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4 CapitalPress.com October 26, 2018 Yakima hotel transforms into farmworker housing By DAN WHEAT Capital Press YAKIMA, Wash. — A hotel in Yakima that has been most- ly converted to seasonal farm- worker housing could eventu- ally house 900 farmworkers as demand takes off, its principal owner says. That could happen if Re- publicans maintain con- trol of Con- Robert gress in the Valicoff Nov. 6 election and pass immigration reform that includes mandatory E-ver- ify (electronic verification of employment eligibility), says Robert Valicoff, principal own- er of FairBridge Inn & Suites and president of Valicoff Fruit Co. in Wapato. Industry and government estimate 50 to 70 percent of domestic seasonal farmwork- ers are illegal immigrants. Mandatory E-verify coupled with foreign guestworker re- forms would greatly increase the already growing number of foreign guestworkers, Valicoff reasons. Dan Wheat/Capital Press The FairBridge Inn & Suites, Yakima, Wash., on Oct. 17. Most of it has been converted into farmworker housing. The 65-year-old, third-gen- eration tree fruit grower was one of the first in the state to use H-2A-visa foreign guest- workers in 2006 as he began to experience and foresaw an increasing shortage of domestic workers. The company farms 1,700 acres and averages 1.5 million, 40-pound boxes of apples an- nually and produces about 35 to 40 percent of the state’s apri- cots. The company’s orchards and packing plant operate with 220 year-round employees and, with seasonal help, peaks at 400 employees during harvest from August to early November. “About 95 percent of our seasonal workforce is now H-2A through WAFLA (for- merly the Washington Farm Labor Association). It’s spen- dy but working. Without it we would be in a world of hurt,” Valicoff said. He estimates his total labor costs increased 25 to 30 percent when he became fully invested in H-2A. That’s due to higher wages, more paperwork, em- ployer-provided housing and employer-provided transporta- tion locally and from and back to Mexico. Valicoff built housing with 18 th Annual WILLAMETTE VALLEY 3 Big Days! Tues • Wed • Thurs NOVEMBER 13 • 14 • 15 4 Big Buildings! CORE Pesticide Training for credits CPR/AED Training (Register online) Forklift Certification Classes (Register online) Antique Farm Equipment Show with over 70 pieces on display 180+ Vendors and Dozens of New Exhibitors! Another 20,000 sq. ft. of indoor heated displays! Back by Popular Demand: Wed. Evening Dine Around Oregon. Tickets available online. LEGAL PUBLIC NOTICE The Soil and Water Conservation Commission (SWCC) will hold its regular quarterly meeting from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, at the Agate Beach Best Western Conference Center, 3019 North Coast Highway, Newport, OR 97365. The meeting agenda covers SWCC reports, advisor reports, Soil and Water Conservation District programs and funding, Agriculture Water Quality Management Program updates, and other agenda items. The Oregon Department of Agriculture complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you need special accommodations to participate in this meeting, please contact Sandi Hiatt at (503) 986-4704, at least 72 hours prior to the meeting. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 Meetings: Santiam Classroom (REPEATS on Thursday) Training: 2018 CORE Training NOTE: These classes repeat on THURSDAY, 4 credits total are available (not 8). No pre-registration required. Admission is $4 at the door, parking is free, courses are complimentary with admission. Each two hour block = two credits. Oregon and Washington Department of Ag recertification credits apply. • 10:30-11:30AM • Jeffrey Jenkins; Pesticide Human Health Risk Assessment A general discussion of the basic principles toxicology and key elements of pesticide human health risk assessment applied to glyphosate case study. • 11:30-12:30PM • Jeffrey Jenkins; A System Approach to Water Quality Assessment in Oregon Watersheds • Introduction to the OSU Watershed Assessment Framework and more. • Lunch or other Break • 2:00 – 3:00 p.m • Kaci Buhl; Worker Protection Standard – What Agricultural Employers Need to Know • Will cover the requirements for agricultural employers under the WPS. • 3:00 – 4:00 p.m • Andrea Sonnen; ODA Update / Lessons Learned • A brief overview of updates to laws and regulations and a look at several cases from the previous year detailing lessons learned. