July 20, 2018
CapitalPress.com
3
Agricultural water scrutiny increases in Oregon
Farm advocates
wary of heavier
government hand
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Growing scrutiny of ag-
ricultural water quality in
Oregon is worrying farm
advocates who fear a more
heavy-handed
government
role in directing landowner
pollution control efforts.
Agricultural water qual-
ity was discussed at the two
most recent quarterly meetings
of Oregon’s Environmental
Quality Commission, which
oversees the Department of
Environmental Quality, the
state’s chief environmental
regulator.
While DEQ is the main
agency charged with imple-
menting the federal Clean Wa-
ter Act in Oregon, it’s the Ore-
gon Department of Agriculture
that actually enforces water
regulations on farmland.
Officials with DEQ recent-
ly showcased mapping tools
that display where “designated
management agencies” — in-
cluding ODA, the Oregon De-
partment of Forestry and local
governments — have jurisdic-
tion over watersheds with pol-
lution problems.
The tool can help regulators
visualize the potential source
of pollution, such as bacteria
from pasture runoff, to enlist
the appropriate regulators for
outreach and enforcement.
When using such tools, the
DEQ needs to be careful to
avoid a “big brother feel,” said
Greg Addington, executive
director of the Resource Edu-
cation and Agricultural Lead-
ership Oregon program and
EQC’s newest member.
“A lot of this can be scary
for landowners,” he said.
Richard Whitman, DEQ’s
director, responded that regu-
lators are simply refining their
methods to understand what’s
happening on the ground and
why, but the data isn’t intended
to directly impose conditions
on landowners.
“Much of this is not neces-
sarily going to be done through
regulation,” Whitman said.
However,
environmen-
tal groups are pressing DEQ
to step up its enforcement of
“nonpoint” sources of pollu-
tion, such as agriculture.
For example, the Trout
Unlimited nonprofit has com-
plained that management plans
for agricultural water quality
don’t reflect the best science
and don’t sufficiently mea-
sure whether progress is being
made.
The criticism prompted
several farmers and agricul-
ture advocates to defend the
state’s current approach during
the EQC’s most recent meet-
ing in Portland, where they
argued the compliance pro-
gram should remain flexible
and outcome-oriented instead
of dictating practices to land-
owners.
Over time, the focus on wa-
ter quality among regulators
and environmentalists has pro-
gressed from point sources of
pollution — such as factories
— to forestry and now agri-
culture, said Mary Anne Coo-
per, general counsel for public
policy with the Oregon Farm
Bureau.
Farm advocates need to
proactively address those con-
cerns, such as with DEQ’s
ongoing revision of the water
quality standard for mercury
in the Willamette River basin,
she said.
The agency is racing to
change that standard, known
as the total maximum daily
load or TMDL, by next April
to comply with a federal court
order.
During a recent meeting on
the matter in Keizer, Cooper
and other natural resource in-
dustry representatives object-
ed to a DEQ “brainstorming
session” about possible “best
management practices” for
managing mercury pollution
from soil erosion.
Officials with DEQ said
the suggestions would simply
help the Oregon Department
of Agriculture and Oregon De-
partment of Forestry with their
compliance programs.
However, industry repre-
sentatives fear the discussion
may signal DEQ will try to
bypass local advisory com-
mittees on water quality and
dictate how ODA and ODF
should do their jobs.
“That’s not how it’s sup-
posed to work. It’s supposed
to be locally driven,” said
Cooper.
Oregon’s existing system
for regulating erosion from
agriculture and forestry is
already effective but isn’t
adequately funded, said Jeff
Stone, executive director of
the Oregon Association of
Nurseries.
There’s broad support
for ODA’s agricultural wa-
ter quality program among
growers, who want to reduce
erosion, he said. “No ag op-
eration wants to lose their
soil.”
