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4 CapitalPress.com Friday, February 12, 2021 $10M grant program considered for meat processors By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press Oregon meat processors could vie for $10 million in grants under a bill that seeks to build on a state inspection program authorized last year. House Bill 2785 would create a grant program over- seen by the state’s Depart- ment of Agriculture to invest in constructing, expanding and upgrading meat process- ing facilities. The proposal aims to help meat processors who’d oper- ate under the ODA’s state inspection program, which would regulate these facili- ties for in-state commercial meat sales. Once the state inspection program is fully functional and approved by the federal government, meat from these facilities could also be sold in interstate commerce. The proposed grant pro- gram would also invest in Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press Denise Pohrman, plant manager at Mohawk Valley Meats in Eugene, Ore., moves carcasses. Oregon law- makers are considering a $10 million grant program to help meat processors upgrade their facilities. meat processors who want to be directly inspected by USDA, which would permit their products to cross state lines regardless of the state inspection program’s status. An amended version of HB 2785 being considered by the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Commit- tee would carve out $300,000 for upgrades to Oregon State University’s meat science lab and make $9.7 million avail- able for grants. Lawmakers revived the state inspection program last year after the coronavirus outbreak disrupted the oper- ations of major meat pack- ing facilities and increased demand for local slaughter and processing options. “The COVID-19 pan- demic revealed a break in the marketing chain for all livestock producers, as there has been an overall lack of capacity to process live- stock into meat in Oregon, said Carol Lorenzen, head of OSU’s department of animal and rangeland sciences. The ODA’s previous state inspection program was eliminated for budgetary rea- sons five decades ago, and the agency expects time and money will be needed to get the program up and running again. The agency was allocated more than $900,000 and three full-time positions to restart the program last year but expects to require another $600,000-$800,000 to make it fully operational. Aside from the $10 mil- lion grant proposal, lawmak- ers are also considering bills that would require state reg- ulators to study “barriers to family-scale meat produc- tion” and the possibility of permitting animal rendering facilities in Oregon. Currently, Oregon has 13 processing facilities overseen by USDA whose products qualify for interstate retail sales and another 16-non fed- eral custom processors that slaughter livestock for their owners or process game animals. When demand for meat processing surged in 2020, PK Pastures near Sweet Home, Ore., was bumped from its processing slot and couldn’t sell that pastured pork and poultry at farmers markets or to commercial wholesalers, said Kait Crow- ley, its co-owner. “When there is a squeeze, small producers like us are most likely to get the boot from large facilities,” Crow- ley said during a recent leg- islative hearing on HB 2785. Wendy Bingham, a beef producer near North Powder, Ore., said her company cur- rently uses a USDA facility in Idaho that’s 2.5 hours away in one direction, adding costs and reducing productivity. Though there are meat facilities closer in proximity that do a great job, they’re not federally-inspected and thus cannot process meat for commercial sale, she said. If these facilities became USDA inspected, it would greatly benefit the local econ- omy, Bingham said. “People are looking to find protein sources that they know, trust, and have a personal connec- tion to, who treat their ani- mals humanely.” Bill seen as shutting door on farmworker housing in Washington Oregon wineries seek to boost direct-to-consumer shipping limit worker is a foreigner with a H-2A visa. In that case, the tax OLYMPIA — A proposal exemption would be to penalize farms for hous- eliminated. ing foreign workers got a Marty Miller, the exec- poor reception at a Senate utive director of the Office Housing Committee hearing of Rural and Farmworker Housing, a nonprofit Tuesday. Senate Bill 5396 that builds farm- worker housing, would raise taxes on said he strongly sup- building or repairing ported expanding the farmworker housing tax exemption. if any bed is occu- pied by a guest- He called end- ing the exemption worker in the U.S. Washington for housing with on a H-2A visa. State Albert Zepada, foreign workers Capitol human resources “problematic.” manager for Kyle “This will harm Mathison Orchards, told nonprofits who serve both senators the Wenatchee farm domestic and H-2A work- prefers hiring U.S. workers, ers,” Miller said. Some 25,000 H-2A but must fill out its work- force with guestworkers workers, mostly from Mex- because of a labor shortage. ico, come to Washington U.S. migrant and foreign each year. The program has workers are housed together, come under fire from critics so it would be impossi- that argue it displaces U.S. ble to avoid the tax hit, workers and exploits for- eigners. Many guestworkers he said. “It would affect our abil- return to Washington year ity to provide sufficient after year. housing for the 90% or our Zepada called getting workforce that is domestic,” 200 workers from Mexico he said. to Wenatchee a “monumen- For 25 years, the state tal task.” has exempted from sales “We have to do it, unfor- taxes the materials and labor tunately, because we want to that goes into constructing harvest our crops,” he said. Taking away the