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EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER Friday, April 24, 2020 Volume 93, Number 17 CapitalPress.com $2.00 ‘WE HAVE ALL OF THIS DATA, WE KNOW WHERE WE’VE BEEN, WE KNOW WHERE WE’RE GOING AND WE HAVE A RESEARCH TEAM THAT’S PROVEN WE CAN PULL OFF THIS LEVEL OF SCIENCE IN A COLLABORATIVE WAY.’ — Jodi Johnson-Maynard, leader of the new study, Landscapes in Transition M A PPING THE FUTURE OF NW FARMING Melissa Hartley Jodi Johnson-Maynard leads to new Landscapes in Transition research project aimed at helping farmers thrive as the climate changes. Researchers continue efforts to help farmers as climate changes By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press G ENESEE, Idaho — The weather is different these days than when Eric Odberg was a kid. There’s less snow, wetter springs and hotter, drier summers, he says. “We have more extremes,” the 50-year-old Genesee, Idaho, farmer said. “It seems like we get stuck in a weather pattern for an extended period of time, and it takes a long time to get out of it, and then shift into another extreme.” Odberg is working with University of Idaho researchers to “weather-proof” his farm as part of the Landscapes in Transition project. They are studying cover crops and rotations of winter peas on 3.5 acres Odberg owns outside Genesee. It’s the latest step sci- entists and farmers are taking to learn what climate change means for growers — and how they can adjust. Study in ‘bigness’ The Landscapes in Tran- sition study began in 2017 and follows on the heels of a $20 million, six-year regional study aimed at helping farmers remain profitable in the face of a changing climate. That study was known as Regional Approaches to Cli- mate Change, or REACCH. Matthew Weaver/Capital Press See Climate, Page 11 Genesee, Idaho, farmer Eric Odberg pauses while seeding cano- la near the Landscapes in Transition test plots March 23. How the $19 billion in federal aid will help farmers and ranchers By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN Capital Press The USDA has announced $19 billion in federal aid that will be dis- tributed this spring to help farms and ranches across the U.S. survive the plunging prices caused by the COVID-19 shutdowns. The package, called the Corona- virus Food Assistance Program, is part of the $2 trillion Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act that Congress passed in March. “The program will include direct payments to farmers, as well as mass purchases of dairy, meat and agricul- tural produce to get that food to the peo- ple in need,” Presi- dent Trump said at a White House brief- Sonny ing April 17. Perdue CFAP will issue $16 billion in direct payments to farmers and ranchers and $3 billion in food purchases. Industry experts say the aid comes at a critical time. Across the nation, farms that have lost restaurant orders and can’t divert supply lines in time are dumping thousands of gallons of fresh milk into lagoons and manure pits, digging ditches to bury produce and plowing under ripe vegetables. “The losses are devastating,” said Michael Nepveux, economist at the American Farm Bureau. “This aid package is so necessary.” But how will USDA officials decide which commodities and indi- vidual farmers and ranchers will receive aid? Direct payments Although USDA has not confirmed final numbers for direct payments to farms and ranches, Nepveux said a leaked copy of an embargoed release gives approximations, including: • $9.6 billion for the livestock industry, including $5.1 billion for cattle, $2.9 billion for dairy and $1.6 billion for hogs. • $3.9 billion for row crops. • $2.1 billion for specialty crops. • $500 million for other sectors, including poultry, sheep, hemp and niche sectors. None of the money will be used for biofuels or ethanol, Agriculture Sec- retary Sonny Perdue said at a press briefing Friday. Nepveux said the Farm Bureau is advising USDA so producers suf- fering losses, including small farms, won’t be overlooked. “We don’t want to leave anyone behind,” said Nepveux. Direct aid To qualify for direct aid, a com- modity must have declined in price by at least 5% between Jan. 1 and April 15. According to industry experts, most agricultural products easily See Aid, Page 11 Three other applicants compete for Hammond grazing allotments By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Oregon’s Hammond Ranches will be vying with at least three other applicants for access to federal graz- ing allotments that it lost in a court rul- ing last year. The company submitted one of four applications to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to use the 26,000 public acres, where the Hammond family has traditionally grazed cattle near its home base in Diamond, Ore. However, Hammond Ranches may still reactivate an administra- tive appeal against the BLM by May 12 that would suspend the competi- tion for the grazing allotments, at least until the legal challenge is resolved. Steven Hammond, the company’s co-owner, said he hasn’t yet decided whether to continue that administra- tive process. Capital Press File Three applicants will compete with the Hammond family for access to federal allotments in Oregon where it’s traditionally grazed cattle. The BLM said it’s not making information publicly available about who has applied for grazing access to the four allotments. Steven Hammond and his father, Dwight, had been convicted of arson and imprisoned for mandatory five- year terms but were released in 2018 after President Donald Trump fully pardoned both ranchers. The grazing permit that had been taken away from the Hammonds after their arson convictions was restored by the BLM in early 2019, but that decision was challenged by environ- mentalists and overturned by a federal judge in December. Last month, the agency announced that it’d be accepting applications for access to the four grazing allotments because this would bring about the “most expeditious resolution” to the matter. The Oregon Cattlemen’s Associa- tion would have preferred if nobody else competed for the allotments and Jerome Rosa, its executive direc- tor, said he was personally surprised that three other applications had been turned in. “I felt like there was quite a bit of community support and industry sup- port for the Hammonds,” he said. Without knowing who the appli- cants are, it’s possible that some intend to use the acreage for environ- mental or recreational purposes rather than commercial ranching, Rosa said. See Grazing, Page 11