Capital press., March 08, 2019, Image 1

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Friday, March 8, 2019
Volume 92, Number 10
CapitalPress.com
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A DIFFERENT KIND OF
FARM ORGANIZATION
National Farmers Union meets to debate how
it agrees, differs with Trump policies, style
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
ELLEVUE, Wash. — Farmers at the 117th anniversary
convention of the National Farmers Union this week had
the same worry as the ones who attended the organization’s
fi rst gathering more than a century ago — low incomes.
The 460 conventioneers saw graphs projected on large
screens. Upward lines showed yields. Downward lines tracked prices.
The lines should lead to a national policy to manage supply, Michael
Stumo, head of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, told the
convention.
“The laissez-faire, free-trade approach just burned up our country-
side,” he said.
The Farmers Union, smaller but older than the American Farm
Bureau Federation, held its three-day convention, Sunday through
Tuesday, at a Hyatt Regency hotel in a Seattle suburb. The
organization has a national reach, including a North-
west chapter, but most members are from the Upper
Great Plains.
The union took off in the early 1900s, driven
by the idea that farmers should organize, control
supply and set prices. That’s what farmers should
do now, Minnesota corn and soybean farmer Ted
Winter said. “We need to re-create the value of the
Farmers Union.”
National Farmers
Trade concerns
Union President
The convention’s fi rst day featured a panel on Roger Johnson
trade that included Stumo, whose organization says
it includes liberals and conservatives. Stumo, whose background is in
law, mocks economists’ rock-ribbed allegiance to free trade, which he
says is a myth anyway.
“Free-trade doesn’t exist. It’s a pink unicorn. People have never
seen it, but people like to talk a lot about it,” he said.
Stumo acknowledged “ideological hurdles” in advancing a pol-
icy based on less agricultural production, plus price supports. “I don’t
expect to be hoisted up and cheered,” he said.
“We think we are in a world of scarcity, where everyone is dying to
buy U.S. stuff, “ he said. “We’re in a world of glut. We need a policy
that’s based on glut, not on scarcity.”
Stumo agreed times are tough for farmers, but attributed that to a
strong U.S. dollar and overproduction that predates retaliatory tariffs
imposed on U.S. farm goods.
In 2011, net farm income was $113.6 billion, according to USDA.
For 2018, the USDA projects $66.3 billion, a 42% decrease in seven
years.
Last month, USDA projected net farm income will increase to
B
• Founded 1902 in Texas as the Farmers Educational and Cooperative
Union of America.
• Early accounts credited Newt Gresham as the founder. Following his death
in 1906, the union awarded Gresham’s wife a $1,000-a-year pension.
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Michael Stumo, head of the
Coalition for a Prosperous
America, speaks at the
National Farmers Union
convention March 3 in
Bellevue, Wash.
• Chapters established in Oregon and Washington in 1907.
• The union claimed membership of 2 to 3 million before World War I.
• NFU now says it represents about 181,000 family farmers in 33 states.
Idaho, Oregon and Washington form the Northwest chapter.
• Roger Johnson has been the national president since 2009. Before that,
he was the elected North Dakota agriculture commissioner.
• NFU’s educational programs include the Beginning Farmer Institute.
Source: Capital Press research
Capital Press graphic
See Union, Page 11
Feds propose lifting wolf protections
Species has ignited tensions between ranchers, environmentalists
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
A proposal to lift endan-
gered species protections
for gray wolves across the
Lower 48 states is infl aming
old tensions between North-
west ranchers and wildlife
advocates.
On March 6, Acting Sec-
retary of the Interior David
Bernhardt announced the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice will soon come up with
a plan for delisting wolves,
returning management to
states and tribes.
“Recovery of the gray
wolf under the Endan-
gered Species Act is one our
nation’s great conservation
successes, with the wolf join-
ing other cherished species,
such as the bald eagle, that
have been brought back from
the brink with the help of the
ESA,” said Fish and Wildlife
spokesman Gavin Shire.
Jerome Rosa, executive
director of the Oregon Cat-
tlemen’s Association, said
the announcement confi rms
that wolf recovery is on
track, and gives ranchers in
Western Oregon more ability
to address confl icts between
wolves and livestock.
“Hopefully this will add
more tools for our ranch-
ers in the rest of the state to
control this species that is
really growing at a success-
ful rate,” Rosa said.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife
removed wolves from the
state Endangered Species
List in 2015, allowing for
wildlife managers in Eastern
Oregon to kill wolves that
repeatedly attack livestock
under certain circumstances,
as defi ned in the state Wolf
Conservation and Manage-
ment Plan.
Wolves remain feder-
ally protected, however,
west of highways 395, 78
and 95, limiting ranch-
ers to non-lethal forms of
deterrence such as range
riders and fl adry — lines
of rope mounted along
fence lines with colored
fl ags that fl ap in the wind,
intended to scare wolves
from pastures.
Veril Nelson, a south-
west Oregon rancher, serves
as co-chairman on the cat-
tlemen’s association wolf
committee. He said local
producers need the ability
to kill problem wolves that
repeatedly prey on cows,
citing the Rogue pack near
Crater Lake that has notched
multiple confi rmed attacks
on livestock over the past
year in Jackson and Klam-
ath counties.
See Wolf, Page 11
Washington Senate Democrats
advance ‘environmental justice’ bill
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Senate
Democrats are advancing a
bill directing state agencies
to base their rules, enforce-
ment actions and funding
decisions on “environmen-
tal justice.”
Several farm groups are
on record as opposing the
measure, introduced by Sen.
Rebecca Saldana, D-Seattle.
Known as the Healthy Envi-
ronment for All Act, the law
would ensure people most
threatened by environmen-
tal damage are heard, she
said.
“The HEAL Act
Tuesday on a list of
is not designed to
bills in position to
impact the agri-
be voted by the full
cultural industry,”
Senate.
Saldana said in an
The bill enjoys
email Wednesday.”
broad
support
Many of the
from environmen-
most impacted com- Washington tal
groups
and
State Sen.
munities in our state
some state agen-
Rebecca
are in rural agricul-
cies, including Ecol-
Saldana
tural communities
ogy and the Depart-
and thus the HEAL
ment of Natural
Act could help target more Resources.
public priorities and invest-
“Supporting
environ-
ments and better outreach of mental justice, equity and
those rural communities.”
inclusion are high priorities
Senate Bill 5489 passed for Commissioner (Hilary)
the Democratic-controlled Franz and the department,”
environmental and budget DNR Senior Strategic
committees and was placed Adviser Tom Bugert said.
“We want to do what we can
to help the bill’s passage.”
The bill declares that it’s
the state’s policy “to stimu-
late the health and welfare
of human beings” and for all
Washington residents to have
“aesthetically and culturally
pleasing surroundings.”
The bill would create a
task force co-chaired by the
chairman the Governor’s
Interagency Council on
Health Disparities and some-
one “well-informed on the
principles of environmental
justice.”
The bill defi nes “envi-
ronmental justice” as “the
fair treatment and meaning-
ful involvement of all peo-
ple regardless of race, color,
national origin, or income
with respect to the develop-
ment, implementation, and
enforcement of environ-
mental laws, regulations and
policies.”
The task force would con-
duct a “cumulative impact
analysis” to identify “highly
impacted communities and
vulnerable populations.”
State agencies must use
the cumulative impact anal-
ysis and adopt a “precau-
tionary approach” to regula-
tions, according to the bill.
See Bill, Page 11