October 19, 2018
CapitalPress.com
3
Relocation of USDA agencies sparks criticism
Former ERS
administrator
wants ‘why’
behind move
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Former USDA officials
and farm groups are sounding
the alarm over the USDA’s
plans to move the Economic
Research Service and Nation-
al Institute of Food and Ag-
riculture out of Washington,
D.C.
The new locations have
not yet been chosen. The
move is slated to be complete
by the end of 2019.
The American Statistical
Association has sent a letter
to Congress, signed by 56 for-
mer USDA and federal statis-
tical agency officials to warn
of damage the move would
cause, including:
• The loss of staff expertise
due to employees not willing
to move.
• Moving the ERS far from
its clientele and collaborators
who either are located in or
visit Washington, D.C.
• Loss of visibility with
policy makers.
• Puts ERS independence
and credibility
at risk.
“What we
have
from
the USDA is
essentially
a
one-page
Susan
memo
that
Offutt
doesn’t tell us
much about
the why,” Susan Offutt, ERS
administrator from 1996 to
2006 under Presidents Bill
Clinton and George W. Bush,
told the Capital Press. “They
say, ‘Oh, we’re going to save
money.’ How much? Don’t
know. ‘We’re going to serve
customers better.’ Who are the
customers? They say they’re
farmers, but that’s not really
the correct representation. ...
“The department gives us
nothing to go on,” she said.
“If you make a criticism, they
say, ‘Oh, don’t worry about
that.’ We don’t know what to
worry about and what not to
be concerned about.”
ERS provides USDA with
objective, reliable, trusted
data, said Steve Pierson, di-
rector of science policy for
the statistical association.
The association asked
Congress to tell USDA to
make no further decisions
on the relocation until more
information is known. The
letter was also signed by 45
organizations,
including the
American
Dairy Science
Association,
the American
Malting Bar-
Steve
ley Associa-
Pierson
tion, the Na-
tional Barley
Improvement
Committee,
National Turfgrass Federa-
tion, National Young Farmers
Coalition, Soil Science Soci-
ety of America and WineAm-
erica.
Scott Heisel, vice presi-
dent and technical director
with the malting barley as-
sociation, said his organiza-
tion is concerned about the
potential loss of experienced
personnel and accessibility to
both organizations.
“What we’re hearing is
they’re moving out to areas
where the stakeholders are,
but from our experience, most
of the stakeholders end up
in Washington at some point
during the year,” Heisel said.
“You can’t move it to where
all the stakeholders are.”
Offutt and Pierson cite
concerns over the 2019 presi-
dential budget, which propos-
es reducing the ERS budget
from $86.2 million to $45
million, a 48 percent cut.
It appears the agency will
focus more on commodity
markets and less on other top-
ics, such as natural resources,
rural development or food and
consumer issues, Offutt said.
Offutt and Pierson spec-
ulate the timing of the move
announcement has to do with
lawmakers’ emphasis on the
Farm Bill and the budget.
Because of that, other farm
organization representatives
are possibly reluctant to op-
pose the USDA, Offutt said.
“This is a delicate time in
terms of the relationship of
the department to commodity
growers and what steps would
be taken to assist with adjust-
ment to new trade policies
and tariffs,” she said. “Dan-
gling a federal goody out in
front of states in an election
year means you probably
don’t hear from a lot of people
that you might in a different
context.”
Proposed expressions of
interest to house the agencies
were due Oct. 15, Offutt and
Pierson say. USDA has told
Congress the final decision
will be made in January.
“What happens between
Oct. 15 and January is not so
clear,” she said.
She said the goal of the let-
ters is to “stop the plan in its
tracks — don’t realign, don’t
move.”
Don Jenkins/Capital Press File
A worker picks cucumbers in Washington. The state Employ-
ment Security Department sent wage surveys to 2,130 employ-
ers starting Oct. 15. The results have been contentious in the
past.
As dispute lingers,
Washington to again
survey farm pay
Last year had low
response rate
By DON JENKINS
Idaho’s wheat crop sets record for yield
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Exceptional spring wheat
yields in Idaho pushed this
year’s wheat crop to a record
overall yield.
