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Friday, January 18, 2019 CapitalPress.com 3 State board passes rules for Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program Lawmakers will pursue $10 million to fund grants By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press CANNON BEACH, Ore. — The Oregon Water- shed Enhancement Board has approved new adminis- trative rules for a voluntary state grant program to pro- tect and preserve working farms and ranches. Established by law- makers in 2017, the Ore- gon Agricultural Heritage Program was conceived to address the increasing frag- mentation and conversion of farmland — an issue that simultaneously threatens natural resources such as fish and wildlife habitat sup- ported by agriculture, offi- cials say. An 11-person Agricul- tural Heritage Commission met six times in 2018 to write the program rules, set- ting in place grants to help pay for conservation plan- ning, easements, succession planning and technical assis- E.J. Harris/EO Media Group The Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program has taken another step toward helping farmers and ranchers plan for future generations. tance. OWEB approved the rules at a board meeting Jan. 16 in Cannon Beach, Ore. Nellie McAdams, Farm Preservation Program direc- tor for the nonprofit Rogue Farm Corps, worked with the Agricultural Heritage Commission to coordinate membership and meetings. She said farm preservation is one of the biggest chal- lenges facing rural Oregon economies. “At this point, we are seeing a major transition of agricultural lands,” McAd- ams said. “This would pro- vide the funding to help with that planning, and hand off viable farmland to the next generation.” The average age of Ore- gon farmers is now 60, up from 55 in 2002, according to a 2016 study by Oregon State University and Port- land State University. As older farmers start to retire, more than 10 million acres, or 64 percent, of Oregon’s agricultural lands are poised to change ownership over the next two decades. The Agricultural Heri- tage Program is Oregon’s first attempt at awarding grants to keep working lands in production, which in turn benefits the fish and wildlife habitat they support. “(The commission) sees it as integrating agriculture and natural resource bene- fits,” McAdams said. “They don’t see them as compet- ing. They see them as help- ing each other.” The program is supported by a broad coalition of farm and natural resources advo- cacy groups, including the Oregon Farm Bureau, Ore- gon Cattlemen’s Association, Sustainable Northwest, The Nature Conservancy, 1000 Friends of Oregon, the Coa- lition of Oregon Land Trusts and Oregon Association of Conservation Districts. The next step is for the Oregon Legislature to approve funding for the program. State Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, and Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clatskanie, will co-sponsor a bill seeking $10 million to fully implement the program. “Oregon’s working lands are a critical economic driver for the state and it’s import- ant that we preserve our irre- placeable natural resources,” Hansell said in a statement. “I am pleased that OWEB approved these rules so that we are ready to help farmers and ranchers preserve work- ing landscapes and promote resilient rural communities.” With broad bipartisan support from lawmakers, McAdams said she is opti- mistic about the bill passing, even as the state faces a bud- get crunch in 2019. If the funding passes, OWEB will then decide when to release applications for the grants. McAdams said the program would also help farmers and ranchers secure matching federal dollars for agricultural easements and conservation through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. “We have a huge opportu- nity,” she said. “This would be a way to leverage a small amount of funds from a state program to bring in a large amount of federal funds.” China cherry tariff damage revised By DAN WHEAT Capital Press Wolves have come “very close to homes” near Colville in northeast Washington, according to Stevens County commis- sioners, who issued a pub- lic safety announcement Jan. 8 warning residents to protect their pets and livestock. Wolves have been attacking cattle and sheep in the county for many years, but this is the first time the county has issued an alert to resi- dents, county Commis- sioner Don Dashiell said Jan. 11. The county has not received any reports of anyone being threatened by wolves, he said. “I think we’d feel lack- ing in our response if we waited until wolves came and jerked somebody’s dog off the lease and ate it,” Dashiell said. “It’s not out in the middle of nowhere, it’s two miles west of Colville.” Colville, the county seat, is the largest town in Ste- vens County, with a popu- lation of 4,745, according to the state’s latest estimate. The county monitors the movement of wolves fitted