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EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER Friday, January 31, 2020 Volume 93, Number 5 CapitalPress.com RESISTING ANTIBIOTICS Some ranchers avoid the controversy surrounding antibiotic use in livestock through husbandry practices Mehrten Homer of Painted Hills Natural Beef feeds his breeding stock high on a hill in Fossil, Oregon. Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press Painted Hills Natural Beef Founded: 1996 President: Mehrten Homer Main office: Fossil, Oregon Membership: Seven ranch families within Oregon Weekly production: 500 cattle or approximately 422,000 pounds of meat/meat products. Annual production: 22 million pounds, equivalent in weight to more than 52 blue whales, by comparison. By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN Capital Press F OSSIL, Ore. — When fifth-generation cattle rancher Mehrten Homer first brought antibiot- ic-free beef to market at Price Chopper, an Ore- gon grocery chain now called Market of Choice, he recalls the man at the meat counter laughed. Bigger and cheaper beef sells, the man said. Surely no one would pay more for labels like “never given antibiotics.” But Homer and his family didn’t give up. And in time, their customers were hooked. Today, Painted Hills Natural Beef in Wheeler County, Ore., a cooperative Homer and six other ranch- ing families founded in 1996, is one of the Northwest’s most recognized beef brands. $2.00 Each week, they process 500 cattle — producing about 422,430 pounds of steak, roasts, hamburger and other products. Combined, the beef weighs more than an average railroad locomotive. “I don’t know anything else but cattle,” said Homer. He touched his cowboy hat with a sandpapery finger. “It was all I knew then. It’s still all I know.” Consumer demand for antibiotic-free meat has climbed as health messages have reached buyers. The shift reflects an effort to slow the spread of antibiotic-re- sistant “superbugs” — bacteria that have developed immunity to one or more antibiotics, claiming animals’ Overall industry production: 27.3 billion pounds in 2019 See Antibiotics, Page 9 Mehrten Homer Capital Press graphic Agriculture applauds new WOTUS rule EOMG File The Trump administration has announced a new Waters of the United States rule. tial to producing healthy food and fiber and ensuring future generations can do the same,” Zippy Duvall, AFBF presi- dent, said. “That’s why we support the new clean water rule. It provides clarity and certainty, allowing farmers to under- stand water regulations with- out having to hire teams of consultants and lawyers,” he said. National Farmers Union expressed appreciation for the clarity in the new rule but also urged the administration to ensure the availability of clean water for future generations. “Family farmers and ranchers have been confused by ambiguous water regula- tions for many years,” Roger Johnson, NFU president, said. “Now that we have a more precise definition of WOTUS, we hope that farmers will bet- ter understand which kinds of water are subject to federal authority and which are not,” he said. But farmers also need access to clean, safe water for their families, their farms and their communities, he said. “When regulating natural resources, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers must bal- ance certainty for farmers, ranchers and property owners with protections for our water supply,” he said. National Association of Wheat Growers said the rule provides more clarity in Clean Water Act applicability and definition of Waters of the U.S. “Today’s announcement is welcome news to Ameri- ca’s wheat producers who’ve dealt with years of regula- tory uncertainty,” Ben Scholz, NAWG president, said. “Farmers are depen- dent on protecting our natu- ral resources for safe and reli- able water to grow crops and for the communities that farm- ers are a part of. To do so, we See WOTUS, Page 9 Bill would create task force to address groundwater nitrates in NE Oregon Groups petitioning EPA for emergency action Area in detail 82 ORE. 221 Columbia R i v er Wash. By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press SALEM — Oregon law- makers will consider a bill during the upcoming legisla- tive session aimed at curbing elevated levels of groundwa- ter nitrates in the Lower Uma- tilla Basin. State Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, recently intro- duced Senate Bill 1562, which calls for the Ore- gon Department of Agricul- ture to form a new task force that would review existing data and recommend solu- tions to the area’s decades-old Lower Umatilla Basin GMA 730 14 Wash. Boardman Ore. Umatilla 730 37 Hermiston 395 84 Ore. MORROW 74 5 miles Range Road Groups representing farm- ers and ranchers are hailing a final rule that provides a clear definition of Waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act. The new Navigable Waters Protection Rule replaces the Obama administration’s con- troversial 2015 WOTUS rule, which expanded federal juris- diction to nearly all waterways and many areas that only tem- porarily hold water. The new rule, announced Jan. 23, identifies four catego- ries of waters that are feder- ally regulated under the Clean Water Act: • The territorial seas and traditional navigable waters. • Perennial and intermittent tributaries. • Certain lakes, ponds and impoundments. • Wetlands adjacent to jurisdictional waters. It also details waters not subject to federal control — including features that only contain water in direct response to rainfall; ground- water; many ditches includ- ing farm and roadside ditches; prior converted cropland; farm and stock watering ponds; and waste treatment systems. The American Farm Bureau Federation said the new rule achieves important regulatory oversight while allowing farmers to farm. “Farmers and ranchers care about clean water and preserv- ing the land, which are essen- Bombing By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press Source: Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality groundwater problem. The Lower Umatilla Basin in northeast Oregon is home to some of the state’s most productive farmland, with thousands of grazing cattle and vast fields of irrigated Echo 84 UMATILLA 207 Alan Kenaga/Capital Press crops. But rising levels of groundwater nitrates could pose a public health threat if left unchecked. Regulators declared the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area in 1990 to identify and mitigate sources of nitro- gen contamination, including from agricultural operations. Hansell, whose Senate dis- trict includes the 550-square- mile management area span- ning parts of Umatilla and Morrow counties, said his bill builds on work that is already being done in the basin. It allocates $250,000 to ODA for the inter-agency task force that would evaluate strate- gies for reducing groundwa- ter nitrates. “It will go directly to the Umatilla Basin,” Hansell said. “We’re not asking for a multi-groundwater study throughout the state.” The task force would include representatives of ODA and the state Depart- ment of Environmental Qual- ity, as well as two members of the local management area committee and three mem- bers at large — one of whom must be a farmer or rancher with experience irrigating and fertilizing cropland. Hansell said the funding was originally proposed in ODA’s 2019-21 budget. “There was no opposi- tion to it, but it did not get funded,” Hansell said. “It was brought to my attention how important that would have been to the Umatilla Basin.” Tests of groundwater wells show nitrates in parts of the management area exceed the U.S. Environmental Protec- tion Agency’s “maximum contaminate level” of 10 mil- ligrams per liter. Exposure See Groundwater, Page 9