the supply Committee, which includes The USDA has yet to rule on ers 10 percent of the volume,
according to the USDA.
of cranberries will exceed growers and handlers, pro- that request.
Handlers can meet up to
The cranberry surplus has
demand. The USDA proj- jected last summer the surplus
ects carryover inventory will would reach 115 percent of not stimulated consumer de- 50 percent of their obligation
mand, but it has hit farmers. by disposing of juice concen-
equal 83 percent of annual annual sales without action.
sales.
The USDA’s order follows Growers earned an average trate, rather than whole fruit.
“We’re going to go through the 15 percent cut recom- of 30 cents a pound in 2011 Juice concentrate is a byprod-
some tough times in the next mended last summer by the and 10 cents a pound in 2016. uct of dehydrated cranberries
few years,” said Washington committee. The committee The industry puts the average and makes up a large share
cranberry farmer Malcolm later changed its recommen- cost of production at 35 cents of the surplus, though not as
dation to 5 percent because a pound, according to the much as frozen berries, ac-
McPhail.
cording to the USDA.
An Ocean Spray spokes- the 2017 harvest was smaller USDA.
The order doesn’t apply to
woman said in an email that than forecast. Ocean Spray
Organic cranberries, a
the farmers’ cooperative be- supported the lower figure, small part of the market, are cranberries coming into the
lieves volume reduction will but USDA stuck with the exempt from the order, as are U.S. from Canada and Chile,
be good for the industry.
higher percentage.
handlers who dispose of all two countries with growing
Consumer demand has
A 5 percent reduction of their 2017 fruit before this production volumes.
Controversial Eastern Oregon dairy
may soon be selling its entire herd
By GEORGE PLAVEN
This Nov. 27, 2016, photo shows
an aerial view of Lost Valley
Ranch under construction.
Capital Press
The owner of Lost Val-
ley Farm, a controversial
Eastern Oregon dairy that
has drawn the ire of environ-
mental groups and run afoul
of state regulators, may soon
be forced to sell off its entire
herd.
Greg te Velde, of Tipton,
Calif., began operating the
dairy near Boardman, Ore.,
in 2017, which was permitted
for up to 30,000 cows — mak-
ing it the second-largest dairy
in the state, behind neighbor-
ing Threemile Canyon Farms.
But according to docu-
ments filed in Morrow Coun-
ty Circuit Court, te Velde is
in significant financial straits,
owing more than $150 million
in debt — more than $60 mil-
lion to Rabobank, a multina-
tional agricultural lender.
Rabobank made three
commercial loans and issued
three lines of credit for Lost
Valley and two other dairies te
Velde owns in California. The
loans were secured in part by
Lost Valley’s dairy herd, other
livestock, silage and equip-
ment.
The bank claims te Velde
has since defaulted on two of
the loans, and foreclosure pro-
ceedings are underway in Cal-
ifornia. Toppenish Livestock
Commission, of Toppenish,
Wash., has been secured to
auction the Lost Valley herd,
which includes 10,500 milk-
ing and dry cows, along with
4,000 replacement heifers.
John Top, owner of Toppe-
nish Livestock, said they will
begin preparing next week for
the auction, which is sched-
uled for April 27. However,
according to a motion filed in
Morrow County by Rabobank
seeking a preliminary injunc-
tion, te Velde has not given
the auctioneer permission to
enter the dairy and take the
herd.
Te Velde declined to com-
Courtesy Paloma Ayala,
with aerial support from LightHawk.
ment when contacted last
week. An attorney for Rabo-
bank also declined comment.
In a declaration filed in
state superior court Feb.
15 in Fresno, Calif., Nico-
la Merrifield-Olivia, senior
vice president and manager
of commercial special assets
for Rabobank, wrote that the
bank had attempted to work
with te Velde for more than a
year to restructure his debts.
Yet despite these efforts, te
Velde failed to put together a
realistic plan.
“Two of the three loans
extended to te Velde by Ra-
bobank have matured, and te
Velde’s precarious financial
condition is beginning to en-
danger the well-being of the
three herds,” Merrifield-Oliv-
ia wrote.
Lost Valley is on a portion
of the former Boardman Tree
Farm. It has been a lightning
rod for controversy since
before it was permitted as a
confined animal feeding oper-
ation, or CAFO.
