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September 21, 2018 CapitalPress.com 13 Ag labor bill sits in wings By DAN WHEAT Capital Press Port of Seattle Farm groups say more tariffs will hurt them as the trade war continues. Trade concerns deepen with additional tariffs By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press President Donald Trump’s escalation of trade tensions with China is un- welcome news in farm country, where producers are already feeling the neg- ative impacts of his first round of tariffs on U.S. trad- ing partners. On Monday, Trump an- nounced additional tariffs on $200 billion of imports from the Asian nation, upping the ante on the 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of Chinese goods implemented in June. Those tariffs drew retal- iatory tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods, primarily targeting U.S. agricultural exports. The new 10 percent tar- iff goes into effect Sept. 24 and will increase to 25 per- cent on Jan. 1. In addition, Trump said he will add tar- iffs on $267 billion of Chi- nese goods if China again retaliates. Groups representing ag- riculture in support of free trade were quick to issue statements in response. National Farmers Union said it has consistently expressed concern about Trump’s “imprudent and an- tagonistic” approach to trade negotiations and the need for long-term solutions. “China has unquestion- ably engaged in unfair and manipulative trade behavior for many years,” Rob Lar- ew, NFU vice president of public policy and communi- cations, said. NFU agrees with Pres- ident Trump’s effort to address these actions but strongly disagrees with his go-it-alone approach, he said. “We believe he would be more successful in achiev- ing fundamental reforms in China’s trading tactics by leading the rest of the world in a united front,” he said. The administration’s current strategy has created serious and potentially irre- vocable problems for Amer- ican farmers and ranchers. The loss of export markets and severely depressed commodity prices cost wheat, soy, and corn grow- ers $13 billion in June alone, he said. “Yesterday’s announce- ment to escalate tensions further will undoubtedly cost them billions more in the years to come,” he said. Americans for Farm- ers and Families said while several of Trump’s policies have benefited the U.S., additional tariffs increase existing uncertainties across rural communities. “As trade tensions esca- late, and our ability to sell our goods to major markets diminishes, we’re having to make long-term business decisions that could affect our farms for generations,” Casey Guernsey, a sev- enth-generation farmer and AFF spokesman, said. Many family farmers are canceling new projects, selling their equipment and livestock, and even thinking about closing their opera- tions entirely, he said. “With farm income down more than 50 percent over the past five years, what we need now more than ever is the ability to sell our home- grown products around the globe,” he said. Farmers for Free Trade said while trade issues need to be addressed, tariffs ar- en’t the answer. This escalation will con- tinue to squeeze American businesses with higher input costs and American farmers with decreasing commodi- ty values, Jonathan Gold, a spokesman for FFT’s Tariffs Hurt the Heartland initia- tive, said. “Our goal is to get the ad- ministration to end the trade war and return to creating opportunity through trade for American businesses, farmers and workers,” he said. Treasured Sunrise Acres dairy goes goat-only By BRAD CARLSON Capital Press Treasured Sunrise Acres, since late April a solely goat- sourced dairy after selling its Jersey cows, is growing its revenue — from milk and from a non-GMO feed grain venture. The Parma, Idaho, busi- ness sells goat milk and its own formulation of feed. Milk and feed segments con- tinue to grow strongly, large- ly on consumers’ increased interest in healthy foods, owner Debra Jantzi said. “The grain business was started last year, in the sum- mer, and after we sold the cows, we had time to devote to it,” she said. “So it started really expanding.” The feed mix is con- sumed by the goats on-site or sold to small-scale owners of animals and chickens, and to breeders. The business is building a larger grain mixer. Annual revenue from goat milk increased each year since the business was certified to sell raw milk in 2010, Jantzi said. “And we are seeing a huge expansion in goat-milk demand.” More consumers buy goat’s milk for health reasons lately, including some who are allergic to cow’s milk, she said. “It is a very broad customer base that buys goat milk in Idaho.” Jantzi and her nine