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WILLAMETTE VALLEY AG EXPO SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE
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Weekly
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The West’s
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER
2, 2018
VOLUME 91, NUMBER 44
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
FARMER POLITICIAN
Several candidates running for the Oregon Legislature must
strike a balance between farm life and the campaign trail
George Plaven/Capital Press
Shelly Boshart Davis is running to replace Andy Olson in the
Oregon House of Representatives for House District 15
in the Willamette Valley.
Courtesy of Chuck Thomsen
Sen. Chuck Thomsen, R-Hood River, is running for re-elec-
tion to the Oregon Senate representing Senate District 26.
Courtesy of Rich Vial
Rep. Rich Vial, R-Scholls, is running for re-election in the
Oregon House of Representatives for House District 26.
Running the farm, running for office
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
large 18-wheeler idled outside the main office at
Boshart Trucking in Tangent, Ore., on a gray Oc
tober morning as Shelly Boshart Davis recounted
another successful grass seed harvest in the Mid-Willa-
mette Valley.
Boshart Trucking contracts with more than 40 local
farmers to bale and haul grass straw, with Davis, 38, in
charge of managing field crews, inventory and other lo-
gistics. The job involves a lot of paperwork, especially
during harvest in July and August.
With the season now in the rear-view mirror, Davis is
focused in earnest on her next big challenge: campaigning
for election to the Oregon House of Representatives on
Nov. 6.
“Oh my goodness, you should see the calendar,” Davis
A
said. “It’s everything from meetings for endorsements to
letters, events, knocking on doors, phone banking, putting
up signs, and just being out in the community.”
Davis, a Republican, is hoping to represent District
15, which covers portions of Linn and Benton counties
in the Willamette Valley, including the city of Albany. In-
cumbent Rep. Andy Olson, a Republican, is retiring after
14 years in the Legislature. Democrat Jerred Taylor and
Independent Cynthia Hyatt are also running for the seat.
According to the Oregon Farm Bureau, fewer than a
dozen Oregon legislators are directly involved in agri-
culture, though others may be retired, semi-retired or do
some farming and ranching on the side. The Legislature
consists of 30 senators and 60 representatives from across
the state.
For Davis, the office would add to her already busy
schedule. She and her business partner, Macey Wessels,
a farmer in Scio, Ore., purchased Boshart Trucking over
the summer from Davis’ parents, Stan and Lori Boshart,
taking over the company founded in 1983 by Stan and his
brother, Gene Boshart.
And that is just one arm of the family business. Davis
is also vice president of international sales and marketing
for BOSSCO Trading, marketing grass straw for animal
feed to customers in Japan and South Korea.
Yet when Olson, the incumbent, asked Davis if she
would run to be his successor, Davis said she felt the pull
of politics.
Turn to ELECTION, Page 12
Reduced ‘exclusion zone’ proposed for Willamette Valley canola
Oregon farm regulators to submit recommendations by mid-November
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Oregon farm regulators are con-
templating reducing the “exclusion
zone” for growing canola in Ore-
gon’s Willamette Valley by more
than half from an earlier proposal.
The Oregon Department of Agri-
culture has floated the idea of estab-
lishing a new 889,000-acre exclusion
zone for the crop, down from the 1.96
million acres proposed five years ago.
Canola is controversial in the re-
gion, as some farmers see it as a po-
tentially valuable rotation crop while
others fear it will cross-pollinate
with other Brassica species grown
for specialty seed.
After ODA proposed relaxing
restrictions on canola in 2013, the
resulting dispute that erupted wound
up before Oregon lawmakers, who
imposed a 500-acre cap on its pro-
duction until 2019.
During an Oct. 25 meeting in Sa-
lem, Ore., agency officials proposed
a map of the significantly reduced
exclusion zone to representatives
of specialty seed producers, canola
growers and other interested parties.
Jim Johnson, ODA’s land use
specialist, explained that he de-
signed the map by studying where
specialty seeds and canola have been
grown and overlaying that data with
information about soil quality and
available irrigation water.
Specialty seeds are typically
grown in higher-quality soils and re-
quire irrigation, while canola can be
grown as a dryland crop that would
compete with grass seed.
“Canola can go places specialty
seed can’t,” Johnson said.
Turn to CANOLA, Page 12
Snake River dams seen as possible barriers to saving orcas
Task force working
on recovery plan
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington’s orca-rescue plan
could include creating more fish
habitat in Puget Sound and taking
another look at removing Low-
er Snake River dams, accord-
ing to a task force’s preliminary
proposals.
Orcas don’t have enough fish to
eat, especially chinook salmon, ac-
cording to a task force report. The
group may recommend studying
how much the killer whales would
benefit by breaching Ice Harbor,
Lower Monumental, Little Goose
and Lower Granite dams on the
Snake River.
Another proposal is to make
Courtesy National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Orcas, also known as killer whales, travel off the coast of Washington. A gover-
nor’s task force may recommend looking at removing four Lower Snake River
dams to help orcas have more fish to eat.
more fish habitat in several basins
in northwest and southwest Wash-
ington. Such projects in the past
have included breaching dikes and
flooding fields that had been used
for agriculture.
The 49-member task force,
which was created by Gov. Jay In-
slee, will meet next week to final-
ize its recommendations. One task
force member, House Agriculture
and Natural Resources Committee
Chairman Brian Blake, said Mon-
day that there are more effective
ways to help orcas than taking out
the Snake River dams.
“I personally do not support re-
moval of the Snake River dams.
I think it’s the wrong thing to be
studying,” said Blake, D-Aber-
deen.
Some 76 orcas that travel be-
tween southern Alaska and cen-
tral California spend most of the
year in the Salish Sea and off the
coast of Washington. The first
census counted 66 orcas in 1973.
The population peaked at 98 in
1995. The orcas are believed to
be in poor condition and strug-
gling to reproduce, according to
the report.
Turn to ORCAS, Page 12