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May 11, 2018
CapitalPress.com
5
Stripe rust found in Eastern Washington
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Dairy cows graze on the Olym-
pic Peninsula of Washington.
Washington
dairies told
to turn over
records
By DON JENKINS
Stripe rust has been
found in an experimental
field in the Palouse region,
a USDA expert says, but
other occurrences remain
relatively rare across East-
ern Washington.
“So far, so good,” said
Xianming Chen, a research
geneticist in Pullman, Wash.
Chen traveled more than
300 miles May 7 across
Adams, Lincoln, Douglas,
Grant and Whitman coun-
ties looking for stripe rust.
The experimental field
is used for stripe rust test-
ing using a highly suscepti-
ble check variety, Chen said.
Even varieties considered
susceptible in commercial
fields have more resistance
Xianming Chen/USDA ARS
Stripe rust found May 7 in an experimental field in the Palouse
region of Washington state.
than the check variety, he
said.
For example, last year
the check variety had a 75
percent yield loss, while
Xerpha, a soft white winter
wheat variety considered
moderately susceptible to
susceptible in commercial
fields, had a 45 percent yield
loss.
The rust infection oc-
curred before the winter,
Chen said. The rust in the
plant tissue is beginning to
show up and produce new
spores that will continue to
infect plants, he said.
In one Lincoln County
field, stripe rust reached a
level of 5 percent incidence,
with small hotspots on low
leaves. Lincoln and Ad-
ams counties are planted in
mid-August to late Septem-
ber.
Whitman County is gener-
ally planted in mid-Septem-
ber to October, so its crops
had less time to be infected
before winter, Chen said.
Farmers raising varieties
that are susceptible or mod-
erately susceptible that have
not been sprayed should
check their fields, he said.
One fungicide application
may take care of the whole
season, he said.
Farmers who have already
sprayed their fields should
check again three to five
weeks afterward to see if the
rust has started to develop
again. If it develops again,
they need to spray, Chen said.
Resistant varieties gener-
ally won’t need to be sprayed,
but it’s always better to check
the field in case a cultivar
becomes susceptible, Chen
said, adding that is unlikely.
Many fields have already
been sprayed, Chen said.
“That’s why the rust is
quite hard to find in most of
the fields we checked,” he
said.
Weather will continue to
be favorable for stripe rust in-
fections through mid- to late
June, he said.
“Many of the fields still
have about one month to
worry about stripe rust,” he
said.
Capital Press
Dairy critics won a legal
skirmish this week by obtain-
ing records that the Washing-
ton State Dairy Federation
said will expose its members
to more lawsuits and political
attacks.
The Pollution Control
Hearings Board on Monday
ordered the federation to turn
over the documents to Puget
Soundkeeper Alliance attor-
neys Andrea Rodgers and
Charlie Tebbutt by May 11.
The alliance argued that it
needed to see what the records
said to prepare for an appeal
of Department of Ecology
dairy regulations. The alli-
ance and federation are both
challenging Ecology’s rules,
with far different outcomes in
mind. Both will present their
cases to the board during a
five-day hearing set to begin
May 21 in Tumwater.
Ecology last year began
issuing permits to dairies
with more than 200 cows.
The permits for concentrated
animal feeding operations, or
CAFOs, set the terms for stor-
ing and spreading manure.
There are more than 200 dair-
ies that meet the threshold.
So far, 23 producers have ob-
tained permits, according to
an Ecology spokeswoman.
Leading up to this month’s
hearing, the dairy federation
has provided Puget Sound-
keeper with its records related
to the permit. Puget Sound-
keeper complained it received
roughly 70 redacted docu-
ments without an explanation.
The federation said it
only blacked out information
that was irrelevant to the ap-
peal, but reveals the industry
group’s plans and goals.
The federation, in written
arguments, said it was con-
cerned that Puget Soundkeep-
er and its attorneys would use
the information to undermine
the federation’s efforts to pro-
tect dairies from environmen-
tal groups.