chil- dren founded Treasured Sun- rise Acres. Expansion has been a consistent theme. Before they sold about eight Jersey milking cows and seven replacement heif- ers earlier this year, they were raising additional re- placement goats. Recently they have been grazing 158 goats. In mid-September, with kidding in full swing — the business sells some of its baby goats — headcount was around 170. Treasured Sunrise has plenty of room to expand the goat herd and will do so as demand warrants, Jantzi said. The business offers raw and pasteurized goat milk. The Jantzis started the business on a leased Fruit- land site of six acres but soon moved to 53 irrigated acres off U.S. 95 in Parma. There, they increased the barn’s square footage by around 50 percent, adding milk pro- cessing and storage areas as well as an office. Outside, they added pasture, fencing and other improvements. Jantzi took out two USDA Farm Service Agency loans, one for the property purchase and the other for improve- ments. Financing totaled $300,000. An agricultural labor bill that divided agricultural groups and failed to get a vote in the U.S. House in July, may not receive a vote before the end of the year. The Ag and Legal Work- force Act, HR 6417, would replace the H-2A-visa guest- worker program with a less costly H-2C program but would impose mandatory E-verify (electronic verifica- tion of employment eligibil- ity) and require illegal immi- grants currently in the U.S. to leave the country, get H-2C visas and come back in on the visa. “The House is in recess this week, back next week and the bill is not on the cal- endar for a vote next week,” said Michael Marsh, president and CEO of National Council for Agricultural Employers in Washington, D.C. The council is neutral on the bill and seek- ing to improve it. House leadership will de- termine if there are enough votes to pass the bill in the few weeks of lame duck ses- sion after the Nov. 6 congres- sional election, Marsh said. Proponents hoped to have 180 sponsors by Labor Day and have 110, he said. There’s no companion bill in the Senate, the bill needs 60 votes to pass the Senate and “my guess is that it’s probably a non-start- er” there because it contains mandatory E-verify and no fix for DACA (Deferred Ac- tion for Childhood Arrivals), Capital Press File Farmworkers harvest wine grapes in a vineyard near Caldwell, Idaho. A U.S. House bill to address farm labor shortages remains in doubt after failing to get a vote in July. Marsh said. In July, Western Grow- ers Association, Irvine, Ca- lif., and the California Farm Bureau Federation lobbied strongly against HR 6417, saying E-verify could dev- astate California’s ag labor workforce without better tran- sition to legal status for the 50 to 70 percent of illegal immi- grant workers. California has more ag workers than any oth- er state and the most labor-in- tensive crops. Since July, NCAE, U.S. Apple Association, National Council of Farmer Coopera- tives, Western Growers and CFBF have been working with House Judiciary Committee staff to improve the bill, Marsh said. Discussions continue to find a better transition to legal status and reduce or eliminate a cap on the number of H-2C work- ers allowed, he said. Progress has been made with two studies pegging the number of farmworkers in the U.S. at 2.5 million to 2.7 mil- lion, he said. That helps identi- fy the scope of the problem and the need for a transition to legal status that doesn’t threaten the workforce, he said. “We are not currently work- ing to improve the bill. We have made numerous attempts to improve the bill throughout the process, without success,” said Cory Lunde, Western Growers spokesman. “We don’t foresee a scenario where the bill moves anytime soon.” Dave Kranz, CFBF spokesman, said the feder- ation continues to talk with California members of Con- gress and the Judiciary Com- mittee on improvements but hasn’t seen much regarding workforce transition to legal status. There might be an at- tempt to vote on the bill after the election, he said. The American Farm Bu- reau Federation, the Wash- ington farm labor association WAFLA and more than 200 agricultural groups support the bill. $1M donation goes to new WSU pollinator center Two alumni have donated $1 million toward Washington State University’s goal of es- tablishing a pollinator center. Ken and Sue Christianson’s donation will help build the WSU Honey Bee and Polli- nator Research Facility on the campus in Pullman. “A large proportion of seed crops rely on bees for polli- nation,” retired seed grower Ken Christianson stated in a press release. “The WSU bee program really resonated with both my wife and I because the work they