Growers averaged 91.9
bushels per acre, edging past
the old record, 91.4 bushels
per acre, set in 2016, said Chris
Mertz, regional director of the
USDA National Agricultural
Statistics Service.
Records date back to 1879,
Mertz said.
“(For) two years in our da-
tabase, it has averaged higher
than 90,” he said of the overall
wheat yield.
Spring wheat averaged a
yield of 95 bushels per acre, up
from 85 bushels last year, while
winter wheat averaged 90 bush-
els per acre, up from 80 bushels
per acre last year. It’s the first
time spring wheat yields in the
state averaged more than 90
bushels, Mertz said.
“I think that’s pretty impres-
sive, it shows conditions went
well and farmers are using all
the tools appropriate to get an
excellent return,” Mertz said.
“Both of them are nice, but
spring wheat had a nice jump
this year.”
“The yields were boosted by
good moisture through the year
and by moderate temperatures,”
Blaine Jacobson, executive di-
EO Media Group File
Pacific Northwest wheat farmers generally reported above-average yields in this year’s crop.
rector of the Idaho Wheat Com-
mission, told the Capital Press.
“We started the planting year
with good moisture and contin-
ued to receive timely rains.”
Some years, triple-digit tem-
peratures in early summer can
curb yields, but temperatures
were favorable this year, Ja-
cobson said. Some parts did hit
those temperatures, but it was
more scattered than usual and
after wheat had headed out.
Idaho produced 104 mil-
lion bushels, according to the
USDA.
“It is nice to see our overall
production above 100 million
bushels,” Jacobson said, adding
that overall growing conditions
were “superb.”
At a recent Washington
Grain Commission meeting in
Spokane, several board mem-
bers reported yields 50 percent
higher than usual in their dis-
tricts.
Glen Squires, CEO of
Washington Grain Commis-
sion, attributes that to “ex-
cellent” moisture conditions.
Drier areas where yields are
typically 35 to 45 bushels per
acre reached 55 to 80 bushels
per acre.
“A lot of it just was perfect
moisture conditions — good
soil moisture, timely rains,
good rains, not a lot of heat
stress,” Squires said. “It was
just a great production crop
year.”
Washington’s state average
yield for winter and spring
production, 70.8 bushels per
acre, was the third-highest on
record, Squires said. In 2016,
the average was 71.5 bushels
per acre. In 2011, the average
was 71.3 bushels per acre.
Average yield in Oregon
was 67 bushels per acre.
“Our growers reported
average to above-average
yields, with some reporting
record or near-record har-
vest,” said Blake Rowe, Or-
egon Wheat CEO. “Moisture
was low and quality good.
Protein was lower than the
last couple of years, but there
should still be enough at the
higher protein levels to meet
the specs of customers who
prefer higher protein soft
white.”
Judge approves auction of Oregon beef packer assets
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A state judge has authorized
a defunct Oregon beef packer
to auction its assets since no
buyer has committed to pur-
chase the facility as a package.
On Oct. 15, Lane County
Circuit Judge Charles Carlson
agreed to a request by Richard
Hooper, a court-appointed re-
ceiver, to hold an auction for
the equipment owned by Bar-
tels Packing of Eugene, Ore.
Earlier this summer, Hoop-
er had notified the court that a
“letter of intent” had been sub-
mitted by a buyer who planned
to keep the slaughterhouse and
processing facilities operation-
al.
At this point, however, the
prospect of a buyer re-open-
ing Bartels as a “going con-
cern” doesn’t appear viable so
the company would prefer to
offer its assets for auction as
a lot rather than allowing bid-
ders to “cherry pick” items, an
attorney for Hooper said at the
hearing.
Some of the equipment is
computerized and only a few
years old, so the auctioneer
plans to avoid starting with low
minimum bids to achieve the
best prices, Hooper said.
An attorney for Chris Bar-
tels, the company’s owner,
raised the possibility of certain
items fetching the best value if
sold separately apart from the
auction.
However, the judge said
there was “no question” an
open auction would be the
most effective venue and ap-
proved the event, with the pro-
vision that it can be called off if
a buyer is found for the entire
company.
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Apart from owing money
to livestock producers, Bartels
stopped participating in cattle
auctions, where the company
was considered an important
buyer of local and grassfed
cows. According to court doc-
uments, a property lease for
the Bartels facilities is expiring
early next year, so the auction
would most likely take place by
mid-December.
