10 CapitalPress.com
June 1, 2018
Senate committee passes $145.1B ag appropriations bill
Farm research, organic
programs in line for
more funding
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
The U.S. Senate is poised to vote on
a $145.1 billion agriculture appropria-
tions bill for fiscal year 2019.
The proposal passed unanimously
out of the Senate Appropriations Com-
mittee on May 11. It details $121.8 bil-
lion in mandatory program funding and
$23.3 billion in discretionary spending,
which is $710 million less than 2018
levels but $6.1 billion more than Pres-
ident Donald Trump’s budget request.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, who
serves as the top Democrat on the
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
on Agriculture, said the bill provides
“significant resources for rural Amer-
icans and Oregonians,” highlighting
increased funding for rural broadband,
organic farming programs and the
USDA Agricultural Research Service,
or ARS.
The USDA operates three ARS lo-
cations in Oregon — one in Corvallis,
one in Pendleton and one in Burns.
Research projects focus on a variety of
crops, from apples and pears to wheat
and alfalfa.
Dan Long, director of the Columbia
Plateau Conservation Research Center
north of Pendleton, said the station’s
annual budget has remained flat at $1.9
million for the last three or four funding
cycles.
The station currently supports five
scientists on staff, including an agron-
omist, soil physicist, soil chemist, hy-
drologist and soil microbiologist. If one
was to retire, Long said he would not
be able to fill the vacancy due to infla-
tionary costs.
“We’ve been able to survive through
attrition,” Long said.
Long said he is not sure where the
additional $100 million would be di-
rected, but is pleased to see lawmakers
mulling such a large increase for the
ARS, which is more than the service
has seen in past years.
“It certainly is a great signal that
Congress sees the work that ARS is
doing is important to the viability of
the nation, the nation’s food supply and
protection of its resources.”
Funding for rural broadband in-
ternet would also receive a $425 mil-
lion increase in 2019, building on the
previous fiscal year’s investment of
$600 million. Farmers and ranchers
are becoming increasingly reliant on
dependable broadband service as they
adopt more precision agriculture tech-
nology, such as real-time soil moisture
monitors and GPS tractors, into their
operations.
Organic farming is another focus in
the Senate appropriations bill, with sev-
eral programs in line for a funding in-
crease in 2019. The USDA Sustainable
Agriculture Research and Education
program would receive $37 million, up
$2 million from last year.
The National Organic Program
would get $15 million, up $3 million
from 2018, and the Organic Transitions
Program — which helps farmers tran-
sition their land from conventional to
organic farming, a process that takes
three years before certification in Ore-
gon — would receive $6 million, up $1
million over the previous year.
The appropriations bill also prohib-
its the federal government from inter-
fering with industrial hemp research
and development. Both Sen. Merkley
and fellow Oregon Democratic Sen.
Ron Wyden are pushing to legalize
industrial hemp as an agricultural com-
modity, which Oregon began regulat-
ing in 2016. The program now has 382
registered hemp growers and 119 regis-
tered handlers.
“This (appropriations) bill takes a
much-needed step toward those ru-
ral Oregon goals I’ve long worked to
achieve,” Wyden said in a written state-
ment.
The bill now heads for a full Senate
vote. The House Appropriations Com-
mittee already approved its version of
the agriculture appropriations bill on
May 16 by a 31-20 vote.
Almonds showing promise in Idaho
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Almonds are viable for some
commercial production in south-
west Idaho, recent university re-
search shows.
Warmer spots in the region
show strong promise for some
commercial almond growth, said
Essie Fallahi, who heads the po-
mology program at the Universi-
ty of Idaho Parma Research and
Extension Center, where a full-or-
chard study of 16 almond variet-
ies is in its third year.
The pomologist recommends a
small test run initially, with uni-
versity involvement.
“It’s definitely worth looking
at,” Fallahi said.