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14 Meetings: Willamette Conference Center • 10:30- 12:15PM • CPR / AED with Standard First Aid (Advanced online registration required and $30.00 fee) • Pacific Health & Safety will provide authorized health and safety training at the 2018 Willamette Valley Ag Expo. This course will cover CPR & choking for ages 8 and over, AED training for adult and child victims, and first aid for basic injuries and sudden illnesses. Certification from this course is valid for 2 years. • Pacific Health & Safety uses American Trauma Event Management and American Red Cross training materials that conform to national standards that are based on the same scientific guidelines and treatment recommendations used by the American Heart Association guidelines, International Liaison committee on Resuscitation guidelines, and Emergency Cardiac Care scientific guidelines. • 1:30-2:45PM • Standard First Aid (Registration required, and $15.00 fee) • Pacific Health & Safety will provide authorized health & safety training at the 2018 Willamette Valley Ag Expo. This course will cover First Aid for basic injuries & sudden illnesses. Certification from this course is valid for 2 years. • 10:30 a.m. • Forklift Certification Training: – Santiam Classroom (Advanced registration required, free with admission) • Includes: classroom, workbook, written knowledge check verification with a scheduled practical driving evaluation immediately following. Proof of successful completion of course, knowledge check, and practical driving evaluation provided. Program and equipment provided/donated by Pape Material Handling and OVERTON Safety Training. Class size limited to 40 people. Advanced registration required online at www.wvaexpo.com. This class is free with paid admission. Class size limited to 40 people. (All materials and instruction is provided in English) 43-1/999 Capital Press A sharp cutback in Chi- nese fertilizer exports is responsible for the steep in- crease in prices for urea and other forms of nitrogen over the past year. Nitrogen is a major ex- pense for farmers, with the price of such products as an- hydrous ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate, or UAN, generally tracking the price of urea, a globally traded com- modity. A ton of urea is now trading in the range of $310- $325 along the Gulf Mexico wholesale market, up from a low point of roughly $160 in mid-2017. “It’s amazing when you look back at how low prices actually did get,” said Chris Yearsley, director of Profer- cy, a fertilizer market analysis firm in London. While the global market is a major driver for prices, the retail price of urea and other nitrogen products for U.S. farmers is higher than the wholesale price due to trans- LEGAL CHERRY AVENUE STORAGE 2680 Cherry Ave. NE Salem, OR 97301 (503) 399-7454 AUCTION SAT., NOV. 10TH, 2018 at 10 A.M. Unit AS-118 Unit 132 Unit 218 Regan A Liddle Savannah Johnson Advanced Recovery Corp. Unit 220-C Frias Construction Unit 173 Sandra Patty Unit 3 Shana Sullivan Unit 169 David Holmes Unit 11 Kevin Keller Unit 138/AS-72 Norma Palacios CherryAvenue Storage reserves the right to refuse any and all bids. 43-2-1/999 5% Discount Code: CAPITAL5 43-1/103 Don’t miss the opportunity to attend one of the largest weed control & management meetings in the US on November 7-9, 2018 at Wenatchee Convention Center! Topics cover crops of all kinds, turf & ornamental, vegetation management & aquatics. • Pacific Health & Safety Sponsor • Oregon Shipping Group • Overton Safety Training CORE • Pape Machinery Pesticide • Peterson Machinery Training • Sunbelt Rentals wvaexpo.com • Oregonians for Food & Shelter • And thank you to the following Dine Around Oregon sponsors: • Reed Anderson Ranches • Manning Farms • Oregon Dairy Women • Oregon Cattleman’s Association Recertification Credits applied for through WSDA, Oregon and Idaho! Contact the Washington State Weed Association at 509.288.4677 or info@weedconference.org The cost is Register online at www.weedconference.org $125 per person 2018 Featured Speaker: Steven Manning 43-3/100 Linn County Fair & Expo Center (20 Minutes South of Salem) By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI portation and storage costs, varying by region. Though nitrogen produc- tion in the U.S. has increased, domestic buyers are nonethe- less affected by trade, said Yearsley. “The market will not be divorced from the in- ternational market.” Chinese manufacturers weren’t making money pro- ducing urea in recent years, causing them to pull back on production, he said. Environ- mental restrictions also re- duced urea production, with some factories unable to af- ford expensive equipment retrofits. In 2018, China is project- ed to export about 1.5 million tons of urea — nearly one- tenth of the 13.7 million tons the nation exported in 2015, he said. “The supply worldwide has dropped due to China’s reluctance to export,” Years- ley said. “It’s not just the U.S., it’s worldwide.” Changing circumstances elsewhere around the globe have also contributed to the lower inventories of urea. Coal and natural gas, which are necessary to man- ufacture the fertilizer, have grown more expensive, which has suppressed urea production in the European Union, he said. Economic sanctions on Iran have also had an effect: Traditional consumers in the EU, Turkey and India have been blocked from buying from that country, forcing them to compete for the fer- tilizer elsewhere, he said. “It’s a number of factors that are driving this,” Years- ley said. However, urea prices won’t likely climb to the stratospheric