Capital press., January 10, 2020, Image 1

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Friday, January 10, 2020
Volume 93, Number 2
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CHRIS VOIGT
LIVES FOR
WASHINGTON
POTATOES
State commission’s executive
director uses creativity, energy
to promote his favorite crop
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
M
OSES LAKE, Wash. — Chris Voigt has
gone on an all-potato diet for two months,
flown 1 million airline miles and ridden a
bicycle from Seattle to Portland.
And he did it all for Washington potatoes.
Voigt, 54, is with the Washington Potato Commission,
where he’s been executive director since 2005. Using
a budget of about $3 million, he works with a board of
farmers to enhance trade opportunities, fund research
and represent the state’s 250 potato growers’ interests in
Olympia and Washington, D.C.
During his career he previously worked with farmers
who grew many other crops — cotton, soybeans, corn,
grass seed, vegetables, lettuce and tree fruit — but he says
he always gravitated back to potato farmers.
“They were just so progressive,” he said. “They were
always willing to try new things to try to become more
efficient, more sustainable. I just liked that atmosphere.”
They like him, too.
“Chris lives potatoes,” said Grant Morris, a Pasco,
Wash., farmer and commission board member. “It’s easy
to get things done as a commissioner when you have
someone to follow into battle like Chris.”
Morris called Voigt an “idea man,” thinking of differ-
ent ways to further interests of the state’s farmers and the
entire industry.
“Having someone that can attack a problem head-on
from a conventional standpoint is good most of the time,
but we face many issues regularly that need a slightly
more creative solution,” Morris said.
Because of Voigt and the commission staff, Washing-
ton’s farmers are leaders in research, legislative issues
and public outreach, Morris said.
“None of us would be able to farm without those
things,” he said. “It has been and continues to be vital to
our future.”
See Voigt, Page 10
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington Potato Commission. He recently flew his 1 millionth
airline mile, 980,000 of which, he estimates, were flown working for the commission.
Chris Voigt
Age: 54
Title: Executive director,
Washington Potato Commission
Online: www.potatoes.com
Hometown: Newberg, Ore.
Current location: Moses Lake,
Wash.
Family: Wife Stephanie; son
Christopher, 18; daughter
Madeline, 15
Education: Bachelor’s degree
in agricultural
economics,
Oregon
State
University
Capital Press
graphic
Washington Potato Commission
Chris Voigt checks a potato field.
Regulators satisfied with cleanup at controversial Oregon dairy
Washington-based farm plans to finish, reopen facility
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
George Plaven/Capital Press
Each of four free-stall barns at the for-
mer Lost Valley Farm were scrubbed of
manure as part of the cleanup effort
after the facility was sold to Easterday
Farms in February.
BOARDMAN, Ore. — State
regulators are satisfied with the
cleanup of a controversial East-
ern Oregon dairy that shut down
in early 2019 following numer-
ous repeated manure and waste-
water violations.
The Oregon Department of
Agriculture issued a “letter of
satisfaction” for the cleanup at
Lost Valley Farm on Dec. 30.
The defunct dairy near Board-
man was previously approved for
up to 30,000 cows.
Almost immediately after
opening in 2017, Lost Valley
Farm began racking up more
than 200 violations for improp-
erly managing wastewater.
Former owner Greg te Velde
declared bankruptcy and lost
control of the dairy in September
2018, along with two other dair-
ies he owned in California.
A federal trustee, Randy
Sugarman, was appointed to
oversee Lost Valley. Sugarman
opted to close and sell the dairy,
and was put in charge of cleanup
per an agreement with the state.
Cleanup duties included
removing all cows from the
property, flushing manure from
free-stall barns and emptying
wastewater lagoons to prevent
groundwater or surface water
contamination. The final item on
the checklist was completed on
Oct. 14.
While cleanup at Lost Val-
ley was successful, no cows are
allowed on site until the state
approves a new Animal Waste
Management Plan under the Con-
fined Animal Feeding Program
— more commonly referred to as
a CAFO permit.
Easterday Farms, based in
Pasco, Wash., has purchased the
property for $66.7 million and
applied for a new CAFO per-
mit in July. The Easterday family
plans to reopen the dairy with up
to 28,300 cattle.
See Dairy, Page 10
Timber Unity gears up for cap and trade, other issues
Organization
continues to grow,
stays active
By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
SALEM — The Oregon
state legislature’s short
session begins Feb. 3, with
lawmakers planning to res-
urrect climate legislation
after last session’s con-
troversial “cap-and-trade”
proposal failed.
And Timber Unity, the
group heading protests last
year, will be back.
On Feb. 6, Timber
Unity will organize a con-
voy of logging trucks to
Sierra McClain/Capital Press File
Representatives of the Timber Unity movement organized massive protests at the
Oregon Capitol in Salem last year against climate legislation. The organization is
planning to protest a new climate change proposal that will be considered during
the upcoming legislative session.
Salem and a rally on the
Capitol steps.
On the group’s Face-
book event page, as of
Jan. 7, 936 people have
said they will go to the
protest, more than 3,100
have
marked
them-
selves as interested and
97 have pledged to drive
semi-trucks.
“We want to stop cap and
trade,” said Adam Lardy, a
Timber Unity spokesman.
“Politicians may want to
run with a watered-down
version this year. But once
they get a foothold, why
wouldn’t they run with it?
So we can’t let them get a
foothold.”
Last
year
Timber
Unity formed to pro-
test House Bill 2020, last
year’s cap-and-trade bill,
which passed the Oregon
House. The legislation
was designed to cut carbon
emissions, but it roused
opposition from farmers,
loggers and others who
argued the bill would raise
fuel and natural gas prices.
See Timber, Page 10