The recent study on an acre
includes varieties selected in
part for cold tolerance. About six
years ago, UI Parma researchers
concluded a smaller study of three
almond varieties over 18 years.
Pronounced or ill-timed cold
generally cuts yields in the Par-
ma almond orchard but does not
decimate the trees, UI research-
ers found. Almonds have outper-
formed some better-established
Idaho tree fruits in harsh condi-
tions.
Last year’s long, bitterly cold
winter took out some peach and
apricot trees, but not the almond
trees, Fallahi said. This year, a
hard freeze during full bloom in
April probably will cut almond
yields by up to two-thirds of the
ideal level. But the almond trees
survived.
“We had more loss on apricots
than we had on almonds,” Fallahi
said.
Full almond bloom often hits
by mid-April, at the end of an
apricot bloom that can start as
early as mid-March, he said.
“Almonds have at least as
good of a chance as apricots to
make it in this area as far as pro-
duction and cold tolerance,” Fal-
lahi said. He’s optimistic about
almonds at least as an Idaho niche
IDWR
Weiser River flood damage in the winter of
2016-17.
Grants available for
flood-management
projects in Idaho
By Capital Press
Brad Carlson/Capital Press
Essie Fallahi, who heads the University of Idaho’s pomology program, shows the Fritz almond variety at UI’s Parma
Research and Extension Center.
crop, in that “almonds can survive
if planted in the warmest spots of
the region.”
Over the 20-odd years UI
Parma research plots have had
almond trees, strong yields oc-
curred some of the time, “fair”
production was common, and
“low-to-fair” output occurred in
years with unusually cold winter
H-2A rule changes
to simplify, improve
guestworker program
H-2A from Page 1
Costs of unnecessary recruitment meth-
ods should be reduced, the scope and ac-
curacy of prevailing wage surveys should
be improved, greater movement of workers
to respond to production needs should be
allowed, seasonality needs to be clarified
and housing and transportation approvals
should be streamlined, Nassif said.
Administrative improvements under-
taken by one administration are undone by
the next, so real reform needs to be legisla-
tion, he said.
“Any implication that necessary re-
forms would be limited to those who use
E-verify is concerning,” Nassif said.
Marsh said he wants to know what kind
of incentives the administration is planning
to get people to voluntarily use E-verify.
Mandatory E-verify without work au-
thorization would result in an “immediate
huge shortfall of labor,” and become “a na-
tional worker disaster,” he said.
Faster and more lasting H-2A visa pro-
gram changes could be made through leg-
islation. But a replacement H-2C program
proposed in HR 4760, sponsored by House
Judiciary Chairman Robert Goodlatte,
R-Va., is opposed by Western Growers and
other groups. It caps the number of visas
and requires workers in the U.S. illegally
to return to their country of origin and ap-
ply to re-enter. Both of those are viewed as
unworkable.
HR 4760 so far does not have enough
votes to clear the House and likely would
find the Senate even more challenging,
Marsh said.
or spring weather, he said.
Tom Elias, a UI research assis-
tant at Parma, likes what he has
seen so far.
“With the climate here, I think
the outlook for almonds is really,
really positive,” he said.
Increased interest in almonds
from commercial growers in re-
cently drought-afflicted Califor-
nia and elsewhere helped prompt
the current full-orchard trial in
southwest Idaho.
Fallahi said a dozen groups
of California growers in the past
year visited Parma to check out
the Idaho almonds.
“We also had (local) beekeep-
ers excited,” he said. Honeybees
are used to pollinate almond trees.
The Idaho Water Resource Board is
seeking applications for grants to be used
for flood management and prevention. The
grants are aimed at stream-channel repair,
stream-channel improvement, flood risk re-
duction or flood prevention projects in riv-
ers and streams throughout Idaho.
Applicants can request funding for up
to $200,000 per project, according to an
IWRB press release.
There is a 50 percent match requirement
for all grants awarded, and applications that
include higher cost-share percentages will
receive a higher ranking.
