INNOVATIONS
PAGES 8-9
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Friday, November 22, 2019

Volume 92, Number 47
CapitalPress.com
CHANGING
$2.00
Richard Durrant
of Big D Ranch.
Brad Carlson/Capital Press
WITH THE TIMES
Like many farms near rapidly growing urban areas, Big D Ranch has
had to transform what it does — and how it does it — over the years
120,000 people
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
A
s morning rush hour continues on Ten
Mile Road south of Meridian, Idaho,
tractor-trailers roll into the Big D Ranch
warehouse complex where the Durrant
family buys, stores and markets corn
and several other crops.
Operators Richard Durrant and his son, Neil, are
busily directing traffic and talking shop.
“I like being outside, and I enjoy being with
people and finding out what’s going on,” said Neil
Durrant, 35.
“We like to keep to our roots — saying we are
active producers, and know what farmers would like
for their product and what it takes
to produce the crop,” said Richard
Durrant, 59.
100
Meridian, Idaho
population
growth
114,680:
Up 49.9%
from 2011
73 years
Big D Ranch and the Durrant fam-
ily have thrived for 73 years by being
Neil
willing to make changes, diversify
Durrant
and develop young leaders. Like
many Western farmers coping with urban sprawl —
fast-growing Meridian now threatens to surround
76,510
91,310
80
Meridian,
Idaho
NOTE: Annual population estimates by city limits.
Source: Community Planning Assoc. of Southwest Idaho
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
60
See Changes, Page 14
2011
’13
’15
’17
2019
CoBank to forgo foreclosing on
NORPAC’s assets until Dec. 10
In exchange, bank has processor’s bankruptcy protection canceled
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Capital Press File
A worker checks mixed vegetables flowing toward
bagging machines at a NORPAC plant. A major
agricultural bank has tentatively agreed to forego
foreclosing on the processor’s assets until Dec. 10.
A major agricultural bank will likely
be allowed to foreclose on the assets of
the bankrupt NORPAC Foods coopera-
tive, but has agreed to forego using that
authority until Dec. 10.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Peter McK-
ittrick has said he plans to cancel the
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection that
prohibits CoBank from trying to seize
assets that serve as collateral for the
food processor’s debts.
In return, CoBank would agree
to extend until Dec. 10 a “forbear-
ance agreement” that would prevent
it from actually taking such enforce-
ment action, thereby giving NORPAC
time to potentially sell off its process-
ing facilities to raise money.
The deal was tentatively reached
during a Nov. 19 bankruptcy hearing,
but the specifics of the agreement must
still be cleared by CoBank officials and
signed by Judge McKittrick.
As part of the agreement, CoBank
would have to return to bankruptcy
court before turning over NORPAC’s
dissolution to a receiver, which is a
See NORPAC, Page 14
Agencies scrap controversial Klamath Project BiOp
Reclamation says it
received ‘erroneous data’
requiring new analysis
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. —
Federal agencies are headed back to
the drawing board on water manage-
ment plans for the Klamath Project
aimed at protecting several species
of endangered fish.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
— which operates the 210,000-acre
irrigation project in Southern Ore-
gon and Northern California — spent
months working with the National
Marine Fisheries Service and U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to mitigate
potential harm to endangered sucker
fish in Upper Klamath Lake, as well
as threatened coho salmon in the
lower Klamath River.
The result was two coordinated
studies released in March, known
collectively as the biological opin-
ion, or BiOp.
However, the bureau now says it
received “erroneous data” from an
outside source during consultation,
meaning it must scrap the plans and
start over again.
Laura Williams, a spokeswoman
for the Bureau of Reclamation Klam-
ath Basin Area Office, said she could
not go into detail about the faulty
data, other than it did impact their
modeling for how much water would
be available annually from the Klam-
ath Project for fish.
“We need to redo the modeling
and rewrite the report reflecting the
correct information,” Williams said.
The Klamath Project provides
irrigation water for more than 1,200
family farms and ranches, feeding a
$557 million agricultural economy
across the basin. But water managers
must also account for Lost River and
shortnose suckers in Upper Klamath
Lake, listed as endangered under the
Endangered Species Act in 1988.
Southern Oregon and Northern
California coastal coho salmon were
listed as threatened in 1997.
The ESA requires plans to ensure
the Klamath Project will not jeop-
ardize the continued survival of the
fish. The BiOp is updated periodi-
cally to account for changing condi-
tions throughout the basin, outlining
effects of the project on water avail-
ability and critical habitat.
See Project, Page 14
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