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CapitalPress.com
Friday, December 6, 2019
Washington launches online reporting of cattle sales
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Washington beef ranchers can
now report cattle sales online, pro-
viding they use electronic ear tags,
a way of tracking livestock resisted
by some producers as labor inten-
sive and intrusive.
The state Department of Agricul-
ture touts “electronic cattle transac-
tion reporting” as cheaper and eas-
ier than calling out a state inspector
to verify ownership.
The system was launched this
month and shown to industry rep-
resentatives. “It looks as simple as
ordering something on Amazon,”
said Danny DeFranco, executive
vice president of the Washington
Cattlemen’s Association.
The department inspects sales
to prevent theft and record cattle
movements. The department hopes
online reporting will hold down its
costs and help it quickly identify
cattle exposed to disease.
The agriculture department has
allowed dairy farmers to electron-
ically report sales of unbranded
cows for several years. The Legisla-
ture this year extended the option to
beef ranchers selling branded cattle.
Agriculture Director Derek
Sandison said in a statement that
expanding the system is a “major
step toward simplifying and stream-
lining reporting requirements.”
“It demonstrates important
progress toward synchronizing
the industry and government with
today’s technology,” he said.
Lab administrator:
‘Hot’ hemp more likely
under USDA rule
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A high percentage of hemp
will test “hot” and have to be
destroyed under testing proce-
dures adopted this month by
the Washington State Depart-
ment of Agriculture, the chief
operating officer of a Spokane
laboratory said Monday.
The state’s procedures are
patterned after a USDA rule
adopted in October intended
to catch hemp too high in
THC. In one change, the state
agriculture department will
stop testing whole plants and
instead take a cutting just
underneath the flowers at the
top one-third of the plant.
Trace Analytics COO
Jason Zitzer said the proto-
col will zero in on the part
of the plant with the most
THC, excluding other useful
parts such as the stalk. “I’m
not sure anybody is going to
pass,” he said.
The Spokane business
was the only private labora-
tory used this year by Wash-
ington to test hemp. Only
one sample failed, and that
sample was retested at a state
lab and passed.
The USDA’s interim hemp
rules took effect Oct. 31 and
will be enforce until at least
Nov. 1, 2021. The agency
will take public comments
until Dec. 30 on whether to
revise the regulations.
“If the USDA changes its
rules, we’ll change our poli-
cies accordingly,” state agri-
culture department spokes-
man Chris McGann said.
“Our intent is to have some-
thing compatible with USDA
rules.”
The 2018 Farm Bill
removed a major obstacle to
growing hemp in the U.S.
by legalizing cannabis plants
low in THC, the main psy-
choactive compound in mar-
ijuana. The USDA, however,
will require states to continue
to license hemp growers and
test plants before they are
harvested.
Washington will test one
plant or less per acre. If the
THC level is above 0.3%, the
entire field must be burned,
plowed under or composted.
Marijuana generally has
THC levels of 3% to 15%,
according to the USDA. The
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Richard A. Howard/USDA NRCS
Hemp grows in a field.
Institute at the University
of Washington reported this
year that some retail mari-
juana products are labeled
as having THC content of
more than 30%, though the
labels are not reliable and
results vary from laboratory
to laboratory, according to the
institute.
Zitzer said he doubts any-
one in Washington, where
marijuana is legal, would
bother to intentionally cul-
tivate hemp high in THC.
Farmers, however, could
unwittingly plant varieties
that exceed the limit.
“Some of these farmers
are not going to know about
the genetics. They’re only
going to know what they’re
being told,” he said.
The USDA’s new rules
also will change when hemp
is tested in Washington.
Plants must be tested within
15 days of harvest. Previ-
ously, Washington required
testing within 30 days. The
shorter time frame will cause
problems, Zitzer predicts.
Several days can pass
before a state inspector deliv-
ers plants to the labora-
tory, he said. Plants have to
be dried before testing and
that can take up to 10 days,
he said.
