Friday, February 5, 2021
CapitalPress.com 11
Radicchio: There’s a lot for farmers to like about radicchio
Continued from Page 1
The growing popular-
ity of the little-known crop
prompted the couple to help
lead a regional effort to raise
the crop’s profile by estab-
lishing the Pacific North-
west Radicchio Association.
Geography is on their
side. Radicchio is widely
grown in northeastern Italy,
whose latitude and climate
are comparable to those of
the Pacific Northwest.
There’s a lot for farm-
ers to like about radicchio,
Erickson-Brown said. It’s
a winter-hardy crop, and
improves soil health by
breaking up pest and dis-
ease cycles as an alternative
to Brassica crops, such as
cabbage, kale and Brussels
sprouts.
Radicchio also overwin-
ters in the field and holds up
well in storage, making it a
locally grown winter salad
alternative to lettuce shipped
from warmer climates.
The new organization
will bring together grow-
ers, processors, wholesalers,
distributors, retailers and
restaurants in Oregon and
Washington.
It will build on existing
efforts by Washington State
University’s Food Systems
Program, led by Lewis, and
the Culinary Breeding Net-
work, led by Oregon State
University professor Lane
Selman.
Lewis
and
Selman
received a $250,000 USDA
specialty crop block grant
in 2020 through the Wash-
ington State Department of
Agriculture.
Their goals are:
• Promote radicchio,
improve farmers’ access
to production methods and
seed and increase consumer
interest.
• Offer educational and
culinary events, including
a radicchio grower’s sym-
posium and field days and
expand an annual Seat-
tle radicchio festival with
events in Spokane, Belling-
ham and Walla Walla.
• Develop an interna-
tional exchange between
association members and
Italian farmers, breeders,
seed dealers and experts
to boost production in the
Northwest.
Northwest grown
A
California-grown,
round, red Chioggia type
is the radicchio most com-
monly found in U.S. grocery
stores.
Northwest growers are
producing more varieties.
Shawn Linehan/Culinary Breeding Network
Duvall, Wash., radicchio farmer Jason Salvo in a green-
house during a tour of the industry in Italy.
Shawn Linehan/Culinary Breeding Network
Pacific Northwest farmers toured Italian radicchio farms in January 2020.
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Radicchio breeder Andrea Ghedina, center, talks about
the crop with Northwest growers.
Some are also already work-
ing with seed companies
to develop region-specific
varieties, Lewis said.
Erickson-Brown envi-
sions the association as a
marketing board, promoting
Pacific
Northwest-grown
radicchio and building
interest.
The organization could
potentially sell into East
Coast urban markets that
now import radicchio from
Italy and elsewhere.
“We know there are peo-
ple willing to pay a pretty
high price to get this special
Italian radicchio,” she said.
“As long as we’ve already
got trucks bringing Wash-
ington apples to the East
Coast, wouldn’t it be great
if we could also throw a
few pallets of radicchio on
there?”
Erickson-Brown hopes
to hear from other growers
about the organization.
“What we don’t want to
do is miss anybody,” she
said. “We know a lot of
small farmers are growing
radicchio that may or may
not be on our radar right
now.”
She welcomes growers
who want to sell radicchio
locally and those who aspire
to ship their crop overseas.
Italian marketing associ-
ations have identified China,
Japan and the U.S. as the
biggest potential markets,
she said.
“We’re going to start to
take roll and figure out who
wants to figure this out with
us,” she said.
Fast-growing crop
It’s not clear how many
Northwest growers are actu-
ally raising radicchio, Sel-
man said. The USDA doesn’t
collect that information. The
association will likely mea-
sure production and market
demand, she said.
Lewis predicts 35 to 50
growers will be involved in
the organization.
From experience, Erick-
son-Brown sees great poten-
tial for radicchio. Her farm
reported a 900% increase in
production and sales over
the last decade, with sales
doubling in 2019 alone com-
pared to the previous year.
Winter vegetables are the
fastest growing greens seg-
ment of the seed market,
John Navazio, leafy green
plant breeder at Johnny’s
Selected Seeds, said in the
grant application.
“The market for these
crops — especially radic-
chio, chicory, spinach and
purple sprouting broccoli
— is expanding faster than
any of us can keep up with,”
Navazio said.
Cultural exchange
A major selling point for
the Northwest effort is the
opportunity to work with
Italian farmers and breed-
ers, Lewis said.
In January 2020, a
group of farmers, chefs
and researchers traveled to
Italy for a “radicchio expe-
dition.” They toured farms,
seed companies and breed-
ing programs.
Participants paid their
own way, Selman said. The
grant would fund the next
expedition, although it will
be a smaller group more
focused on documenting
growing methods to share
with Northwest farmers,
she said.