The application period for flood-man-
agement grants lasts through June 15.
Projects will be reviewed by the IWRB’s
finance committee, and final grant awards
will be made at the July 27 board meeting
in Moscow.
The grant program was authorized by the
Idaho Legislature this year, which set aside
$1 million for flood-management projects.
The record-setting winter of 2017-
18 caused flood damage to several Ida-
ho streams and rivers. That prompted
flood-control districts and other groups
to approach the Legislature about creat-
ing a statewide program for addressing
flood-control damage as well as flood-pre-
vention, stream-channel improvement and
flood-management work.
To be considered for grant funding, ap-
plicants must provide evidence of flood
damage or evidence of conditions that cre-
ate the risk of flooding in a stream channel.
Eligible agencies and organizations include
flood control districts, counties, municipal-
ities, drainage districts, irrigation districts,
canal companies and other public entities.
Diamond M ranch braces for another stressful summer
WOLVES from Page 1
The ranch rounded up a cou-
ple hundred open cows in May
from its winter range in southeast
Washington. To cover its costs, a
cow must raise a calf every sum-
mer. The open cows went to an
auction yard across the Columbia
River in Hermiston, Ore.
The cows fetch something at
auction, but they would have been
worth more producing calves —
in some cases for several more
years. “That’s quite a slug of cows
they’re not going to have,” said
Bill McIrvin, Len’s son.
Diamond M’s size and the fact
that it has a winter range to graze
cattle year-round has helped it ab-
sorb losses. As the wolf popula-
tion grows, smaller ranchers who
can’t afford as many losses will
have a hard time staying in busi-
ness, the McIrvins said.
“What was affecting us will
start affecting everyone, and they
just can’t stand the loss,” Bill
McIrvin said. “The whole system
is pretty tough to live with from
the get-go.”
Steve McLaughlin, a retired
Navy commander who unsuc-
cessfully ran for state lands com-
missioner in 2016, says he wants
to help ranchers document their
damages to inform the public de-
bate over managing wolves. He’s
coordinating an effort to system-
atically collect reports of losses.
“We’re not hearing the economic
side of things,” he said.
Len McIrvin said he welcomed
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Justin Hedrick of the Diamond M ranch herds cattle May 21 on the ranch’s winter range in southeast Washington.
The ranch has been battling wolves on its summer range to the north for a decade.
the project. “Steve has done a terrif-
ic job of leading this fight,” he said.
The ranch loses about 70 head
to wolves a year, Len McIrvin
said. State wildlife managers typ-
ically confirm a
handful of dep-
redations. Ranch-
ers can apply for
compensation for
losses. To avoid
giving tacit ap-
proval to Fish
Steve
and
Wildlife’s
McLaughlin
management of
wolves, the McIr-
vins said they haven’t and won’t
seek compensation.
“It’s such a crooked, damn deal
they’re throwing at us,” he said.
“Wolves and cattle are like oil and
water. They do not mix, and they
never will.”
Ranchers can also apply to be
compensated for such “indirect
losses” as underweight cattle and
more open cows.
A rancher must provide business
records and exhaust other possible
sources of compensation, such as
from environmental groups. No
rancher applied for compensation
for indirect losses in 2017.
Ranchers blame wolf-caused
stress for thin and unbred cows.
They say cattle are visibly shaken
in wolf country. A 2017 study in-
volving the Eastern Oregon Agri-
cultural Research Center in Burns
supports the observation.
Cows were subjected to cotton
balls soaked in wolf urine and the
reproduction of wolf howls for 20
minutes. They were immediately
slaughtered and their brains exam-
ined. Researchers reported finding
biological markers suggesting
post-traumatic stress disorder.
The study’s lead author, Rein-
aldo Cooke, said that the Diamond
M’s report of more open cows
“makes perfect sense to me.”
“This kind of report is very
common in Oregon and Idaho,”
said Cooke, who is now an associ-
ate professor of beef production at
Texas A&M University.