The Washington Em-
ployment Security Depart-
ment started asking farm-
ers Monday how much
they paid workers this year,
an annual survey meant to
standardize piece-rate pay
for foreign seasonal work-
ers, but which got little
participation last year.
The voluntary sur-
vey’s low response rate
shouldn’t be surprising,
said Dan Fazio, executive
director of WAFLA, the
state’s largest supplier of
foreign farmworkers. The
survey fails to capture the
nuances of farm work and
inflates piece-rates for
tasks such as picking ap-
ples, he said.
“We can’t abide by a
survey that will not pro-
duce accurate results,”
Fazio said.
The employment de-
partment planned to start
surveying 2,130 employ-
ers beginning Monday. A
survey of workers began
Oct. 1. The wage survey
has been a point of conten-
tion between the employ-
ment department and some
farm groups, including
WAFLA, formerly known
as the Washington Farm
Labor Association.
The participation in last
year’s survey fell short of
meeting the threshold set
by the U.S. Department of
Labor. The state employ-
ment department defended
the results as statistically
sound and has tried to get
the federal agency to ac-
cept them. The department
is continuing to talk with
the Labor Department,
the state’s director of em-
ployment policy, Daniel
Zeitlin, said Oct. 12 in an
email.
WAFLA
celebrated
the lack of results, say-
ing growers could pay
free-market rates for la-
bor, rather than govern-
ment-mandated
piece-
Weekly
Fieldwork
Report
Presented by
®
Ore.
Item/description (Source: USDA, NASS; NOAA)
• Days suitable for fieldwork (As of Oct. 16)
5.7
• Topsoil moisture, surplus
0
• Topsoil moisture, percent short
66%
• Subsoil moisture, surplus
0
• Subsoil moisture, percent short
78%
• Precipitation probability
40-50% Above
(6-10 day outlook as of Oct. 16)
GREENWAY SEEDS
Caldwell, Idaho • Alan Greenway, Seedsman
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Bartels Packing shut down
operations in March and laid
off more than 140 employees,
citing the loss of a major cus-
tomer and continuing sales de-
clines.
At the time of its closure,
the company had a total debt of
$8.3 million — including $4.6
million owed to cattle suppli-
ers and feedlots — with assets
worth roughly $14 million.
Capital Press
rates. Organizations such
as Columbia Legal Ser-
vices and the Washington
State Labor Council com-
plained that without man-
dated piece rates, foreign
workers could be forced
to accept the lower-paying
$14.12 an hour guaranteed
H-2A workers.
Columbia Legal at-
torney Joe Morrison said
Friday that based on a few
talks with H-2A workers,
he has not heard evidence
that the dispute over the
wage survey has so far
affected workers. “What
I’ve heard is that people
are paying piece rates,” he
said. “My hope is that this
was a lot of nothing, and
that for the workers, the
harvest went fine.”
Still, the concern re-
mains that continually dis-
carding the wage survey
eventually will suppress
worker pay, he said.
Fazio, who drew offi-
cial ire for advising grow-
ers on how to fill out the
survey in 2015, said two
results from the 2017 sur-
vey jumped out.
The average wage for
picking Red Delicious ap-
ples jumped to $25 from
$20 a bin and for picking
gala apples to $25 from
$20 a bin. Fazio said that
piece-rates might reach or
exceed that at some point
in the season, but “we just
can’t live with that as a
starting wage.”
The Washington State
Tree Fruit Association also
has had concerns about the
accuracy of the survey,
the group’s president, Jon
DeVaney, said in an email.
He said the employment
department has agreed to
clarify on this year’s sur-
vey the fact that piece-
rates can vary among ap-
ple varieties depending on
whether workers are clip-
ping stems, or selectively
picking based on color and
ripeness rather than all the
fruit, he said.
Improving how guest-
worker wages are set
would have to be done at
the federal level, DeVaney
said.
Wash.
Idaho
Calif.
6.3
0
57%
0
58%
4.8
2%
43%
0
56%
7
0
75%
0
75%
40-50% Above
33-40% Above
33-40% Above/
Normal