Just as important, Lewis
said, is bringing Italian
growers and breeders to the
Pacific Northwest.
Lawsuit: Lawsuit asks for either an injunction
or receiver to take control of Easterday Ranches
Continued from Page 1
roughly 2% of the company’s beef
during the last four fiscal years.
Gary Mickelson, senior director
of public relations for Tyson, said the
company became aware of fraud during
a recent company-led inspection.
“As we disclosed in December, this
misappropriation of funds has cost
Tyson more than $200 million, which
the company is working to recoup,”
Mickelson said in an emailed state-
ment. “We are also working with our
outside auditor to implement addi-
tional financial controls to help pre-
vent or detect this type of activity in
the future.”
While Easterday Ranches initially
cooperated with Tyson on the investiga-
tion, the lawsuit alleges that, on Jan. 22,
the farm announced intentions to sell
its “North Lot” feedlot within the next
few days and dissipate the proceedings
— possibly to insiders and affiliates of
Cody Easterday.
Mickelson said Tyson is asking for a
court-appointed receiver to take control
of Easterday Ranches until the situation
is resolved.
Notwithstanding
the
falsified
records, Tyson claims it has approxi-
mately 54,000 real cattle still located on
Easterday’s feedlots and grow yards.
“Those cattle are of various ages and
various weights, most not yet ready for
market,” the lawsuit states. “Those cat-
tle require continued feeding, mainte-
nance and other care on a daily basis,
or their value will quickly and dramati-
cally deteriorate.”
The lawsuit asks for either an injunc-
tion or receiver to take control of East-
erday Ranches to prevent any poten-
tial sale of the North Lot, which Tyson
states would “have a material negative
impact on (Easterday’s) creditors.”
EASTERDAY RANCHES FILES
FOR CHAPTER 11 PROTECTION
The meat processing giant accused
Easterday Ranches, based in Pasco, of
collecting money to buy, raise and feed
PASCO, Wash. — Easterday more than 200,000 cattle that would be
Ranches has filed for Chapter 11 pro- supplied to a nearby Tyson beef plant.
tection amid allegations the East- Except for one thing — the cattle, it
ern Washington cattle supplier was later discovered, weren’t real, the
bilked Tyson Foods out of
company alleges.
$225 million by submitting
Easterday has not responded
fake invoices for more than
to messages for comment.
200,000 cattle that did not
Easterday Ranches is part
exist.
of the larger Easterday farm-
ing operation. The family also
Court documents filed
grows 25,000 acres of pota-
Monday list the 20 larg-
toes, onions, grain and forage
est claims against Easterday
Cody
in the Columbia Basin.
Ranches, totaling more than
A report in the Spokes-
$236 million — including Easterday
man-Review
newspaper
$8.6 million to Segale Prop-
erties, a Seattle-based commercial states the Washington Department
real estate company; $1.08 million to of Agriculture will launch a review
Animal Health International in Sun- of the allegations, and how 200,000
nyside, Wash.; and tens of thousands nonexistent cattle may have slipped
of dollars to other local farmers, vets through its inspection process.
and contractors.
The case also casts doubt on plans
No other claim, however, comes by Easterday Farms to redevelop the
close to the $225 million sought in a former Lost Valley Farms dairy near
lawsuit Tyson Foods filed last week Boardman, Ore., with with 28,300
in Franklin County Superior Court.
cattle.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Meanwhile, a draft permit for East-
erday Farms to redevelop the former
Lost Valley Farms dairy near Board-
man, Ore., with 28,300 cattle, remains
under state review.
In a 2019 interview with the Cap-
ital Press, Cody Easterday said the
farm plans to invest $15 million in
the dairy, including completion of
a wastewater treatment system that
was never finished under the previous
owner.
Lost Valley Farm was shut down in
2018 after racking up more than 200
environmental violations. Opponents
are now pushing for a moratorium on
so-called “mega-dairies.”
Andrea Cantu-Schomas, a spokes-
woman for the Oregon Department of
Agriculture, said the agency is aware
of the lawsuit involving Easterday
Ranches.
“At this time the Easterday (dairy)
draft permit is still under review,” Can-
tu-Schomas said. “The state continues
to conduct due diligence.”
“They are so excited
about the fact we’re excited
about radicchio,” she said.
Many
varieties
are
grown in several regions of
Italy, but used only for one
dish or a particular way,
Lewis said.
“We’re not set in stone
how we’re going to use this
crop,” she said. “They were
like, ‘We need your innova-
tion to expand our Italian
markets as well.’”
Andrea Ghedina is
co-founder and breeder for
Smarties.bio in Chioggia,
Italy, near Venice. His com-
pany sells conventional and
organic radicchio seeds.
