EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Friday, August 7, 2020
Volume 93, Number 32
CapitalPress.com
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LIVE
FROM THE FIELD
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Brit Ausman, an Asotin, Wash., farmer and board member of
the Washington Grain Commission, sends a greeting to over-
seas customers from his hard red winter wheat field July 30.
Commission program director Joe Bippert records the video.
Virtual trade teams keep wheat farmers, overseas customers connected
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
A
SOTIN, Wash. — Brit Aus-
man stood in his hard red winter
wheat field on a warm Thursday
morning giving an update on the
harvest.
A breeze rippled through the grain
as Ausman spoke to millers and bak-
ers on the other side of the world.
Yields are high and quality is
good, said Ausman, who farms in the
southeastern corner of the state and
is a member of the Washington Grain
Commission.
With travel restricted by the
COVID-19 pandemic, this is the only
way U.S. wheat farmers can keep in
touch with their overseas customers,
who last year bought roughly $6.2
billion in wheat from them.
Joe Bippert, program director of
the state grain commission, recorded
Ausman’s presentation with two
cameras and flew a drone to get a
bird’s-eye view of the crop.
Since April 28, Bippert has
recorded six videos at farmers’ fields
around Washington state. He will
record five or six more as the harvest
progresses.
“If they can’t come to the crop,
we’ll take it to them,” Bippert said.
“I’d like to personally thank
all of our overseas customers that
purchase our products,” Ausman
said in his greeting. “Without you,
we wouldn’t be able to do what
we do.”
Kansas Wheat Commission
See Trade, Page 12
U.S. Wheat Associates led an in-person trade team for customers from sub-Sa-
haran Africa near Salina, Kan., in 2019. This year, overseas buyers are getting
virtual updates on crop conditions from U.S. farmers.
Feds affirm opposition to
breaching Snake River dams
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Three federal agencies affirmed
July 31 that breaching four Lower
Snake River dams in Eastern Wash-
ington would have high social and
economic costs and require Congress
to authorize it.
Barges that carry wheat would be
stranded, as would farmers’ irriga-
tion pumps. And electric rates would
rise, as would the chances for power
blackouts, according to a report judge’s order and public comments.
by the Army Corps of Engineers,
In a press release, the agencies
Bureau of Rec-
said their pre-
lamation and the
ferred alternative
Bonneville Power
for managing the
Administration.
rivers complies
The final envi-
with
President
ronmental state-
Trump’s order to
ment
impact
secure
reliable
lays the founda-
water supplies in
tion for a deci-
the West.
sion in Septem-
Environmental
ber on operating
Associated Press File and fishing groups
14 federal dams The Ice Harbor dam near Bur- said they were
on the Colum- bank, Wash.
outraged, urging
bia and Snake riv-
Congress to inter-
ers. A federal judge
vene and predicting
in Oregon ordered the environmen- lawsuits.
tal review.
“The federal plan totally and com-
The final report mirrors a draft pletely fails Idaho and isn’t good
report released in February. The enough for the many guides, outfit-
agencies continued to favor spilling ters, river businesses and communi-
more water over dams in the spring ties in Idaho that depend on healthy
to help wild salmon and steelhead runs of fish,” Idaho Conservation
protected under the federal Endan- League executive director Justin
gered Species Act.
Hayes said in a statement.
The agencies rejected pleas from
“The Trump administration’s
environmental and fishing groups to reckless rush to finalize the Colum-
breach Lower Granite, Little Goose, bia Basin hydropower review pro-
Lower Monumental and Ice Harbor cess is heartbreaking and immoral,”
said Natural Resources Defense
dams on the lower Snake River.
The report acknowledged that Council senior attorney Giulia Good
breaching the dams would do more Stefani.
Washington Grain Commission
for fish. But it also would damage the
federal system’s other uses, such as CEO Glen Squires said the report
flood control, irrigation, navigation, presents all the drawbacks to breach-
recreation and electricity generation. ing dams. He also predicted that
The agencies said they couldn’t farm groups will need to continue to
breach the dams unless Congress explain the dams’ benefits.
changed their mandate. They said
they studied the option because of the
See Dams, Page 12
Carl Sampson/Capital Press
The NORPAC plant in Stayton, Ore.
Farmer-members to receive
compensation in NORPAC deal
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A settlement deal between
the bankrupt NORPAC coop-
erative and its farmer-mem-
bers is expected to provide some
compensation for past crop
deliveries.
Without delving into the
deal’s specifics, attorneys for the
growers, the cooperative and its
unsecured creditors told a bank-
ruptcy judge Aug. 4 that they’ve
reached an agreement resolving
their disputes.
For the deal to come into
force, farmers representing 85%
of the settlement amount will
need to sign onto the agreement.
The deal affects 108 farm-
er-members of the coopera-
tive, which has sold off substan-
tially all of its food processing
assets since filing for bankruptcy
last year. It’s now called North
Pacific Canners & Packers, as
the NORPAC name was sold
along with its other intellectual
property rights.
Aside from receiving a pro-
portional share of the undis-
closed settlement amount, farm-
ers who agree to the deal also
won’t be subject to the “claw-
back” attempt by unsecured
creditors, who want to recover
past payments NORPAC made
for crops.
Growers who want to con-
tinue pursuing claims against
NORPAC can decide against
opting in to the settlement, but
they would not have legal claims
against them dropped, said
Rebecca Russell, attorney for
several farms.
“You have to choose to partic-
ipate,” she said.
Earlier this year, the cooper-
ative filed a complaint against
member farms who demanded
See NORPAC, Page 12