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CapitalPress.com
Friday, January 15, 2021
November dairy exports dip
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
U.S. dairy exports January through November
While November dairy
exports declined 5.1% in
value year over year to
$509.7 million, January
through November exports
were up 10% to $6.06 bil-
lion, according to the U.S.
Dairy Export Council.
November’s
exports
posted the first year-over-
year decline in 2020. Despite
a 27% increase in whey ship-
ments, total volumes were
down 0.2%. Shipments were
down 8% for nonfat and
skim milk powders, 16% for
cheese and 14% for lactose.
As a higher value prod-
uct, lower cheese exports
contributed most to the
decline in total value for the
month, USDEC reported.
The decline in cheese
exports was caused in part by
high U.S. domestic prices in
the summer and fall, which
caused international buyers
to delay purchases.
U.S. exports of cheese
to Mexico in Novem-
Product
(Metric Tons)
2019
2020
% change
NDM/SMP*
631,960
753,839
19.3
Dry whey products
407,467
503,574
23.6
Cheese
330,421
330,340
0.0
Lactose
348, 341
350,218
0.5
WMP
33,984
35,461
4.3
Butterfat
22,621
22,217
-1.8
MPC
31,179
39,612
27
Infant formula
29,863
30,104
0.8
Evap/Cond Milk
15,814
9,598
-39.3
2,475
2,779
12.3
Milk/cream (liters)
120,975
119,020
-1.6
Total value** (million dollars)
5,495.0
6,059.4
10
Casein
*USDA data adjusted to reflect shipments to Mexico misclassified as WMP
** Total value does not include fluid milk but does include additional products to those listed
Source: U.S. Dairy Export Council and U.S. Census Bureau
ber declined 38% year
over year. Reduced con-
sumer demand due to the
COVID-19 pandemic and
Mexico’s severe economic
consequences likely con-
tributed to the decline,
USDEC analysts said.
However, U.S. cheese
volumes to Mexico Janu-
ary through November were
down just 1% despite the
pandemic, they said.
Mexico had also been
buying less nonfat and skim
milk powder from the U.S.
for most of the year. That
trend abated in November,
with shipments up 16% year
over year, and it appears
Mexico’s powder demand
may be on the road to recov-
ery, the analysts said.
Total U.S. whey ship-
ments were up 24% January
through November, continu-
ing to be driven by China as
the country rebuilds its pig
herd. China reported its pig
herd had reached about 90%
of normal levels at the end of
November.
“But given that pork
output is still far short of
demand and dry whey pric-
ing levels suggest strong
Chinese buying activity, we
expect whey import gains to
persist into the new year,”
the analysts said.
Whey volumes to China
demonstrate the market
has moved from recovery
to demand expansion, they
said.
U.S. whey shipments to
China more than doubled in
November and were up 111%
January through Novem-
ber. That growth is due in
large part to the retaliatory
tariff exemption secured in
2019 and renewed for 2020,
they said.
The U.S. also saw strong
powder sales to Southeast
Asia in 2020, with shipments
up 50% year over year Janu-
ary through November. That
acceleration was due primar-
ily from U.S. market share
growing from 31% of the
market to 46% on an annu-
alized basis.
But U.S. powder exports
to the region slowed in
November, despite a 22%
increase in exports to Indo-
nesia. Total exports to the
region dropped 27%, likely
due to multiple factors, the
analysts said.
“A 46% share of trade
for any suppliers is well
above the norm in such a
highly competitive region
… thus, some regression
in market share or vol-
ume was to be expected,”
they said.
Latest COVID-aid package benefits potato, onion industries
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
The coronavirus relief
package approved at the end
of the year includes aid for the
potato and onion industries.
The $900 billion package
provides:
• $1.5 billion for USDA
food purchases for people in
need.
• $225 million for sup-
plemental payments to spe-
cialty crop producers who had
losses.
• An additional $100 mil-
lion for USDA’s Specialty
Crop Block Grant program.
• Funding for ag-worker
protection.
It also directs $75 million
to the Gus Schumacher Nutri-
tion Incentive Program bene-
fiting Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP)
recipients who buy fresh fruits
and vegetables, and increases
maximum SNAP benefits by
15% through June 30.
National Potato Council
CEO Kam Quarles said the
additional block-grant fund-
ing will help back-fill costs
associated with COVID-19,
such as providing personal
protective equipment for
workers or retooling opera-
tions. The money will be dis-
tributed through the estab-
lished Specialty Crop Block
Grant program but is separate
from regular grant funds.
USDA is yet to write regu-
lations for the additional sup-
plemental payments for crop
losses, he said.
“It took a while to get to
this point, but it is very pos-
itive that we have certainty,
both on federal funding for ag
for the rest of the fiscal year
and also on this version of
COVID relief,” Quarles said.
“It clearly is not enough,”
he said, “and Congress and
the new administration are
going to have to sit down
and work out an additional
package that will more fully
address the ongoing chal-
lenges of COVID as we
hopefully look to a reopen-
ing economy as the vaccine
rolls out over these next six
months.”
