14
CapitalPress.com
Friday, December 21, 2018
Bill would streamline ditch-cleaning regulations
Proposal would allow farmers to remove
more soil from ditches without permit
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Oregon farmers would be
allowed to clean out drainage
ditches without a state fill-re-
moval permit under a bill to
be considered by lawmakers
next year.
Currently, growers face
restrictions on ditch clean-
ing if they’re working in wet-
lands or if the ditch is consid-
ered a “channelized stream”
that contains salmon habitat.
Removing up to 50 cubic
yards of soil from a ditch is
allowable in a wetland unless
it’s considered fish habitat,
in which case farmers must
obtain a permit from the
Department of State Lands.
If they want to remove
more than 50 cubic yards
from a non-fish-bearing
ditch, farmers must obtain a
permit, and the requirements
become more complex if
they want to remove more
than 100 cubic yards.
The Oregon Farm Bureau
has grown worried about an
uptick in complaints about
ditch cleaning to DSL in
recent years and the back-
log in maintenance some
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Farmer John Scharf explains the drainage of tile lines
from his fields near Amity, Ore., into a ditch. Ditch
cleaning is complicated in Oregon by a removal limit
of 50 cubic yards of material per year from designated
wetlands.
growers face due to removal
limitations.
The organization partic-
ipated in a work group this
year that’s culminated in
legislation that would allow
farmers to remove up to
3,000 cubic yards per mile of
ditch over five years as long
as the channel is dry and they
follow other conditions, such
as notifying DSL, minimiz-
ing erosion and replanting
vegetation.
On Dec. 14, the House
Agriculture
Committee
unanimously voted to intro-
duce the “legislative con-
cept” as a bill during next
year’s legislative session.
Farmers would not be
allowed to relocate chan-
nels under the proposal or
to make them deeper or
wider than has traditionally
been necessary for drainage,
among other restrictions,
while DSL and the Oregon
Department of Agriculture
could still adopt rules modi-
fying volume limits.
Related legislative con-
cepts introduced by the com-
mittee include two propos-
als that would require DSL
to study potential changes to
fill-removal law and to study
wetland mitigation banks —
under which new wetlands
are developed to compensate
for losses elsewhere — to
see how they could be made
more effective.
Another proposal would
require state agencies to
study developing a per-
mit specifically for land-
owners in Eastern Oregon
for fill-removal activities
necessary for wetland and
stream restoration on pri-
vate property.
Farm bill covers
bases for U.S. ag
Dairy markets dampen hay outlook
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
BURLEY, Idaho — It was
a good growing year in the
West for hay producers. Ida-
ho’s alfalfa hay production
increased 19 percent year over
year and was 14 percent higher
than the five-year average.
That made a lot of
good-quality hay available and
took a lot of feeder hay out of
the markets, Steve Hines,
Jerome County extension edu-
cator, told producers during
the annual University of Idaho
outlook seminar Dec. 12.
Nationwide,
production
was up 8 percent. Stocks of all
hay are up, and disappearance
is down. High supply and low
demand doesn’t help prices, he
said.
“Idaho and its neighbors
are carrying quite a bit of hay,”
he said.
Stocks of all hay on farms
in Idaho, Washington and
Oregon were up 10 percent
on May 1, and a few factors
might keep more stocks than
usual on the farm, he said.
The forecasted warmer,
drier winter in the region could
result in less hay being fed to
livestock. Struggling dair-
ies are using less hay in their
rations, and Chinese retalia-
tory tariffs are taking a toll on
exports, he said.
Dairy is a price-setter in
south-central Idaho, and the
dairy industry is in a bind.
Dairy farmers aren’t stock-
With House and Senate approval of the Agri-
cultural Improvement Act of 2018, odds are good
that farmers and ranchers will be toasting the new
year with federal farm policy
firmly in place.
The new farm bill provides a
projected $428 billion in fund-
ing over five years for vast array
of programs. The majority of the
budget, 76 percent, goes to nutri-
tion programs such as the Supple-
mental Nutrition Assistance Pro-
Andrew
Walmsley
gram, or SNAP.
Crop insurance, conservation
and commodity programs account for 23 percent
of anticipated farm bill spending. The remaining
funding would support programs in the areas of
trade, rural development, energy, forestry, horti-
culture, research and extension, credit and miscel-
laneous other items.