In a statement to the court,
the federation’s executive di-
rector, Dan Wood, noted that
Puget Soundkeeper’s attor-
neys have been involved in
lawsuits against dairies.
Puget Soundkeeper was
a partner in the What’s Up-
stream lobbying and media
campaign that accused farm-
ers of being unregulated and
careless polluters.
In a written ruling, Ad-
ministrative Appeals Judge
Heather Francks acknowl-
edged the federation’s con-
cerns, but said redacting doc-
uments were the exception,
not the rule, and that revealing
information outside the scope
of the appeal should not harm
the federation.
The dairy federation ar-
gues that the state Department
of Agriculture already enforc-
es manure-handling practices
that prevent water pollution.
Ecology’s rules are a needless
financial burden, according to
the federation.
Environmental groups, led
by Puget Soundkeeper, claim
the new rules are too lax to
prevent harmful amounts of
manure from seeping into
groundwater.
The Washington Farm Bu-
reau has joined the dairy fed-
eration in its appeal.
Joining Puget Soundkeep-
er are the Sierra Club, Friends
of Toppenish Creek, Water-
keeper Alliance, Center for
Food Safety, Re Sources for
Sustainable Communities and
Community Association for
Restoration for the Environ-
ment.
California egg initiative stirs opposition — from animal rights groups
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Animal welfare groups,
led by the Humane Society
of the United States, say they
have gathered enough signa-
tures to place a new initiative
banning cages for egg-laying
hens before California voters
in November.
However, the measure is
opposed by several other an-
imal welfare groups — the
Humane Farming Associa-
tion, People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals and
Friends of Animals. They
have formed a coalition called
Californians Against Cruelty,
Cages and Fraud to fight the
initiative.
The initiative, called the
Prevention of Cruelty to Farm
Animals Act, would require
all egg-laying hens to be cage-
free by 2022. It also would
ban the confinement of hogs
used for breeding and calves
raised for veal.
“Passage will produce dra-
matically better outcomes for
millions of animals, establish-
ing a bright-line legal stan-
dard that cage confinement
is forbidden,” Kitty Block,
HSUS acting president and
Capital Press File
A new measure to ban cages for egg-laying hens and confinement of other farm animals may make
the California general election ballot. Some other animal rights groups oppose it.
CEO, wrote in her April 25
blog. It will be the strongest
law against animal confine-
ment in the world, she wrote.
Polling shows 72 percent
of voters support the measure,
the HSUS California director
said.
But the Humane Farming
Association in San Rafael,
Calif., argues that it will end
up only extending the confine-
ment of hens, as Proposition 2
did when it was passed by vot-
ers in 2008.
“HSUS is once again de-
ceiving voters, flip-flopping
on the issue of cages and
perpetuating the suffering of
millions of egg-laying hens
throughout California,” said
Bradley Miller, HFA national
director.
Prop 2 required egg-laying
hens be given enough space
to “fully spread both wings
without touching the side of
an enclosure or other egg-lay-
ing hens.”
That measure was pro-
moted as eliminating cages
by 2015 but failed to do that
because it wasn’t explicit, ac-
cording to HFA. The ambigui-
ty also led to lawsuits.
The new initiative requires
a minimum of 144 square
inches, a square foot, per hen
by 2020 and a cage-free envi-
ronment two years later. But it
follows the guidelines United
Egg Producers, an industry
group, for cage-free, allow-
ing an average of one square
foot per hen in chicken hous-
es while outside cages, HFA
states.
UEP is neutral on the ini-
tiative, but it is opposed by
the Association of California
Egg Farmers, which backs
legislation with the same re-
quirements but in a different
time frame. The initiative is
also opposed by the Califor-
nia Farm Bureau Federation
and National Pork Producers
Council.
The initiative prohibits the
sale in California of pork from
pigs born to sows in gestation
pens anywhere in the coun-
try, which is a violation of
the Constitution’s commerce
clause, said Dave Warner,
NPPC spokesman.
“If California voters want
to tell their farmers how to
raise and care for animals,
that’s on them,” Warner said.
“But they can’t dictate the
production practices of farm-
ers in other states.”
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