Eastern Oregon wheat harvest off to fiery start
Farmer loses
50 acres to blaze
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
As harvest gets underway,
NW wheat crop looks ‘superb’
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Wheat harvest has begun
in the Pacific Northwest, and
industry leaders report high
yields and good crop condi-
tions.
“Statewide, the crop is
looking superb,” said Blaine
Jacobson, executive director
of the Idaho Wheat Com-
mission. “We’re keeping our
fingers crossed that we have
a good four or five weeks of
ideal harvest weather.”
The leaders of the region’s
other grain and wheat com-
missions echoed his opti-
mism.
Harvest has begun in
three-quarters of Idaho, par-
ticularly lower-elevation and
high-temperature
regions,
he said. Farmers are in their
fields in North Idaho, South-
west Idaho and South Central
Idaho.
Some parts of the state
won’t begin harvest until Au-
gust, at which point it should
be in full swing everywhere,
he said.
Some hail storms have oc-
curred, but not enough to im-
pact quality, he said.
Yields in general are up,
with no low falling number
test results indicating starch
damage, Jacobson said.
“There’s the typical issues,
but I wouldn’t say there’s any-
thing that’s extraordinary,” he
said. “The weather was coop-
erative this year.”
Temperatures
mostly
ranged in the 80s and 90s, top-
ping 100 in only a few areas,
he said.
Oregon wheat harvest
kicked off the week of July
9, said Blake Rowe, Oregon
Wheat CEO, and will ramp up
in the coming weeks.
Rowe cited average to
above-average yields on soft
white wheat with low protein,
good moisture and test weights
above 60 pounds.
“Prices are a little better
than last year at this time,”
Rowe said.
Soft white wheat sells for
$5.80 to $5.90 per bushel on the
Portland market. Hard red win-
ter wheat ranges from $5.81 to
$6.56 per bushel, depending on
protein content. Dark northern
spring wheat ranges from $5.88
to $6.76 per bushel, depending
on protein percentage.
That’s above the cost of pro-
duction for some farmers, but
certainly not all, Rowe said.
Rowe has heard a few re-
ports of lower protein levels
in hard red winter wheat, but
said there weren’t enough
to say much of anything
yet.
Higher protein is desired
in the red wheats, which is
used for bread and rolls, and
lower protein is desired in soft
white wheat, which is used for
sponge cakes and crackers.
Dark northern spring wheat
in Washington is averaging a
little higher than 14 percent
protein, hard red winter wheat
12 percent protein and soft
white wheat about 10 percent
protein.
“It’s early,” Glen Squires,
CEO of the Washington Grain
Commission. “Everything’s
getting started.”
USDA is projecting a win-
ter wheat yield of 76 bushels
per acre in Washington. If that
materializes, it would be the
second-highest yield for the
state, and a slight drop from
78 bushels per acre last year,
Squires said.
USDA projects 45 bush-
els per acre for spring wheat,
a mid-way point for the state.
“There have been a bunch
lower and a bunch higher,”
Squires said.
Squires expects some
pockets of low falling num-
ber, the starch damage prob-
lem that affects the wheat’s
baking and noodle quality.
The industry is aware and
prepared, he said, and will
keep wheat with extremely
low falling numbers separate
from wheat with a higher fall-
ing number.
Brittany Norton/EO Media Group
A fire burned fields and approached the city of Weston July 12, but crews stopped it from damaging
any homes.
degrees in Pendleton and Ya-
kima, Wash., and 95 degrees
in Hermiston, according to
the National Weather Service.
A red flag warning indicating
heightened fire danger was
also in effect through Wednes-
day evening from Pendleton
west to The Dalles and as far
south as Bend.
Gentry said he is not cer-
tain how the fire started in
his unharvested wheat. Casey
Kump, deputy state fire mar-
shal based in La Grande, said
the fire started in a corner of
the property that includes a
shop and barn, and appears to
be accidental.
When he first heard the
news, Gentry immediately
called his father, who went out
in a water truck and was soon
joined by neighbors bring-
ing additional trucks and disc
plows to dig firebreaks.