levels seen earlier this decade, he said. At one point in 2012, for example, a ton of urea cost more than $600 along the Gulf Coast. Now, Chinese manufacturers would prob- ably spring back into action and boost global urea inven- tories if prices rose, which in turn would limit the price surge, Yearlsey said. • Orders Placed by 2pm (PT) Ship on the Same Day A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR 2018 WILLAMETTE VALLEY AG EXPO SPONSORS: 3700 Knox Butte Rd . I-5 @ Exit 234 • Albany, OR Developments in China, Iran and the European Union contribute to hike in fertilizer costs • Free Shipping on Orders $100+ free, courses are complimentary with admission. Each two hour block = two credits. Oregon and Washington Department of Ag recertification credits apply. • 10:30-11:30AM • Jeffrey Jenkins; Pesticide Human Health Risk Assessment A general discussion of the basic principles toxicology and key elements of pesticide human health risk assessment applied to glyphosate case study. • 11:30-12:30PM • Jeffrey Jenkins; A System Approach to Water Quality Assessment in Oregon Watersheds • Introduction to the OSU Watershed Assessment Framework, a systems approach employing monitoring, modeling and geospatial analysis to aid in stakeholder evaluation of alternative IPM practices and BMPs designed to reduce pesticide surface water loading. • Lunch or other Break • 2:00 – 3:00 p.m • Daniella Whanger; Worker Protection Standard – What Agricultural Employers Need to Know • Will cover the requirements for agricultural employers under the WPS, as revised in 2015. Provisions for training, central posting, decontamination requirements, and other topics will be discussed , with questions and answers. • 3:00 – 4:00 p.m • Andrea Sonnen & Jennifer Marin; ODA Update / Lessons Learned • A brief overview of updates to laws and regulations and a look at several cases from the previous year detailing lessons learned. For Expo updates, follow us on Facebook! Chinese cutbacks cause surge in nitrogen prices • Facility Offers Faster Delivery to CA, ID, OR & WA Meetings: Santiam Classroom (REPEAT of Tuesday, November 13-cannot duplicate credits) Training: 2018 CORE Training No pre-registration required. Admission is $4 at the door, parking is For information about sessions or presenters please contact: Andy Steinkamp andy.steinkamp@valleyag.com • 503-932-5049 Expo contact: Jill Ingalls info@wvaexpo.com • 800-208-2168 Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File A front-end loader scoops up urea. Nitrogen prices have in- creased this year, mainly because of lower production in China. New West Coast Distribution THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15 • Ag Chains Plus • Ag West Supply • Boshart Trucking • Coastal Farm • Complete Wireless • Doerfler Farms • Fastline, Sponsor • Farmland Tractor • Les Schwab Tires • Nutrien Ag Solutions • NW 94 Sales • Northwest Farm Credit Service 96 beds for H-2A workers two years ago at a cost of $13,500 per bed or roughly $1.3 million. He needed more housing and decided it would be cheaper in the long run to buy FairBridge Inn & Suites, 1507 N. First St., in Yakima. A showcase in its early years, the large hotel had fall- en into disrepair and financial hardship. Borton Fruit, of Yakima, bought it for $3.2 million in 2017 to use for farmworker housing. Borton invested in re- pairs and then decided it didn’t want to continue, Valicoff said. First Street Investments, of which Valicoff is principal partner, bought the hotel from Borton last spring for $4 mil- lion and spent $800,000 to $1 million in repairs, Valicoff said. With new H-2A housing on farms now costing $15,000 to $20,000 per bed, Valicoff fig- ures the hotel will cost 50 per- cent less if 620 beds are utilized by farmworkers for six to seven months. WAFLA contributed “sub- stantially” to renovations in exchange for a $12 per night rate for H-2A workers of WA- FLA members and first right of refusal on all beds. Other farm- workers pay $14 per night. It is open to foreign and domestic farmworkers. Borton, Stadelman Fruit LLC in Zillah, Zirkle Fruit Co. in Selah and others growers along with Valicoff Fruit and WAFLA utilized 580 beds for farmworkers this season, but now that’s dropped to 240, Val- icoff said. Of the 200 rooms, 115 have been converted into bunk rooms of four to six bunks for farmworkers and 85 rooms re- main available to regular hotel guests. It could be converted to all farmworkers if there is de- mand, Valicoff said. The hotel cafeteria provides breakfast and dinner and sack lunches for workers for $12.26 per day that is deducted from their pay per federal H-2A regulations. Steven Manning has spent the past 25 years working on invasive species. He is the current President of the Pacific Northwest Invasive Plant Council, current Vice President of the Mid Atlantic Invasive Plant Council, past co-chair of the National Military Fish and Wildlife Association’s Invasive Species Working Group and serves on the board of the North Carolina Invasive Plant Council. 43-1/101
