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CapitalPress.com
Friday, March 8, 2019
Attorney describes options
to get foreign farmworkers
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
YAKIMA, Wash. —
While the H-2A-visa agri-
cultural foreign guest-
worker program is heavily
used in Washington, there
are other lesser known
means of getting legal for-
eign workers.
“None of these things
is a magic bullet but they
are some other poten-
tials,” Tom Roach, a Pasco
immigration attorney, told
the Washington Growers
League annual meeting in
Yakima, Feb. 20.
He
reviewed
nine
options but later said they
would be of minimal use
to Washington growers,
but the most promising is
Deferred Action for Child-
hood Arrivals (DACA).
It’s a two-year renewable
deferral of deportation with
work authorization granted
to children of illegal immi-
grants who came to the
U.S. under 15 years of age.
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Tom Roach, a Pasco, Wash., immigration attorney, at the
Washington Growers League annual meeting, Feb. 20.
While the future of the pro-
gram is in litigation, some
800,000 recipients can
work. The National Council
of Agricultural Employers
estimates less than 2 per-
cent of them work in agri-
culture. Roach agreed it’s
a small number but said he
knows of some who do.
Another avenue is immi-
grant visas or green cards
(permanent residence sta-
tus). About 1 million green
cards are issued annually
with 85 percent based on
family. About 5,000 are set
aside for low-skilled work-
ers, but his law firm is help-
ing a dairy use it to get
workers, he said. The dairy
foreman, who is from Mex-
ico, is doing the recruiting,
he said.
Foreign students in U.S.
colleges on F-1 visas can
get work permits for part-
time work while in college
and a permit for up to a
year of work after college,
Roach said.
People allowed into the
country while applying for
political asylum can get
work permits while they
await processing, he said.
Temporary
protected
status is given to eligible
nationals from designated
countries affected by armed
conflict or natural disasters.
It allows people to live and
work in the U.S. for limited
time but is renewable.
“It can kind of last for-
ever. Trump has decided it
will be discontinued Sept.
9 for people from El Salva-
dor, but that’s in the courts
so who knows if it will be,”
Roach said.
The North American Free
Trade Agreement allows
people — mostly profes-
sionals, but not farmworkers
— and goods to move across
borders, he said. It requires a
letter from a U.S. employer
that the applicant submits at
the border.
Work progresses on celiac-safe wheat
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
A new variety of wheat
that would be safe for celiac
patients to eat is under devel-
opment, but researchers
say years of testing remain
before it could be commer-
cially available.
Sachin Rustgi, an assis-
tant professor of molecular
breeding at Clemson Uni-
versity in Clemson, S.C.,
and a Washington State Uni-
versity adjunct faculty mem-
ber, foresees at least three to
five more years of testing
ahead.
The project was begun
at WSU, where the initial
wheat varieties were devel-
oped. A detailed biochem-
ical analysis was done at
Clemson, according to a
Capital Press File
A type of wheat that would
be safe for celiac sufferers
is under development
at Washington
State
University and Clemson
University.
WSU press release.
Researchers introduced
new DNA into wheat, devel-
oping a variety that con-
tains a “gluten-busting”
enzyme, or glutenase, from
barley and another from the
bacterium Flavobacterium
meningosepticum.
These
enzymes break down gluten
proteins in the human diges-
tive system.
Since most wheat prod-
ucts are baked at high tem-
peratures, Rustgi’s team is
now developing heat-stable
variations of the enzymes.
The new genotype is still
at the research stage and has
not been approved for sale.
Scientists tested gluten
extracts from the experi-
mental grain and found that
it had far lower levels of
the gluten proteins, accord-
ing to WSU. The enzymes
reduced the amount of indi-
gestible gluten by as much
as two-thirds.
More than 2 million peo-
ple in the U.S. suffer from
celiac disease. The body’s
immune system reacts when
someone with celiac disease
eats gluten — the protein
in wheat that gives breads,
pasta and cereal their chewy
texture. Celiac patients suf-
fer nausea, cramps, malnu-
trition and other health prob-
lems when they eat food that
includes gluten.
There is no treatment for
celiac disease other than
avoiding foods made with
wheat or taking an enzyme
supplement with every meal.
“I have talked with many
(celiac patients) and they
have all been willing to try
anything that is suitable for
them,” Rustgi told the Capi-
tal Press. “They wish to have
something that is wheat that
they can eat.”
