Willamet
te Valley
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EMPOWERIN
G PRODUCERS
OF FOOD &
NOVEMBER
1, 2019
WILLAMETTE VALLEY AG EXPO SPECIAL SECTION | INSIDE
FIBER
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
DIN E AR OU ND
OR
FEA ST IN EV ER EG ON :
Y SE NS E
Page 9
Friday, November 1, 2019
Volume 92, Number 44
CapitalPress.com
Salmon cannon explained
Whooshh Innovations’ fish transport system, or
fish cannon, uses pressure differentials to
propel fish through a proprietary tube
at speeds up to 26 feet per second.
$2.00
USDA
benefits
come with
trade-offs
for hemp
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Whooshh Innovations
Access to USDA benefits may
prove a tough trade-off for hemp
farmers whose crop will face
stricter testing protocols under
new federal regulations.
Next year, hemp growers will
be able to take advantage of crop
insurance, farm loans and con-
servation programs offered by
the USDA due to interim rules
for the crop set to become effec-
tive Oct. 31.
Because hemp had long
been considered a type of feder-
ally illegal marijuana until now,
growers haven’t been able to use
those USDA programs even in
states where the crop is legal.
In exchange for federal legit-
imacy, hemp will eventually
come under USDA testing pro-
tocols that may be less forgiving
of THC, the psychoactive sub-
stance found in cannabis, than
regulations established by some
state governments.
“It’s just more of the regula-
tions that are just crippling,” said
Rick Bush, a hemp grower near
Salem, Ore. “It makes it impos-
sible to comply because there is
not a hemp strain that will meet
that criteria.”
Exceeding the USDA’s limit
of 0.3% THC would cause a
hemp crop to be considered
marijuana, which remains ille-
gal under federal law and would
then have to be destroyed under
the new USDA regulations.
State governments have also
set the limit for hemp at 0.3%
THC, but they vary in how
the level of that substance is
calculated.
In Oregon, for example, can-
nabis has been considered hemp
as long as its level of “delta-9”
THC is below 0.3%.
In 2020, however, the state
is changing its standard to
require less than 0.3 percent of
delta-9 THC combined with
THCA, which converts into the
mind-altering delta-9 form when
exposed to heat.
Basically, the change means
some cannabis that qualified as
hemp in previous years based
on delta-9 THC alone will now
be considered “hot” because the
added level of THCA will make
the crop exceed the 0.3% limit.
Oregon revised its testing pro-
tocol in anticipation of the new
USDA rules, which turned out
to be prescient because the fed-
eral government will also require
the testing of “total” THC, rather
than the delta-9 form alone.
It’s unclear how much of
Oregon’s previous hemp crops
would have been too “hot” to sell
under the new protocol, since
A tube carries fish over the Cle Elum Dam in July 2017. The 1,700-foot-long tube is the longest Whooshh Innovations has used to transport
salmon. Fish travel at 32 feet per second.
See Hemp, Page 12
Accelerator in detail
Air blower
1. Fish slides into
Accelerator
Gate A
1
Gate B
2
High-pressure air
4
2. Gate A closes
3. Chamber equalizes
pressure with tube
5
4. Gate B opens
7
3
6
Accelerator
chamber
Whooshh
Tube
5. Fish engages
Whooshh Tube
6. Gate B closes
7. Chamber returns to
atmospheric pressure
Fish enter through a false weir, gravity slide, or
can be hand fed, depending on the system.
Whooshh has a variety of tubes to
accommodate fish of all sizes.
Exiting platform
Source:
Whooshh
Innovations
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Dam
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
Whooshh
Tube
Accelerator
S
EATTLE — Eight years ago, Vincent
Bryan III was field testing his prototype
of an apple harvest-assist machine in
his family’s orchard near the Columbia
River southwest of Quincy, Wash.
Helicopters passed overhead
with large buckets of water
dangling from them. He was
curious about their mission
and later found out they
were moving salmon over a
nearby dam.
It seemed to him like an
expensive way to move fish.
Vincent
His
apple
harvest
Bryan III
machine used vacuum tubes
to move apples from pickers’ hands to a bin. He
wondered: What if you could move salmon over
dams in tubes instead of using helicopters, fish
ladders or trucks?
About a year later, he was testing his har-
vest-assist machine in a citrus orchard near
Reservoir
Stream flow
The Whooshh system can
transport fish as high as 700 feet
and as far as 1,700 feet or more.
The standard system
configuration can transport
up to 40 fish per minute.
Fresno, Calif., and noticed a neighboring orchard,
which had been alive the year before, was now
dead. Its irrigation water had been reallocated for
fish.
Believing there had to be better solutions,
Bryan turned from his fruit harvest-assist machine
to experimenting with moving fish in tubes.
He assembled a meeting of fish experts from
the National Marine Fisheries Service, also
known as NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, the Washington Department of Fish
and Wildlife, and universities to discuss his idea.
They met at his family’s Cave B Inn & Spa
Resort near their Cave B Estate Winery and
orchard, southwest of Quincy, where he first
observed the helicopters carrying fish.
In an effort to help 12 salmon and steelhead
populations that are protected under the Endan-
gered Species Act, the federal government has
spent more than $1 billion to help the fish get past
the dams and to improve their habitat, accord-
ing to the Northwest Power and Conservation
Council.
While much focus had been on helping juve-
See Salmon, Page 12
Oregon wine industry coalition forms new trade group
Members previously fought to defeat legislation seen as ‘anti-competitive’
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — A new trade
group representing the Ore-
gon wine industry is calling
for statewide unity following
a highly contentious and divi-
sive legislative session earlier
this year.
The Oregon Wine Coun-
cil formed Oct. 24 with a
13-member board of direc-
tors including winemakers
and vintners from the Willa-
mette Valley to Southern Ore-
gon. Members say their inter-
ests have not been represented
by the Oregon Winegrow-
ers Association, the industry’s
main lobbying and advocacy
organization.
Ken Johnston, co-chair-
man of the wine council board
and chief operating officer of
Winemakers Investment Prop-
erties LLC in Salem, said the
group aims to serve the indus-
try better as a whole.
“What we intend to bring
is more voices to the table,”
Johnston said. “We have to
do a better job in the industry
of making sure all voices are
heard and represented.”
While Oregon’s wine
industry continues to grow in
sales and production, cracks
began to emerge during the
2019 Legislature over a series
of controversial bills.
Senate Bill 111, backed
by the Oregon Winegrowers
Association, was particularly
seen as anti-competitive by
some winegrowers. It called
for the Oregon Liquor Control
Commission to convene an
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advisory committee that would
review enforcement measures
for the state’s wine labeling
standards, and increased max-
imum fines for violations from
$5,000 to $25,000.
Supporters of SB 111
claimed it was needed to pro-
tect the brand and integrity of
Oregon wines. But opponents
claimed the bill would have
shrunk markets for Oregon
grapes.
See Wine, Page 12