The most important thing about the new farm
bill is that Congress “got one done before the end
of the year … we’re not starting over with a new
Congress,” Andrew Walmsley, American Farm
Bureau Federation’s director of congressional
relations, said.
The bill provides five years of certainty on
risk-management programs, crop insurance and
other programs, he said.
The bill awaiting President Trump’s signature
lets agriculture know what the ground rules are,
although it still has to go through implementation
with USDA, he said.
“Overall, it’s a pretty good bill in a very tough
political climate,” he said.
One of the key outcomes of the new farm bill is
that crop insurance is protected, providing another
five years of a good crop insurance program, he
said.
“It’s a vital tool for both farmers and lenders,”
he said.
The bill expands insurance coverage to hemp
and forage and grazing crops, providing separate
policies for crops, such as winter wheat, that can
be both grazed and harvested. It also instructs the
Risk Management Agency to focus on improv-
ing insurance for crops affected by hurricanes and
tropical storms, different irrigation systems, losses
in crop quality and grain sorghum.
The legislation makes improvements on a good
existing program, he said.
Improvements were also made to the Agricul-
tural Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage pro-
grams by updating the election process, he said.
The new policy allows producers to choose
between the two programs on an annual basis
beginning in 2121 on a crop-by-crop and farm-by-
farm basis. It also allows farmers to update pro-
gram yields, and it adjusts reference prices when
market prices improve and increases marketing
assistance loan rates.
“For dairy, the new margin coverage program is
a big win,” he said.
The bill adds higher coverage levels for a farm-
er’s first 5 million pounds of milk and expands the
range of production a farmer can insure — 5 per-
cent to 95 percent. It also reduces premiums for
insured milk in excess of 5 million pounds.
Livestock producers will also benefit from
the $300 million over 10 years targeted for ani-
mal disease prevention and management, which
includes funding for a foot and mouth disease
vaccine bank and the new National Animal Dis-
ease Preparedness and Response Program.
Being prepared and able to respond to an inter-
national disease making its way to the U.S. was
one of the biggest priorities for livestock produc-
ers to protect the U.S. industry, he said.
Conservation programs mostly stayed the
same but with some improvements, he said.
The acreage cap in the Conservation Reserve
Program was increased to 27 million acres and
includes 2 million acres for grassland to pro-
vide more flexibility for grazing. It also reduced
county rental rates and incentive payments.
It allows CRP to target the most sensitive
lands without tying up land for beginning farm-
ers and ranchers, he said.
The bill increases funding for the Environ-
mental Quality Incentives Program and makes
changes to the Conservation Stewardship Pro-
gram to make it more attractive and provide bet-
ter funding for projects, he said.
In the area of trade, the bill retains most of
the major marketing programs with $255 mil-
lion annually. It also creates some baseline
funding for those programs, which is import-
ant so they can continue in the next farm bill,
he said.
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Dan Wheat/Capital Press File
Nationwide, hay production was up 8 percent this year. Stocks of all hay are up, and
disappearance is down. High supply and low demand doesn’t help prices, Steve Hines,
Jerome County extension educator, says.
piling hay as they have in the
past. They’re feeding less hay
and using more alternatives,
and they might not switch
back, he said.
USDA
is
forecasting
improved domestic demand
for hay in 2019. So hay sales
might go up but in this region,
it’s going to depend on what
happens in the dairy industry,
he said.
“As milk goes, so goes
hay,” he said.
Milk prices are below
break-even, and cow numbers
are declining. Substitute feed
prices are low, and substitute
feed stocks are high although
falling, he said.
In addition, hay production
is forecast higher in 2019, with
good stocks on hand, he said.
On top of that, the trade war
with China has increased tar-
iffs to 30 percent on imports
of U.S. alfalfa and 32 percent
on imports of U.S. grass hay,
he said.
“Hay exports were really
strong until the trade wars,” he
said.
Over the past five years,
U.S. hay exports to China
grew 183 percent, but suppli-
ers report those exports are
down 20 percent to 40 percent,
he said.
“China is far and away our
largest export trading partner.
If you’re tied to the export
market, you’re tied into what’s
going on in China,” he said.
Chinese dairy produc-
ers are making supply adjust-
ments and will feed alternative
feeds, and there’s a risk that
those new arrangements will
solidify. If the trade war goes
on very long, the U.S. could
lose the market to other sup-
pliers or alternative feeds, he
said.
Saudi Arabia, on the other
hand, is the bright spot, and
U.S. hay exports there will
continue to grow. The coun-
try has stopped using water
to irrigate alfalfa to conserve
water.
