June 1, 2018
CapitalPress.com
5
Researcher perfects wine colors
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Robert Hubner/WSU
Jim Harbertson, Washington State University enologist, discovered
sulfur dioxide management is important in developing shades and
tints of color in rosé wine.
PULLMAN, Wash. — A
Washington State University
enologist has become an ex-
pert in the art and science of
fine-tuning rosé wine colors.
Asked by Washington wine-
makers how to more precisely
develop wine colors, associate
professor Jim Harbertson and
graduate student Caroline Mer-
rell have found that sulfur diox-
ide management is an important
factor in rosé wine color.
They have come up with a
guide for winemakers to fol-
low that allows them to predict
color changes analytically and
achieve that gorgeous shade
of ballet-slipper-pink or deep
rouge.
“What’s significant is that
our study provides tools to
winemakers to measure ap-
parent and potential color in
their rosé wines. There’s more
science and less guesswork in-
volved,” Harbertson said.
Rosé was considered as
sweet and cheap about a de-
cade ago, but now it’s regarded
as chic and sophisticated. Sales
rose 40 percent in 2017, accord-
ing to Nielsen market research.
“More than other wine
types, color heavily influences
consumers’ perceptions of rosé.
This makes winemakers par-
ticularly mindful of achieving
just the right color,” Harbertson
said.
Rosé stands apart from other
wines in its diversity of hues,
shades and tints. Though aroma
and flavor are important to con-
sumers, studies say the number
one factor is its pinkish charm.
Rosé’s color also signifies
its style. A light-colored rosé is
expected to be a lighter-bodied
wine and a darker one to be
more full-bodied, Harbertson
said.
The trick to perfecting color
is the timing of exposing dark
wine grape skins to juice, 2 to
48 hours, with the wine lighten-
ing during fermenting and dark-
ening after bottling.
“Rosé may be easy to drink
but it is not easy to make,” he
said.
His study was recently pub-
lished in Catalyst, a journal by
the American Society for Enol-
ogy and Viticulture.
Apple Commission adopts
budget, talks trade, varieties
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
WENATCHEE, Wash. —
The Washington Apple Com-
mission approved a status
quo $10.2 million budget for
2018-19 and discussed trade,
promoting proprietary variet-
ies and grocery e-commerce
in China at its May 24 meet-
ing.
The budget includes about
$4.7 million in revenue from
a 3.5-cent per box grower
assessment on the 2018 crop
estimated at 135 million box-
es, $4.87 million from the
federal Market Access Pro-
gram, $545,000 in grants and
$100,000 from interest and
rented office space.
The commission will
spend $7.4 million on export
promotions, with $4.87 mil-
lion of that from MAP and
$2.56 million from grower
assessments.
The top six countries and
their promotional allocations
are:
• India: $1.25 million, up
$280,000.
• Mexico: $1.14 million.
• Vietnam: $667,750.
•
Central
America:
$518,000.
• Indonesia: $484,300,
down $67,450 because of ac-
cess issues.
• China and Hong Kong:
$466,000, down $419,693 be-
cause of access issues.
Apples have been caught
up in Chinese retaliatory tar-
iffs that are responses to U.S.
tariffs on Chinese steel and
aluminum, but the situation
is fluid with negotiations are
ongoing.
In recent days, India add-
ed a 30 percent tariff on ap-
ples in retaliation for the U.S.
steel and aluminum tariffs.
That’s on top of its regular
50 percent apple tariff, said
Mark Powers, president of
Dan Wheat/Capital Press File
The Washington Apple Commission will spend $7.4 million on
export promotions during the coming year.
the Northwest Horticultural
Council in Yakima.
Jason Hafemeister, trade
counsel to the Secretary of
Agriculture, gave commis-
sioners a 45-minute telephone
tutorial on trade. More than
20 percent of U.S. agricul-
tural production is exported,
he said. While the U.S. runs
an overall trade deficit it has
a surplus in agricultural com-
modities and products, he
said.
China recognizes the U.S.
trade deficit is a problem and
is willing to help by importing
more agricultural products, he
said.
A new North American
Free Trade Agreement does
not appear close and the pres-
ident has to decide by June 1
whether to impose steel tariffs
on Canada and Mexico, Hafe-
meister said.
Powers said market threats
to U.S. ag products seem to
be growing. Apple Commis-
sioner Bob Mast, president
of Columbia Marketing In-
ternational in Wenatchee, said
there’s a lot of nervousness
about tariffs hurting cherry
exports to China.
Regarding foreign promo-
tions of proprietary varieties,
Mast called it a slippery slope
of keeping promotions pro-
portionate to the varieties that
generate the most in grower
assessments.
Rebecca Lyons, the com-
mission’s export marketing
director, also said it would be
a slippery slope to push single
varieties and that she doesn’t
want to, but importers and
overseas retailers are interest-
ed in new proprietary varieties
and promoting them increases
shelf space and positions the
commission for the future.
Commission
President
Todd Fryhover said he will
educate himself more on how
individual companies already
promote proprietary varieties
and seek the advice of Mast
and other commissioners on
how to proceed.
Fryhover reported that
Hema Supermarkets, part of
the Alibaba Group in China,
is leading the way in merging
online and offline sales. Cus-
tomers order online, have gro-
ceries delivered or go to the
store and have them prepared
into a meal to be eaten there.
“It’s amazing what they are
doing in China with e-com-
merce. It has to be a model for
the rest of the world,” he said.
“We think it’s a major trend
moving forward.”
Wheat Marketing Center
seeks new technical director
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
The Wheat Marketing
Center is looking for a new
technical director after Gary
Hou departed April 30 to take
a position as chief technology
officer with the SPC Group,
a baking company in South
Korea.