Former Washington
governor heads
USMCA coalition
and Washington wines
will be able to market in
British Columbia, where
A group of trade asso- under NAFTA Canada
ciations, businesses and could prohibit them,” he
advocacy groups, headed said.
The agreement also
by Democrat Gary Locke
— a former ambassa- requires Mexican work-
dor to China, governor ers be paid higher wages
of Washington and U.S. when building auto parts,
commerce secretary — which helps level the
have launched a new coa- playing field and reduces
lition to support
the incentive for
passage of the
the auto industry
U.S. Mexico Can-
to move factories
ada Agreement.
to Mexico, Locke
said.
“I’m not a sup-
porter of most of
He said he will
the
president’s
personally lobby
members of Con-
policies but we
gress for passage
Gary Locke
have to look at this
and noted for-
particular agree-
ment,” Locke told Capi- mer USDA Secretary and
tal Press.
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack,
“It sets a higher stan- also a Democrat, supports
dard for Mexico and Can- USMCA.
ada trade and benefits
“We need to look at
American growers and the agreement. It’s so
consumers. So that’s why much better than ripping
this is a large bipartisan up NAFTA and walking
effort,” Locke said.
away, as the president
The Pass USMCA Coa- originally
proposed,”
lition is a bipartisan effort Locke said.
The agreement is a
advocating swift passage
of USMCA by highlight- modern precedent for
ing its unique benefits to freer and fairer trade
America’s workers, con- in North America and
sumers, businesses and throughout the world, he
said.
economy.
“Ratifying it quickly
Locke is honorary
chairman. The coali- will improve our trading
tion was announced Feb. relationships with Can-
13. The executive direc- ada and Mexico, cre-
tor is Republican Rick ate more jobs for Amer-
Dearborn, former dep- ican workers, and propel
uty chief of staff to Pres- international trade into
ident Donald Trump the 21st century,” he
and who worked in the said.
Trade with Canada
George W. Bush admin-
istration and was chief and Mexico supports 14
of staff to Jeff Sessions million U.S. jobs across
when he was in the U.S. many sectors.
Senate.
These workers — and
Locke said USMCA the industries they sup-
is “certainly an improve- port — drive billions of
ment” over the North dollars in annual U.S.
American Free Trade exports. In 2017, the
Agreement that it will U.S. exported more than
replace.
$275 billion in goods
“It benefits dairy, poul- to Mexico and nearly
try and eggs with fewer $350 billion in goods to
restrictions in Canada, Canada.
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Potato contracting legislation advances
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
The Idaho House Agri-
cultural Affairs Committee
on Feb. 26 endorsed legisla-
tion that would formalize the
process grower associations
have used for 50-plus years
in negotiating annual con-
tracts with processors of fried
potato products.
Supporters said House Bill
121 would help keep proces-
sors from negotiating directly
with individual members of
grower associations, as they
contend a processor did last
spring, striking unfair deals
that ultimately impact mar-
ket-wide pricing.
Opponents said the pro-
cessor did nothing illegal or
in bad faith, and that the leg-
islation is not needed since
the longstanding voluntary
negotiations between associ-
ations and processors work
well overall while preserv-
ing free-market opportuni-
ties. Moreover, HB 121 is
vague and does not impose
non-compliance
penalties,
they said.
The bill establishes an
Oct. 31-March 15 negotiating
period for grower associations
and processors. Negotiations
between processors and indi-
vidual grower members of
the association would not be
allowed until after the period
passes with no agreement in
hand. Associations must be
nonprofit cooperatives with at
least 40 member growers.
The committee briefly con-
sidered sending the bill back
for revision or amendment
— Rep. Jerald Raymond,
R-Menan, questioned its lack
of oversight and penalties as
well as its consequences —
but ultimately voted to send it
as-is to the full House with a
do-pass recommendation.
“The pricing imbalance in
the market is real, and I have
never seen it in my 30-year
career,” said Dan Hargraves
of the Southern Idaho Potato
Cooperative.
Membership
in SIPCO is voluntary. The
cooperative represents about
half of Idaho growers and
impacts the market broadly.
Some growers will be at an
approximately 50-cent-per
hundredweight price disad-
vantage as a result of negoti-
ating independently, he said.
Negotiations
between
grower associations and pro-
cessors have worked well
over many years, benefit-
ing the parties while provid-
ing a price benchmark for
the broader industry includ-
ing seed potatoes and dehy-
drated products, Hargraves
said.
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