Quarles also said the new
federal budget maintains
funding for National Institute
of Food and Agriculture pota-
to-breeding research grants at
$2.75 million and for a third
year keeps USDA from lim-
iting access to potatoes in the
school breakfast program.
National Onion Associ-
ation Chief Executive Greg
Yielding said funding for
USDA food purchases is
important because the pro-
gram “has had a big impact
and has been very successful.”
He said USDA’s Farmers
to Families Food Box Pro-
gram is supplying many peo-
ple in need, helping ensure
U.S.-grown produce is con-
sumed rather than wasted, and
is providing “somewhat of
an alternative market” as the
foodservice sector remains at
least partly shut down.
Agriculture
Secre-
tary Sonny Perdue Jan. 4
announced USDA will buy
an additional $1.5 billion of
food for nationwide distri-
bution through the food-box
program. USDA, which has
distributed more than 132
million boxes since the pan-
demic began, will solicit 240
organizations that previously
received Basic Ordering
Agreements.
“The need remains out
there with food-insecure
Americans, so having addi-
tional resources going into
that is a positive,” Quarles
said.
Yielding said SNAP
enhancements will affect
agriculture differently than
USDA food purchases.
Washington farm groups anxious as lawmakers convene
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Absent the pub-
lic and protected by National Guard
troops, the Washington Legislature
convened Monday for a session that
Gov. Jay Inslee said will “impact
our state for generations.”
Inslee called out 750 guardsman
to ring the Legislative Building. A
handful of people came at first light
and demanded in. They were told
firmly and politely to stay behind
the yellow police line.
The state patrol reported two
arrests by early afternoon. One
crossed the police line, and one
refused to move a vehicle blocking
a road, troopers said.
The police presence came on the
first day of a 105-day session. The
governor issued a statement saying
that after the pandemic was over
Washington was “not going back to
normal.” He said he looked forward
to a “better normal.”
Inslee called for erasing “eco-
nomic” and “racial disparities.”
“We think of one another as equal
because it is one of this nation’s
principles, but we can’t be equal
until we live as equals,” he said.
Washington Farm Bureau CEO
John Stuhlmiller said Monday the
organization was still trying to fig-
ure out how to represent its mem-
bers this session.
In the pre-COVID normal, farm-
ers packed hearing rooms for bills
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Tom Hughes, 30, of Everettt calls out to National Guard troops Jan.
11 surrounding the Washington Legislative Building in Olympia.
Hughes demanded to be allowed to witness lawmakers convene and
was later arrested when he crossed the yellow police line.
most important to them. This year,
they will have to testify remotely,
hoping for a chance to speak and
hoping to stay connected.
“Our members aren’t the ones
with high-speed internet. It’s our
members who can hardly get on the
internet to read documents,” Stuhl-
miller said.
“We have to be really smart to
have our members get heard,” he
said. “The public input to this ses-
sion is going to be hugely restricted.
“The direct message is that there
will be limited opportunity to speak
to bills and that will kill us,” Stuhl-
miller said.
The House adopted rules Mon-
day that will be in effect until at
least Jan. 29. The rules call for most
legislators to participate remotely.
The House chamber was nearly
empty for the opening session. In a
floor speech, Rep. Tom Dent, R-Mo-
ses Lake, said he takes COVID-19
seriously. He had it and spent eight
days in the hospital.
But he said constituents are ques-
tioning whether meeting remotely
will work.
“I don’t want to go to the grocery
story, the farm store because they’re
going to ask me why we’re doing
this,” Dent said. “And I have to
agree. I don’t see how it can work.”
Washington State Dairy Federa-
tion policy director Jay Gordon said
Monday he was apprehensive about
the upcoming session.
“The legislative process is no
different than farmers talking and
making deals,” he said. “It makes
me sad we’re not going to have
those conversations where we can
look at everybody in the eye.”
Dressed in red tie, white shirt and
blue suit and carrying an umbrella,
Tom Hughes, 30, of Everett was the
loudest and most persistent of the
people demanding entry to the Leg-
islative Building.
“They’re coming here to have a
session and keeping people out of it,
and it’s not right,” Hughes said.
Later, he slowly crossed the
police line, arms raised, and was
arrested for failing to comply with
a lawful order. He also will be
charged with criminal trespassing in
relation to breaching the Governor’s
Mansion on Jan. 6, troopers said.
Another protester, Tamara Smi-
lanich, 42, of Seattle, said she
comes to the first day of the session
every year. She said that this year
she won’t have a chance to meet
legislators.
“Politics is dirty, but this is really
out of control. This is more than
dirty,” she said.
Lawmakers will plunge into
hearings this week on major bills.
The Senate Ways and Means Com-
mittee planned to hold a hearing
Thursday on taxing income from
capital gains.
Capital Press File
Bonneville Peak, the
highest summit in the
Portneuf Range in Idaho.
Recent storms have in-
creased the snowpack in
much of the state.
Recent
storms aid
slow-starting
Idaho
snowpack
By BRAD CARLSOM
Capital Press
Idaho snowpack totals
got off to a slow start but
have been boosted by recent
storms.
The USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Ser-
vice in its Idaho Water Sup-
ply Outlook Report for Jan.
1 said snowpack and pre-
cipitation totals were below
normal statewide. Northern
Idaho river basins Clearwa-
ter, Coeur d’Alene-St. Joe
and Pend Oreille-Kootenai
were closest to normal.
But storms in early Jan-
uary increased total snow-
pack across all basins, NRCS
Idaho Snow Survey staff
said.
The snow-water equiva-
lent Jan. 11 stood at 97% of
normal in the state’s north-
ern panhandle and 70% in
the state’s southwestern and
southeastern corners.
Basins held 79-89% of
normal snowpack in cen-
tral and northern regions,
80-88% in the southwest,
64-85% along the Nevada
border, 76-84% in the east
and 55-78% in the east-cen-
tral mountains.
“With
nearly
three
more months of the normal
snow-accumulation season
and the continued prediction
for moderate La Nina condi-
tions, the outlook looks prom-
ising for meeting this year’s
water-supply
demands,”
Idaho Snow Survey hydrolo-
gist Erin Whorton said. “His-
torically, La Nina conditions
have resulted in increased
precipitation across Idaho.”
Snow Survey officials
said most of the state’s res-
ervoirs are expected to need
less than 76% of average
streamflow during the 2021
runoff season to meet down-
stream water-supply needs,
including irrigation.
Water carried over after
the 2020 irrigation season
was adequate in many res-
ervoirs, Whorton said. But
in the east-central moun-
tains, where snowpack was
unusually low last year,
Mackay and Magic reser-
voirs will require nearly nor-
mal streamflow volume to
meet demand.
Below-normal fall precip-
itation in much of Idaho kept
soils dry, which may delay
peak streamflow.
“Typically, fall rainstorms
increase soil moisture before
the ground freezes and the
snow starts piling up,” the
report said. “Once tempera-
tures warm, a portion of the
snowmelt water that would
normally run off is cap-
tured and fills the ‘soil res-
ervoir’ before contributing to
increased streamflow.”
U.S. blueberry industry spars at trade hearing
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Sectors of the U.S. blueberry
industry clashed Tuesday at a
daylong hearing before the U.S.
International Trade Commission,
offering competing explanations
for declining farmer profits.
The American Blueberry Grow-
ers Alliance blamed rising Latin
American imports in the spring
and fall, robbing farmers of lucra-
tive early- and late-season sales.
A rival group, the Blue-
berry Coalition for Progress and
Health, said imports aren’t hurt-
ing U.S. farmers. It attributed the
low prices to a “massive increase
in supply” from Washington and
Oregon.
Growers alliance chairman,
Georgia farmer Jerome Crosby,
called the claim that imports aren’t
dragging down prices “comical.”
“The world I live in, it’s a prob-
lem,” he said.
The trade commission heard
the conflicting testimony, as well
as dueling legal and economic
analyses, as part of its probe into
whether foreign trading partners
are seriously harming U.S. blue-
berry growers.
The Trump administration ini-
tiated the investigation at the
request of blueberry growers. The
commission will report its find-
ings to the Biden White House.
The Washington, Oregon and Cal-
ifornia blueberry commissions are
helping fund the investigation.
The growers alliance argues that
imports once complemented U.S.
production by ensuring fresh blue-
berries were available in grocery
George Plaven/Capital Press File
An over-the-row mechanical
blueberry harvester in action at
Berries Northwest, north of Al-
bany, Ore. The U.S. Internation-
al Trade Commission is trying to
determine why blueberry prices
are dropping.
stores year-round, helping make
the fruit popular with consumers.
However, over the past five
years Mexico, Chile, Peru and
Argentina have started to encroach
on the U.S. growing season,
according to the alliance.
Traditionally,
U.S.
blue-
berry growers relied on early-
and late-harvest sales to make up
for low mid-summer prices. The
growers alliance links the grow-
ing volume of “shoulder season”
imports to declining spring and fall
prices.
Representatives of the Latin
American countries, as well as
Canada, pushed back, saying their
farmers aren’t responsible for fall-
ing prices.
The trade commission also
received a letter Tuesday signed
by 18 federal lawmakers, 10 Dem-
ocrats and eight Republicans, ask-
ing the commission to respect
“cross-border trade and consumer
preference.”
The blueberry coalition, repre-
senting U.S.-based companies that
grow or buy blueberries in other
countries, pinned the blamed for
low prices on U.S. farmers com-
peting with each other.
“Prices crater in the summer
months when domestic production
saturates the market,” said Soren
Bjorn, president of the Americas
for Driscoll’s, a fruit seller based
in Watsonville, Calif.
Rutgers University economist
Thomas Prusa said blueberry pro-
duction and employment are grow-
ing, signs of a healthy industry,
though prices for the industry dete-
riorate in the late summer.
“This is attributable to a mas-
sive increase in supply from their
American growers in Oregon
and Washington, not from import
sources,” he said.