FARM & RANCH SUCCESSION SPECIAL SECTION | INSIDE
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Friday, October 18, 2019
CapitalPress.com
Volume 92, Number 42
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HEMP RUSH
Plenty of risk, reward possible in growing newest cash crop
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
hen Paul McGill first considered grow-
ing hemp earlier this year, he was
intrigued by the enormous potential
payoff.
McGill and his wife, Dianne,
moved from Portland to Salem in 2014 to buy True
North Orchards, with 3 acres of U-pick fruit including
apples, pears and plums. The couple immediately took
to the lifestyle, though they continued to work off-farm
jobs to make ends meet.
Seeing an opportunity to boost their bottom line,
McGill planted a half-acre of hemp in early July. Harvest
began Oct. 5, which he figures will take about a month to
finish, cutting it by hand.
“Thus far, we’ve been very pleased with the results,”
McGill said.
The McGills are among nearly 2,000 farmers taking
part in a hemp-propelled gold rush across Oregon, where
experts predict the newly legal
crop could generate a $1 bil-
63,000
lion farm gate value this year.
That would make it the state’s
Up
436%
most valuable agricultural
from
commodity — ahead of the
2018
powerhouse nursery, hay and
Source: Oregon
cattle industries.
Department
Since hemp was legalized in
of Agriculture
the 2018 Farm Bill, the flood-
*As of Oct. 7
gates have opened for farms
11,754
large and small to capitalize
on the booming new industry.
3,000
105 1,200
Oregon now has more acre-
2015
’16
’17
’18
2019*
age in hemp than the acreage
devoted to potatoes and onions
Capital Press graphic
combined. Only Colorado,
with 86,234 acres, grows more
hemp in the U.S.
Like most farmers, McGill is growing hemp for
W
George Plaven/Capital Press
Several hundred field workers pick hemp flowers on a late September morning at Hemptown USA’s
Oregon farm in Central Point.
Top hemp states
by acres cultivated
Registered
hemp acres
in Oregon
(As of Sept. 2019)
Colorado*
86,234 acres
Oregon*
61,873
Kentucky
60,000
Montana
42,000
Tennessee*
40,075
See Hemp, Page 9
George Plaven/Capital Press
*Includes greenhouse cultivation
Source: New Leaf Data Services
Capital Press graphic
A worker prunes dried hemp buds by hand at Hemptown USA.
Oregon’s Yamhill County must reconsider rails-to-trails project
Project wasn’t properly analyzed for farm impacts, ruling says
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A controversial rails-to-
trails project in Oregon’s
Yamhill County must be
reconsidered due to poten-
tial farm impacts from pes-
ticide restrictions, increased
trespassing and food safety
problems.
Oregon’s Land Use
Board of Appeals has
blocked the county govern-
ment’s approval of the nearly
3-mile Yamhelas Westsider
project and ordered it to take
a closer look at these possi-
ble effects, as well as other
land use issues.
Under Oregon land use
law, developments in exclu-
sive farm zones that require
a conditional use permit can-
not force significant changes
to agricultural practices
or significantly raise their
costs.
Farmers who oppose con-
verting the railroad track
between the cities of Yam-
hill and Carlton into a recre-
ational trail argue that it will
complicate pesticide appli-
cations due to required “set-
backs” from such sensitive
areas.
Common pesticides such
as Gramoxone cannot be
sprayed within the “vicin-
ity” of recreational areas,
while Lorsban and Yuma 4E
require a 100-foot setback,
which farmers claim will
reduce their ability to treat
fields next to the trail.
According to LUBA,
Yamhill County didn’t ade-
quately evaluate the proj-
ect’s potential effects on
pesticides under the “farm
impacts test” because such
setbacks are required even
when the chemicals are used
properly to avoid drift or
over-spray.
Pesticide regulations also
prohibit spraying within rec-
reational areas, which may
be broader than just the
paved trail used by visitors,
the ruling said. In analyzing
the project, the county must
take a closer look at what’s
mandated under pesticide
labels.
“In doing so, the county
will likely have to make spe-
cific factual findings about
specific setbacks required by
particular chemicals on par-
ticular farming operations
on surrounding farmlands,
See Trail, Page 9
Washington shapes wildlife policies outside public act meetings
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Four subcommittee meetings will
precede the next Washington Fish and
Wildlife Commission meeting, as mem-
bers increasingly talk about hot-button
topics such as wolves and cougars in
undocumented sessions.
The department announces the meet-
ings and generally lets the public attend.
It reserves the right to close them, how-
ever. The public meetings law doesn’t
apply because only four of nine com-
missioners attend, according to the
attorney general’s
sions were made, but
office.
what we came back
Former Fish and
with to the commis-
sion generally was
Wildlife
commis-
sioner Jay Holz-
what got done.”
miller, who was on
The commission
the commission until
didn’t have any sub-
committee meetings
July, said he favored
in 2017. The fish
setting up the sub-
committees
and
committee
started
Washington State Capitol
sometimes closing
meeting in early
them to the public.
2018. The commis-
“There have to be times you abso- sion has added the wolf, wildlife, hab-
lutely have to have those candid conver- itat, “big tent” and executive commit-
sations,” Holzmiller said. “Yes, no deci- tees. The commission’s chairman, Larry
Carpenter, closed the only meeting of
the executive committee.
The wolf committee has met six
times this year. Its seventh meeting, set
for Oct. 17, was scheduled to be broad-
cast by TVW, Washington’s public
affairs network, but programmers can-
celed that day. A TVW official said the
network wanted to broadcast the meet-
ing because of the public’s interest in
wolves, but another event came up and
left the network without the resources to
cover it.
See Wildlife, Page 9
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