do is so essential to the future of agriculture.” The university is rais- ing $15 million for the 15,330-square-foot facility, in- cluding demonstration gardens and a rain garden. Visitors will be able to watch WSU bees and researchers working. “It’s really gratifying that the Christiansons see and un- derstand the pioneering work that we are conducting,” WSU entomology professor Steve Sheppard, head of the WSU bee program, said. “When we are able to build this facility, we will greatly increase our capacity to conduct research WSU Washington State University President Kirk Schulz, retired seed growers Ken and Sue Christian- son and College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences Dean André-Denis Wright celebrate the Christiansons’ $1 million donation toward establishing a pollinator research center at a recent football game. on honeybees and other polli- nators at WSU.” “The world’s food supply is in grave danger without a healthy pollinator popula- tion and we need the center to help save bees around the world,” André-Denis Wright, dean of WSU’s Col- lege of Agricultural, Hu- man and Natural Resource Sciences, said. “Once con- structed, this state-of-the-art facility will enable WSU’s excellent pollinator research program to be on the lead- ing edge of innovation and discovery in a field of study that affected everybody around the globe.” The Christiansons are WSU alumni. He has an agronomy degree and she has a food sci- ence degree. Hazelnut industry aims to inspire culinary uses By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Representatives of food manufacturers and food ser- vice companies recently at- tended a tour of Oregon’s hazelnut industry intended to inspire new culinary uses for the crop. The Sept. 13 tour was or- ganized by the Oregon Ha- zelnut Marketing Board and included stops at a hazelnut orchard and a processing plant, followed by a hazelnut cooking session at Oregon State University’s Food Inno- vation Center in Portland. The ultimate goal is to have consumers encounter more hazelnuts in new con- texts, hopefully driving con- sumption of the staple Ore- gon crop, whose production is expected rise significantly in coming years, said Patrick Gabrish, vice president of sales and marketing for the Hazelnut Growers of Oregon cooperative. “If you enjoy the product in one format, you’re more likely to enjoy it in more for- mats,” Gabrish said. Oregon is the country’s top hazelnut producer, with about 70,000 acres of orchards in the ground and thousands Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press Naomi Inman, left, public relations director for the Northwest Hazelnut Co., joins other participants in cooking with hazelnuts at Oregon State University’s Food Innovation Center in Portland. Food manufacturers and food service companies recently toured Oregon’s hazelnut industry, including an orchard and processing plant. more planted each year. Much of that acreage isn’t yet of bearing age, which means the industry is anticipating tre- mendous growth. China, which has tradi- tionally consumed roughly 60 percent of Oregon’s crop, can’t absorb all the new pro- duction and so the industry needs to create a stable do- mestic market, Gabrish said. With so many of Oregon’s hazelnuts going overseas, the industry hasn’t had the oppor- tunity to familiarize U.S. con- sumers with new uses for the crop as it will in the next few years, he said. Fortunately, modern chefs and food makers aren’t as constrained by what distrib- utors provide as they were in years past — they come from a generation that’s ac- customed to doing its own research and tracking down ingredients, Gabrish said. Part of the solution will fall to processors, who must provide hazelnut ingredients in packages that are well suit- ed to individual companies, he said. For example, restau- rants won’t want the indus- trial-scale pails of hazelnut butter that manufacturers use. Consumers often see ha- zelnuts in confectionery goods, but one new product developed by the Northwest Hazelnut Co. takes the crop in a different direction. The processor teamed up with Esotico, an artisan food company in Silverton, Ore., to create a hazelnut pasta based on Italian recipes. Esotico has sold the pasta at farmers’ markets and it’s attracting new customers, which will hopefully inspire others to find innovative uses for hazelnuts, said Naomi In- man, public relations director for the Northwest Hazelnut Co. Aside from imparting a unique flavor, the hazelnuts boost the pasta’s protein con- tent to 11 grams per serving, she said. “We’re hoping other man- ufacturers — especially large ones — catch on to savory uses for hazelnuts,” Inman said.
