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EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER Friday, November 29, 2019 Volume 92, Number 48 CapitalPress.com SMALL-SCALE FARMERS FIND BIG SUCCESS Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Paul Puhek stands outside the barn March 8 on his 3-acre farm in Otis Orchards, Wash. Couple runs successful operation based on raising chickens for eggs, and produce By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press O TIS ORCHARDS, Wash. — Fifty chicks, only three Farmers’ Market. It also sells through the LINC Foods coopera- days old, huddled under the heat lamps on Paul and Sue tive in Spokane. Their expertise is a sought-af- Puhek’s farm. ter commodity, as other small- The Puheks received scale farmers seek information the chicks the morning from them about succeeding in of Oct. 19, replacing agriculture. They frequently teach their entire flock, which the basics of raising chickens in had reached four years classes through the Washington old. State University’s Spokane County “When a chicken Extension and the Spokane County gets to four years of age, that’s like Library District. 100 human (years),” Sue said. A Cultivating Success Begin- “They’re eating almost the ning Farming and Ranching class same, and you’re getting 20% of for aspiring small-scale farmers the eggs,” Paul said. toured their operation the same Since 2002, Paul and Sue have October morning they received operated S&P Homestead Farm their shipment of chicks. in Otis Orchards, Wash., about 19 Matthew Weaver/Capital Press “They’re doing a variety of miles northeast of Spokane. They are among a growing number of Sue and Paul Puhek at their Otis Orchards, Wash. farm, things on just a couple of acres, really,” said Pat Munts, small small-scale farmers across the the afternoon of March 8. farms coordinator with WSU Spo- nation who have found success. kane County Extension. “To me, they Their farm income is split between egg production and produce. In addition to eggs, they raise such just kind of typify what a small farm family could look like. It’s all vegetables as green beans, onions, carrots, beets, peas, Swiss chard at a scale that a beginning farmer could do.” and eggplant on roughly 1.5 acres of their 3-acre parcel. See Success, Page 8 The farm is one of the original vendors at the Liberty Lake $2.00 $1B timber verdict creates conundrum for Oregon government By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press SALEM — The $1 billion award against the State of Oregon in a class action lawsuit over its forestry prac- tices will likely be subject to lengthy appeals, but it may also put pressure on the government to consider settle- ment talks. On Nov. 20, a jury found Oregon’s government liable for breaching con- tracts with 13 counties and numerous taxing districts by logging an insuffi- cient amount of timber from state for- ests, thereby costing them money. The plaintiffs included Benton, Clackamas, Columbia, Coos, Doug- las, Josephine, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Polk, Tillamook and Wash- ington counties, and other taxing bodies within those counties and Clatsop County. The counties that pursued the law- suit originally donated more than 600,000 acres to the State of Ore- gon in return for timber revenues, but they argued the government violated those contracts by prioritizing envi- ronmental and recreational qualities in a 1998 rule change. While the lawsuit was about the state government’s contractual obli- gations to these counties, the case hinged on whether the “greatest permanent value” from those for- ests came from timber production or whether environmental and recre- ational considerations must also be considered. “While we are disappointed in today’s verdict, we believe there are strong arguments to be made on appeal, and we plan to appeal this decision,” said Fred Boss, deputy attorney general with the Oregon Department of Justice. The Oregon Department of For- estry believes the best long-term out- come for state’s residents, includ- ing the plaintiff counties and taxing districts, is achieved with “balanced and science-based public forest man- agement,” said Liz Dent, chief of the agency’s state forests division. “We are disappointed that the jury did not agree, but we respect their time commitment and the disruption to their daily lives as they analyzed complex information and difficult legal questions,” Dent said. John DiLorenzo, attorney for the county governments, said the $1 bil- lion award shows that Oregon’s for- est managers can’t unilaterally decide how the forests should be managed without considering the state’s con- tractual obligations to the counties. “I kind of consider this verdict a repudiation of the state’s position that there’s no contract and they don’t need permission from their rural partners See Timber, Page 8 Milk prices are rising, and could top $20 By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press After more than four years of dis- appointing milk prices, markets are delivering profitable prices to dairy producers. While cheese markets have been on a roller-coaster ride for the last couple of months, they’ve been strong enough to support Class III milk prices above $18 per hundredweight. Stocks of American-style cheese were down 4% year over year in September and production was down 3%. Cheese exports were up 12% year over year in September and are up 3% for the year through Septem- ber, Bob Cropp, dairy economist Courtesy USDA The USDA announced Class III price for October was $18.72, after starting the year at $13.96. with the University of Wisconsin, said in the latest Dairy Situation and Outlook podcast. Cash price for blocks and barrels on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange this fall had gotten up to well over $2 a pound, with barrels as high as $2.39 a pound, he said. On Nov. 21 the CME cash price was $2.18 for barrels and $1.84 for blocks. “So they’re weakening, but they’ve been strong up to here,” he said. “As a result, I think we’re look- ing at a pretty nice Class III price for November … over 20 bucks,” he said. The USDA announced Class III price for October was $18.72, after starting the year at $13.96. Milk prices for 2019 should end up about $2.20 per hundredweight higher on average than last year’s average, Cropp said. There’s been some contraction in the CME futures price for December, but futures prices have been hold- ing up OK, Mark Stephenson, fel- low dairy economist at the univer- sity, said. Futures prices for Class III milk were in the $16 for the first quar- ter of 2020. Now they’ve gone to the $17s, and Cropp thinks prices will be even stronger than what the futures market or USDA are fore- casting, he said. “I look for demand for cheese to stay pretty good, and I actually look for exports to do a little better,” he said. See Milk, Page 8 EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER LET’S CONNECT ! S156705-1