“Some of it is coming
in sopping wet,” he said.
“I think the 15 days, espe-
cially as wet as the North-
west is, is not great for our
region.”
The USDA says 15 days
will allow for delays caused
by weather or equipment
breakdowns, but still give
accurate results. The longer
hemp stays in the ground, the
higher its THC, according to
the USDA.
Electronic reporting is not man-
datory. Ranchers can still call out
state brand inspectors. While elec-
tronic reporting has been virtually
unused by dairy farmers, DeFranco
said he expects beef producers to
try it.
“Essentially everything is the
same, except we have this other
option,” he said. “Like any new
thing, it will take some time to get
some traction.”
The USDA has backed off
requiring electronic ear tags on cat-
tle moving between states. Last
month, the Trump administration
canceled plans to make the tags
mandatory by 2023.
The USDA’s position has been
that tracking a cow from birth to
slaughter by electronic tags would
help contain animal diseases and
protect producers from trade sanc-
tions. Critics said the technology was
unproven and would require produc-
ers to report every time they move a
cow from one place to another.
Cattle Producers of Washing-
ton President Scott Nielsen said the
organization supports electronic
reporting, as long as it’s voluntary.
“We’ll continue to resist the
mandatory implementation,” he
said. “We’re really pleased to see
what’s happening at the national
level.”
To use the electronic system,
ranchers must obtain a “premises
identification number,” pinpointing
where they have cows. Each cow
must be fitted with a USDA-ap-
proved 840 radio frequency identi-
fication tag.
Ranchers pay an annual fee of
$33 to use ECTR. The per-head fee
is $1.30.
For in-person inspections, ranch-
ers pay a $20 call out fee, plus mile-
age, and a per-head fee of $1.21.
To promote the system, the
department is giving away elec-
tronic tags. Producers with herds
of 50 head or fewer are eligible to
receive 40 tags. Those with herds of
more than 50 qualify for 100 tags.
Lawmakers also approved allow-
ing self-employed field inspectors
to supplement state inspectors.
The inspectors must be trained
by the department and not have a
financial stake in the sales. No one
has applied to be certified, a depart-
ment spokesman said Tuesday.
Farmers, cities appeal Oregon airport master plan
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
AURORA, Ore. — A coalition of
Oregon cities and residents is push-
ing back against plans to expand the
Aurora State Airport south of Port-
land over its potential impacts to
high-value farmland.
The State Aviation Board met Oct.
31 to adopt findings that the airport’s
2012 master plan complies with Mar-
ion County and statewide land-use
planning goals. The master plan
includes a 1,000-foot runway exten-
sion, which some farmers worry will
take prime agricultural land out of
production.
Opponents filed challenges with the
Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals,
or LUBA, on Nov. 21, including the
cities of Aurora and Wilsonville and
Friends of French Prairie, a nonprofit
group of local farmers and neighbors.
With approximately 80,000 take-
offs and landings every year, Aurora
State is the fourth-busiest airport in
Oregon, behind Portland Interna-
tional, Portland-Hillsboro and Bend.
It is one mile northwest of Aurora, out-
side the city’s urban growth boundary.
Last year, the airport applied for
a $33.3 million grant through the
Federal Aviation Administration to
extend the runway from 5,000 to
6,000 feet. The coalition, however,
argues the project would violate Ore-
gon’s land-use planning laws by
encroaching on “exclusive farm use”
land.
“We deserve reasonable farmland
protections that allow us to predict-
ably use the lands we have invested
in,” said Mike Iverson, who grows
200 acres of vegetables adjacent to
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
An airplane departs the Aurora State Airport near Aurora, Ore. A plan
for a 1,000-foot runway extension has nearby farmers worried that it will
take prime agricultural land out of production.
the airport. “The boondoggle airport
expansion is a nontransparent and
dangerous threat to Oregon’s agricul-
tural economy and its valued land use
planning.”