He’s been breeding radic-
chio for 10 years.
Radicchio is not consid-
ered a specialty crop in his
region, he said.
“It’s something we know
very well, it’s not so roman-
tic for us,” Ghedina said.
Scientifically, however,
the crop offers genetic vari-
ation and is still relatively
new, he said. It was bred
from wild chicory into its
current red, round shape
about 70 years ago.
Radicchio contains anti-
oxidants and vitamin C
in quantities significantly
higher than other fruits and
vegetables, even oranges,
Ghedina said.
Ghedina will offer his
expertise to Northwest
growers. He wants to col-
lect as much data as he can
to breed new varieties.
He believes less bitter
varieties would find larger
markets, even in Italy.
‘Rad TV’
The annual fall festi-
val, Sagra del Radicchio —
Italian for the Festival of
Radicchio — drew roughly
325 people to Seattle in its
first two outings, in 2018
and 2019.
Last year, because of the
coronavirus shutdowns, the
virtual alternative, “Rad
TV,” drew 1,345 same-day
viewers in November and a
total of 2,500 views.
About 44% were con-
sumers and home cooks,
36% were farmers and ag
industry members, and
nearly 8% were involved in
restaurants and the hospital-
ity industry. The rest didn’t
specify their affiliation.
People in 13 countries
registered. About 74% of
the viewers were in the U.S.
Roughly 40% of the
audience was between 25
and 34 years old, and nearly
32% between 35 and 44
years old.
Organizers want to
return to in-person events,
Selman said, but “I think
we would actually consider
doing it also virtually.”
Next steps
The association will
meet for the first time in
March. The goal is to have
the organization running
in the next few months,
Lewis said.
Any
international
exchanges may be modi-
fied or delayed due to the
pandemic, she said.
In
the
meantime,
Erickson-Brown
won-
ders how COVID-19 will
impact demand as she
decides what to plant for
the coming growing sea-
son. Each year, they’ve
increased their radicchio
crop by 25%, and have
always sold it all, she said.
About 90% of it goes to
restaurants.
Early on, at farmers
markets and restaurants,
she would often hear how
hard it was to find, she
recalled.
That showed her the
enthusiasm is there for
radicchio.
“You don’t need to grow
something that appeals
to everybody,” Erick-
son-Brown said. “You just
need to do a really good
job of growing some-
thing that’s meaningful to
enough people that makes
it worth doing.”
Senate: Vilsack says he
shares Biden’s vision of
a ‘zero emissions’ ag sector
Continued from Page 1
foretaste of what to expect in
his policy agenda.
In response to questions
about trade, Vilsack said
USDA will work closely
with the U.S. Trade Repre-
sentative, negotiate new trade
agreements and promote U.S.
agriculture globally.
On climate change, Vil-
sack said he shares Biden’s
vision of a “zero emissions”
agriculture sector. He plans
to create new markets — for
example, by paying farmers
to sequester carbon. These
markets, he said, will be
“voluntary,
market-based,
incentive-based” and will
need to be based on research
and data.
Vilsack said he plans to
use some portion of the Com-
modity Credit Corporation
fund to create a carbon bank,
but the CCC’s historical uses
will take priority.
Vilsack said he knows
most farmers are more inter-
ested in functioning markets
than in aid, but he thinks both
are important. He plans to
invest in regional food sys-
tems, but also to channel
pandemic aid to farmers and
maintain strong crop insur-
ance programs.
The
nominee
also
answered questions about ris-
ing farm input costs. Vilsack
said he will talk to the U.S.
Department of Commerce
and other agencies about how
to ensure adequate fertilizer
imports and other inputs. He
said alternatives, such as con-
verting ag waste into pellet-
ized fertilizer, may be part of
the solution.
On the timber and lumber
markets, Vilsack said USDA
will strengthen and grow
markets for wood products
— for example, by promot-
ing cross-laminated lumber
and biomass energy.
Some senators expressed
concern about Biden’s push
for more electric vehicles,
which they fear could hurt the
ethanol and corn industries.
Vilsack said he will continue
to advocate on behalf of eth-
anol producers and will push
for its expanded use in airlin-
ers and ships.
On livestock, Vilsack
said USDA will strengthen
laws for more transparency,
incentivize the creation
of more meat processing
plants, push price discov-
ery, strengthen meat label-
ing standards and work with
the Department of Justice to
investigate antitrust issues.
Vilsack said he will help
disadvantaged
farmers,
including people of color.
He plans to serve minori-
ties by partnering with orga-
nizations that serve those
communities.
He said he also will try to
close loopholes so large cor-
porations don’t take advan-
tage of USDA programs
meant to serve small farms.