Ag employers seek last-minute relief from wage increases
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Efforts by the National
Council
of
Agricultural
Employers to freeze the 2018
minimum wage for H-2A-
visa foreign guestworkers next
year have gained support, but
time is running out.
Congress
will
likely
adjourn Dec. 21 and if appro-
priations bills with a freeze
amendment haven’t passed
that leaves the issue to possi-
ble intervention by the secre-
taries of USDA or Labor.
Neither department has
responded yet to NCAE’s Nov.
28 letter asking for the freeze,
Michael Marsh, the organiza-
tion’s president and CEO, said
Dec. 17.
The appropriations bills are
tied up in a stalemate between
the White House and Congress
over funding for a border wall.
The dispute could result in a
partial government shut down.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Roberto Hinojosa Fernandez, an H-2A picker, clips stems
on Fuji apples at Valicoff Orchards, Wapato, Wash., on Oct.
17. Agricultural employers are trying to convince Congress
to freeze wages for foreign guestworkers to avoid a huge
increase slated for next year.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.,
has authored an amendment
to freeze the H-2A minimum
hourly wage, known as the
Adverse Effect Wage Rate or
AEWR. An NCAE letter sup-
porting that amendment has
now been signed by 76 other
agricultural associations and
57 farms and businesses,
Marsh said.
Based on USDA National
Agricultural Statistics Ser-
vice data released Nov. 15, the
AEWR is estimated to increase
6.3 percent nationwide and 16
percent, 23 percent and 15
percent in three regions of the
Mountain West. Washington
and Oregon would go from
$14.12 to $15.03 per hour, the
highest in the nation.
Such increases would be
“devastating” to some farms
given the increase in hourly
earnings for all U.S. employ-
ment is 2.8 percent and crop
prices are level or decreasing
from prior years, Marsh said.
The Department of Labor
usually would be setting the
2019 AEWRs on Dec. 21 to be
effective at the start of the new
year, Marsh said.
“The best solution for us
would be for the govern-
ment not to shut down and
the Sen. Tillis amendment
to be adopted. Then we have
surety from a legislative stand-
point of direction given to
DOL for a temporary hold,”
Marsh said.
Research co-op lands third grant to develop organic veggies
OSU breeder leads
multi-state program
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
CORVALLIS, Ore. — For
the third time in nine years, the
USDA will fund a multi-state
research program dedicated to
breeding new cultivars of veg-
etables specially adapted for
organic farms.
The Northern Organic Veg-
etable Improvement Cooper-
ative, or NOVIC, started in
2009 with a $2 million grant
from the Organic Research
and Extension Initiative, part
of the USDA’s National Insti-
tute of Food and Agriculture.
It received a second $2 million
grant in 2014, and was once
again awarded $2 million ear-
lier this year.
Jim Myers, a plant breeder
and professor of horticul-
ture at Oregon State Univer-
sity, serves as project director
for NOVIC, a collaboration
of breeders and farmers who
work together on developing
new organic varieties. Other
research partners include the
University of Wisconsin-Mad-
ison, Cornell University, the
Organic Seed Alliance in Port
Townsend, Wash., and USDA
Agricultural Research Service
Plant Genetic Resources Unit
in Geneva, N.Y.
Myers said it is extremely
rare for a project to be funded
three times by the USDA,
which goes to show the qual-
ity and impact of their work.
“It’s nice to have the con-
tinuity, to have a long run like
this,” Myers said. “We have a
lot of things in the pipeline and
they’re looking at us to finish
them.”
Myers’ research focuses on
tomatoes — specifically, find-
ing varieties that are resistant
to late blight and other dis-
eases. The co-op is also per-
forming variety trials on sweet
corn, winter squash, peppers
and cabbage, targeting resil-
ience to insects and weeds.
Organic crops cannot be
raised with conventional fer-
tilizers, herbicides and pes-
ticides. Myers said organic
growers need robust and stable
varieties, able to tolerate con-
ditions and fend off pests or
diseases that would normally
be controlled with spraying.
“You’re trying to use nat-
ural inputs, and have a fairly
closed system so there’s not a
lot coming from the outside,”
he said.
NOVIC trials have already
resulted in a number of new
releases alongside grower
partners, such as the “Iron
Lady” and “Brandywine”
tomatoes, “Honeynut” squash
and “Solstice” broccoli.