Groups have previously contested
the airport’s master plan, which was
originally adopted in 1976. It was last
updated by the State Aviation Board
in 2011, but that is under challenge.
Betty Stansbury, director of the
Oregon Department of Aviation, said
the master plan was in fact approved
in 2011, but the coalition claims that
is not backed up by public records.
The matter is currently before LUBA
on a separate appeal.
Stansbury said the agency cannot
comment on pending legal challenges.
Wilsonville Mayor Tim Knapp
said the result is that thousands of
residents were effectively shut out of
public participation in talks to expand
the airport.
“The city has to take action to
defend our community’s ability to
participate in necessary, required
intergovernmental land use and trans-
portation planning that affects our cit-
izens’ quality of life, jointly used sur-
face transportation facilities and other
key public interest concerns,” Knapp
said in a statement.
At the heart of the issue is Ore-
gon’s statewide land use planning
laws adopted in 1976 — specifically
Goal 3, which established an “exclu-
sive farm use” zone that limits devel-
opment on agricultural lands.
Declining farmland continues to
be an issue in Oregon, especially
around the Portland metro area in
Multnomah, Washington and Clacka-
mas counties. Statewide, Oregon lost
1.7 million acres of farmland between
1997 and 2017, according to figures
from the latest USDA Census of Agri-
culture. That’s an average of 85,000
acres, or 132.8 square miles, of farms
each year.
Four Oregon water projects win $2.5 million in grant funding
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Four water projects have
won nearly $2.5 million in
grant funding from the Ore-
gon Water Resources Com-
mission while 10 other pro-
posals seeking $9.8 million
were rejected.
The 2019 grants mark
the fourth cycle of funding
from Oregon’s water sup-
ply development fund and
also the lowest total amount
awarded since the program
was enacted.
The commission awarded
$8.9 million to nine appli-
cants in 2016, $6.3 million
to four applicants in 2017
and $6.3 million to eight
applicants in 2018.
Oregon’s water supply
development fund currently
contains more than $10 mil-
lion and another $15 million
was authorized by lawmak-
ers during the most recent
legislative session.
The relatively modest
field of proposals and low
number of projects recom-
mended for funding raised
some questions about the
selection process during the
commission’s Nov. 21 meet-
ing in Salem.
“That’s not a lot of appli-
cants for the type of money
we’re talking about,” said
Joe Moll, commissioner and
executive director of the
McKenzie River Trust.
Proposals are scored by a
“technical review team” of
experts who evaluate them
based on their economic,
environmental and social
benefits to the public.
Staff members from the
Oregon Water Resources
Department then make fund-
ing recommendations to the
commission, which makes
the final decision.
Following are the four
projects awarded funding
this year:
• More than $980,000
was approved for a project
that would install a bypass
channel for fish around the
Upper Phillips Dam in Jack-
son County while piping
nearly two miles of irriga-
tion ditch.
• About $155,000 was
approved for the conversion
of about 80 acres in Doug-
las County from hand-line
irrigation to a drip system,
allowing the farm operation
to switch from hay and cattle
to higher-value crops.
Conserved water would
be dedicated to in-stream
flows in Calapooya Creek
to benefit federally protected
steelhead, trout and salmon,
while the property would
operate as a demonstration
farm for local high school
FFA students.
• More than $670,000 was
approved for the comple-
tion of a second deep water
irrigation well in Wasco
County that’s intended to
relieve pressure on the shal-
lower aquifer to the benefit of
junior water rights holders.
The project is also
expected to stabilize ground-
water levels and potentially
improve flows in Mosier
Creek.
• About $660,000 was
approved for a relocation
of the City of Chiloquin’s
water supply well in Klam-
ath County, which aims to
boost surface flows in the
Williamson River. The fund-
ing would also pay for new
water meters that better mon-
itor usage and help reduce
waste.
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