Hou was at the marketing
center more than 22 years.
He was first hired as an Asian
products specialist and was
promoted to technical manag-
er in 2000 and technical direc-
tor in 2005.
The job opening has been
posted on the marketing cen-
ter’s website and several pro-
fessional websites, said Janice
Cooper, executive director of
the marketing center.
Cooper is asking stake-
holders, including U.S. Wheat
Associates and state com-
missions, to consider priority
products and markets they
want to focus on, as well as
weighing the skills of the mar-
keting center’s current team.
“It’s still under consider-
ation exactly what kind of a
person we’re looking for,”
Cooper said.
All of the marketing cen-
ter’s activities and courses are
covered for this year, allowing
time for an extensive search,
George Plaven/Capital Press File
Gary Hou, technical director of
the Wheat Marketing Center in
Portland, has taken a job with a
South Korean company.
Cooper said.
Cooper expects crackers
and noodles to continue to be
a major focus for the market-
ing center. Markets in Asia
and Latin America are top pri-
orities, she said.
In an email to the Capital
Press, Hou said he trained
more than 1,000 profession-
als from around the world,
published more than 30
peer-reviewed scientific pa-
pers and generated more than
$2 million in revenue through
research and product devel-
opment projects while at the
marketing center. He felt his
technical expertise would be
well-used in a commercial
company where he could have
a direct impact.
At SPC Group, Hou man-
ages several products and
helps with wheat procure-
ment, flour milling produc-
tion, flour blending and devel-
oping specialty flours.
“I am very proud of U.S.
wheat farmers for growing
one of the highest quality
wheats in the world,” Hou
said.
He recommended farmers
consider the needs of food
processors when they decide
which variety to plant.
“Providing the required
wheat and food products to
our respective customers is
the only recipe for continued
success in business for all of
us,” he said.
After working for the mar-
keting center, Hou said, he
has become a U.S. wheat user
and buyer.
“It has become very inter-
esting to look at the same sub-
jects from a different perspec-
tive,” he said. “I hope my new
experience will help the U.S.
wheat industry to align its ef-
forts with customers’ needs.”
The marketing center
works to create a deeper un-
derstanding for the value of
U.S. wheat in high-quality
end products, Cooper said.
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
Jon Maughn, managing director and vice president of Rabo AgriFinance in Twin Falls, Idaho, at the
Rabobank office on May 22.
Dairy lenders look to the long game
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
TWIN FALLS, Idaho —
An extended period of low
milk prices has made things
challenging on dairy farms
across the country, giving
rise to concerns over what
awaits dairy farmers looking
for their next loan.
But two big lenders in
the Northwest and Idaho say
they’re in it for the long term
and sticking by their dairy
clients.
Producer margins have
been compressed for more
than three years, Doug Rob-
ison, Northwest Farm Credit
Services’ senior vice presi-
dent for western Idaho, said.
While there have been
periods of profitability, the
average annual pay price for
milk has generally been be-
low the cost of production
needed to support operating
expenses, capital replace-
ment needs, and principal
debt repayment, he said.
Despite the tough times,
NWFCS will continue to
offer the same products and
services to dairies — one of
its largest financed sectors,
he said.
As a customer-owned co-
operative, NWFCS remains
committed to financing ag-
riculture, food and fiber
throughout the Northwest,
he said.
“Our strategy remains
consistent and includes
even-handedness through in-
dustry cycles,” he said.
This cycle will run its
course, and there will be
stronger industry profitabili-
ty in the future, he said.
“Producers need to re-
main focused on managing
costs, protecting capital and
marketing their product,” he
said.
Milk prices in the first
half of 2018 have been low,
below the price needed to
generate profitability. The
Class III price for milk to
manufacture cheese will av-
erage about $14.50 per hun-
dredweight in the first half
of 2018, and average cost of
production in Idaho in 2017
was about $16.70 per hun-
dredweight, he said.
Milk prices have been
strengthening over the past
few weeks, however, and
milk futures indicate break-
even or above prices in the
$16.75 range during the
second half of the year. Re-
cent strength in butter and
cheese markets supports the
improved outlook for milk
prices, he said.
“This has led to some op-
timism for pay prices in the
second half of the year and
even into 2019,” he said.
Idaho dairy clients with
Rabo AgriFinance have been
operating at a loss for the past
six to 10 months, particularly
in the first quarter of this year
with milk prices in the $12 to
$13 range, Jon Maughan, the
company’s managing direc-
tor for southern Idaho, said.
“I think we’re through the
worst of it, so (I’m) cautious-
ly optimistic,” he said.
It hasn’t been pretty, but
exceptional prices in 2014
made it tolerable. Most pro-
ducers learned lessons from
the downturn in 2009 and
held onto capital, he said.
“Most balance sheets are
in good shape, with the ex-
ception of several operations
that have not recovered from
2009,” he said.
There’s been some con-
solidation and voluntary
liquidation, but there’s been
very little forced liquidation,
he said.
“We feel like our portfo-
lio is above average. We’ve
done really good with cus-
tomer selection,” he said.
Rabo had extremely lim-
ited penetration in the area’s
dairy business before 2011,
and in 2011 and 2012 had the
opportunity to hand pick who
it wanted to do business with
— the survivors of 2009, the
longtime players, he said.
“Our strategy really hasn’t
changed. We still continue to
look for additional business
with dairies,” he said.
The company now has a
large dairy portfolio in Ida-
ho. Its mandate is to “book
good business,” and that
hasn’t changed at all, he said.
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