More than 4,200 public
comments opposed the oper-
ation, urging the Oregon De-
partment of Agriculture and
Department of Environmental
Quality to deny a key waste-
water permit for roughly 187
million gallons of liquid ma-
nure.
Opponents railed against
the potential for air and water
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By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Dwellings can be rebuilt
on Oregon farmland regard-
less of when the original
structures were destroyed or
removed, according to the
Oregon Court of Appeals.
The ruling overturns an
earlier interpretation of state
law by Oregon’s Land Use
Board of Appeals, which
held that dwellings can only
be rebuilt if they were sub-
ject to property taxes within
the past five years.
Landwatch Lane Coun-
ty, a farmland preservation
group, argues that the Or-
egon Court of Appeals has
misconstrued the pertinent
land use statute, creating an
“end run” around the state
planning goal of preserving
farmland.
“I would call it devastat-
ing for Oregon farmland,”
said Lauri Segel-Vaccher,
the group’s legal analyst.
Long-lost homes could
be rebuilt on farmland re-
gardless of soil quality and
with uncertain proof they
existed in the first place, she
said.
Counties are often “lack-
adaisical” in protecting farm
and forest land, so they may
require only scant evidence
of a dwelling’s location, Se-
gel-Vaccher said.
“Anybody could come
up with a photograph or a
diary entry from the 1800s,”
she said.
Landwatch Lane County
hasn’t yet decided whether
to challenge the decision
before the Oregon Supreme
Court, Segel-Vaccher said.
Oregonians In Action, a
property rights group, be-
lieves state lawmakers were
“fully informed” of the ef-
fect their revisions would
have on the applicable land
use statute in 2013.
“The whole purpose of
the bill was to allow proper-
ty owners to replace dwell-
ings that had been removed,
in some cases decades ear-
lier,” said Dave Hunnicutt,
the group’s executive direc-
tor.
The notion that a signif-
icant number of homes will
be built as a result is “silly”
because landowners must
still demonstrate the exis-
tence of a dwelling, he said.
“Most rural land is on
parcels that have never had
farm dwellings,” said Hun-
nicutt.
The legal dispute over re-
placement farmland dwell-
ings stems from the case
of landowner who sought
to rebuild three houses on
100 acres of farmland near
Florence, Ore., that were
torn down more than two
decades ago.
Lane County officials
permitted the construction
based on a 2013 bill that
eased the replacement pro-
cess for dilapidated or de-
molished farm dwellings.
However, the coun-
ty’s decision was reversed
last year by the Land Use
Board of Appeals, which
found the dwelling replace-
ment provision is “some-
what ambiguous” but only
applies to a five-year “look
back” period during which
property taxes were im-
posed.
The Court of Appeals
disagreed with that under-
standing, ruling that it’s
“logical to conclude that the
legislature intended to ex-
cuse demolished dwellings
from the taxation require-
ment altogether.”
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14-3/100
Weekly fieldwork report
Item/description (Source: USDA, NASS; NOAA)
• Days suitable for fieldwork (As of April 1)
• Topsoil moisture, surplus
• Topsoil moisture, percent short
• Subsoil moisture, surplus
• Subsoil moisture, percent short
• Precipitation probability
(6-10 day outlook as of April. 3)
14-2/108
GREENWAY SEEDS
contamination, though ODA
and DEQ did award the per-
mit based on what the agen-
cies described as the most
protective permit conditions
for a CAFO to date.
Within the first year of op-
eration, Lost Valley failed
numerous inspections and
was cited four times for per-
mit violations. ODA sued to
shut down the dairy, though
ultimately the sides reached
a settlement, with Lost Val-
ley agreeing to limit its
wastewater to 65,000 gallons
a day and ensuring manure
lagoons had enough capacity
to handle water from storms.
It also agreed to weekly in-
spections.
According to court doc-
uments, te Velde was in dis-
cussions to sell the dairy, but
those negotiations fell through
as of March 15. A motions
hearing is scheduled in Mor-
row County for April 12.
Previous legal
interpretation
required taxation
within five years
Ore.
Wash.
Idaho
Calif.
4.9
15%
28%
11%
33%
5.5
7%
17%
5%
16%
3.7
24%
3%
15%
7%
7
40%
5%
40%
5%
40-70% above
50-70% above
40-50% above
33-70% above/
Normal (South)