by the Department of Fish and Wildlife with radio col- lars. A sheriff’s wildlife dep- uty also has confirmed the presence of wolves, accord- ing to commissioners. Dashiell, a member of Fish and Wildlife’s Wolf Advisory Group, said the department hasn’t collared enough wolves to closely track packs, but the informa- tion available shows wolves are staying in areas near Colville. “We have enough infor- mation to tell us when things are not good,” he said. The county commission- ers posted the warning on the sheriff’s office Facebook page. It has been shared hun- dreds of time. Dashiell said commis- sioners took the initiative to alert the public because Fish and Wildlife has not warned residents in the past about wolf activity. The county did not ask the department to issue a notice in this case, he said. “We’re not going to ask the department to do some- thing they’re either unable or unwilling to do,” he said. Efforts to reach Fish and Wildlife for comment Friday were unsuccessful. Commissioners cau- tioned residents to be careful about leaving out feed that attracts predators. They said residents should be particu- larly aware of wolves in the Orin Rice, Seigel Hill Road, Mingo Mountain, Valley Westside and Crystal Falls areas. one more year and then we work things out,” he said. “We don’t want to lose this market.” Even with the tariff damage in 2018, China was 26.3 percent of PNW cherry exports, topped only by Canada at 33.3 percent. South Korea was 14.6 per- cent and Taiwan was 10 percent. Southeast Asia was 6.1 percent and, next to China, is a key target for growth. India could be a good mar- ket but is held back because importers want produce shipped across oceans, rather than flown, which doesn’t work well with fumigation requirements, Thurlby said. About 30 percent of the PNW cherry crop is exported annually. California may have a better cherry crop this year because growers there are reporting better win- ter chilling temperatures, Thurlby said. Other data from 2018 that he shared: • PNW shipped 9 mil- lion boxes of cherries in June, 13 million in July and 2 million in August. THE 1/11/19 AD COPY FOR GREENWAY SEEDS WAS INADVERTENTLY INCORRECT. THE CORRECT AD COPY IS AS FOLLOWS... Grass Expertise. LET’S TALK! Over 40 Years Experience AN EXCELLENT COVER CROP IS PLANTING ANNUAL CLOVER WITH ANNUAL RYEGRASS. GREENWAY SEEDS Caldwell, Idaho • Alan Greenway, Seedsman Cell: 298-259-9159 • MSG: 298-454-8342 Alan Greenway Seedsman 3-3/108 By DON JENKINS Capital Press continued decline or loss of the China market is a big concern, Thurlby said. Northwest Cherry Growers, the industry’s promotional organization, plans to spend $500,000 in China promotions this year, mostly in incentives to retailers when they pro- mote product, that can be switched elsewhere if they don’t buy, Thurlby said. “People ask me what the number one issue is with cherries and I say Little Cherry Disease and West- ern X (cherry virus) but No. 2 is losing China,” he said. “We’ve spent a lot build- ing it up and this (tariff) is allowing other countries a foothold in what we built.” Kazakhstan, Turkey and Chile are among those. “The best thing that could happen is for this thing (Chinese tariffs) to go away before this season. But I don’t see that. I see 3-3/108 Washington county warns residents about wolves near Colville Dan Wheat/Capital Press Orondo Ruby cherries at harvest in Orondo, Wash., last June. A new estimate pegs Pacific Northwest industry loss at $106 million from Chinese tariffs on cherries last year. 3-3/102 Don Jenkins/Capital Press Stevens County, Wash., Commissioner Don Dashiell says the county has posted a public safety warning about wolves getting near populated areas. WENATCHEE, Wash. — A soon-to-be-released Washington State Univer- sity study will show the Pacific Northwest cherry industry lost an estimated $106 million due to Chi- nese tariffs last year, says B.J. Thurlby, president of Northwest Cherry Growers in Yakima. Thurlby made that com- ment to several hundred growers at the WSU North- central Washington Stone Fruit Day at the Wenatchee Convention Center, Jan. 15. The loss was estimated at $86 million by the North- west Horticultural Council, in Yakima, last summer. At that time, Thurlby said that number was low. The Northwest sold 1.7 million, 20-pound boxes of fresh sweet cherries to China in 2018, down from 3 million boxes in 2017. The 2018 sales could have easily been 3 million boxes without the tariff but the difference was sold in other markets and pressured all prices downward, Thurlby said. China claims the total tariff is 50 percent, but it’s really 63 percent, he said. Total value of the 2018 crop is not available. But the 26.4-million-box 2017 crop was valued at $1 bil- lion with $399 million of that being export, according to NHC. The 25.3-million-box 2018 crop, the industry’s second largest, may well be followed by an equally large crop this year and