“We have a truck with wa-
ter on it all the time. People
always have tractors hooked
up to discs,” Gentry said. “My
friends and neighbors dropped
what they were doing and im-
mediately came to the rescue.
I’m really grateful for that.”
As a beginning farmer,
29-2-3/102
ELLIS EQUIPMENT 800-949-2336
SAGE Fact #147
29-2/101
Weekly fieldwork report
Ore.
.COM
for Oregon State University
Extension in Pendleton, said
most of the lower elevations in
Morrow and Gilliam counties
were short on rainfall during
May and June, and he expects
they may cut around 10-15
bushels of wheat per acre be-
low average.
“The fall stands were good,
and the crop looked pretty
good all through winter and
early spring,” Wysocki said.
“But (precipitation) didn’t hap-
pen in May.”
To make matters more dif-
ficult, Wysocki said conditions
for spraying grassy herbicides
in spring were less than ideal,
causing problems with cheat-
grass and other weeds in some
fields.
Each day a cow eats 75-100 pounds of food and
drink 25-50 gallons of water. That is equivalent to
3 large bags of dog food and a bathtub of water.
Item/description (Source: USDA, NASS; NOAA)
• Days suitable for fieldwork (As of July 15)
6.9
• Topsoil moisture, surplus
0
• Topsoil moisture, percent short
72%
• Subsoil moisture, surplus
0
• Subsoil moisture, percent short
69%
• Precipitation probability
33-50% Below/
(6-10 day outlook as of July 10)
Normal
MFG OF BRUSH MULCHERS | STUMP GRINDERS | DRAINAGE PLOWS
BOOM MOWERS | PTO GENERATORS | AUGER BITS & DRIVES
TRENCHERS | TREE SPADES | TREE SAWS | LIMB SHEARS AND MORE
Gentry said it hurts to lose 10
percent of his crop. He needs
every acre he can get, but he
knows the situation could have
been much worse.
Gentry said it has been at
least a month since the area re-
ceived any significant rain, and
farmers need to be on their toes
for fires, keeping ignition sourc-
es and idling engines away
from dry grass and stubble.
“The biggest thing obvious-
ly is just common sense,” he
said.
Gentry expects to begin
harvest by next week. Harvest-
ing is already underway at low-
er elevations farther south and
west, where forecasts seem to
be a mixed bag.
Don Wysocki, soil scientist
29-3/108
Capital Press File
Northwest wheat industry representatives have all expressed opti-
mism that this year’s wheat crop will have high quality and yields.
Wheat harvest is off to a
blazing start in Eastern Ore-
gon — literally.
Emery Gentry, who farms
about 500 acres of wheat near
the small town of Weston, was
taken by surprise when he got
the phone call July 12 that
one of the fields he leases had
somehow caught fire.
“I was working with my
harvest partners in the Herm-
iston area when I got the call,”
Gentry said. “There was noth-
ing I could do.”
Flames devoured roughly
50 acres of standing wheat
and burned right up to nearby
homes, prompting evacuation
orders for some residents until
firefighters could contain the
blaze.
One day later, fire broke out
again up the Walla Walla Riv-
er in Cash Hollow, southeast
of Milton-Freewater, torching
several hundred acres of dry
grass and wheat. The Substa-
tion Fire burning east of The
Dalles in Wasco and Sherman
counties has also grown to
more than 29,000 acres as of
Wednesday morning and is
threatening homes and farms,
prompting mandatory evacu-
ations.
The incidents underscore
just how hot and dry it has
been leading up to this year’s
dryland wheat harvest, exac-
erbating the risk of field and
rangeland fires.
Average high temperatures
so far in July have reached 90
Wash.
Idaho
Calif.
6.9
0
45%
1%
37%
6.9
9%
40%
9%
38%
7
0
80%
0
75%
50% below
50% below
33-40% Below/
Normal