tax or maintaining housing for farmworkers. The tax break break would be another is intended to encourage blow to the industry, Zepada farmworker housing built to said. “At the end of the day, state standards. Sen. Liz Lovelett, our consumers won’t care D-Anacortes, introduced a that we pay sales tax on our bill to extend the tax exemp- housing. They’ll just say, tion to any housing occupied ‘We’re not going to pay $5 by a farmworker, unless the for an apple.’” By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press By DON JENKINS Capital Press Oregon wineries could increase the amount of wine they send directly to consumers under a bill that’s intended to help offset lost tasting room visitors. The state’s wine industry is calling on lawmakers to pass Senate Bill 406, which would allow them to ship five cases of wine per resident a month, up from the current limit of two cases. More than 30 years have passed since Oregon created its “direct-to- consumer” wine shipping law and it’s due for an update due to restric- tions associated with the coronavirus, according to proponents. “With the pandemic, we are unfor- tunately seeing a lot of these wine tasting rooms being shuttered because they cannot carry out wine tastings” under mandates aimed at limiting the spread of illness, said Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, the bill’s chief sponsor, during a recent legislative hearing. While wine producers in Washing- ton and California do not restrict the number wine cases shipped direct-to- consumer, the stakeholders in Ore- gon’s wine industry have negotiated a cap of five cases and aren’t seeking unlimited shipping, he said. Only a handful of Oregon wineries dominate sales through the “challeng- ing, low margin” national distribution system for wine, while most of the state’s wineries operate outside this model, said Gretchen Boock, CEO of Dobbes Family Estate and Wines By Joe in Dundee, Ore. “They are highly reliant on the direct-to-consumer sales channel, where volumes are low but price points are higher — often $50 per bot- tle or more — and margins are reason- ably healthy,” she said. Boock said her company can cite numerous instances of reduced sales Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press Wine bottles at Hyland Estates Winery. The Oregon wine industry wants to increase the direct-to-consumer shipping limit from two cases per month to five cases. due to the current two-case limit, as well as increased complications, such as spreading a shipment over more than one month to comply with the restriction. Thousands of visitors who’d usu- ally buy their cases on-site are no lon- ger traveling to wineries due to coro- navirus restrictions, said Maria Ponzi, president of Ponzi Vineyards in Sher- wood, Ore. “This DTC channel has been a life- line,” but the existing law has created barriers, she said. Since the state’s wineries are typ- ically too small to work through dis- tributors, much of their sales occur through wine clubs that generally ship during the spring and autumn seasons, said Mike McNally, owner of Fairsing Vineyards near Yamhill, Ore. Currently, the two-case limit pre- vents wine club members from mak- ing larger orders for weddings or hol- iday gifts, McNally said. “A few extra cases of wine sales to our customers at these times are significant for the typ- ical winery.” Idaho legislation would create fund for ag water-quality projects The Idaho Senate Agricul- tural Affairs Committee voted Feb. 9 to introduce legislation that would create an Agricultural Best Management Practices Fund for water-quality projects. The fund would operate on a calendar year rather than the state’s July 1 fiscal year, which the Department of Environmen- tal Quality says would better suit project cycles and provide other benefits. “This will improve the agen- cy’s ability to award these proj- ects, and get them completed and paid out,” Mary Anne Nelson, the department’s Surface and Waste- water Division administrator, told Capital Press. Establishing the fund also would increase transparency, bet- ter align state money with federal programs, and possibly encourage larger, longer-term projects, she said. The Legislature started fund- ing the program in fiscal 2018, with $500,0000. The following year’s total was $790,000 includ- ing an one-time $290,000. Totals were $500,000 for fiscal 2020 and $279,000 for ’21. Gov. Brad Little proposes to increase funding sub- stantially this year. Nelson said about 35 projects have been funded, from around Brad Carlson/Capital Press File A bill introduced in the Senate would fund water quality proj- ects. $15,000 to $250,000. They range from irrigation system change-outs to riparian restorations. Treasure Valley Water Users Association Executive Direc- tor Roger Batt has said the total requested in matching grants has far exceeded amounts awarded. The department “has identified complications with appropriating, allocating, and disbursing these funds all within the same fiscal year,” Senate Bill 1079’s purpose statement reads in part. “The nature of these projects, spanning multiple calendar years or seasons, and the short time frame in which DEQ has from appropriation to end of spend- ing, makes it difficult for recipients of these sub-awards to get the work completed and invoices submitted for reimbursement before the end of the fiscal year in which the money was appropriated.” The legislation would set up a dedicated account and require annual reporting to the Legislature on amounts received, spent and unspent. It would take effect on final approval, rather than on July 1. Nelson said it would not change application or awards processes, or spending restrictions. Environmental Quality requests $279,000 for agricultural best-management practices in fis- cal 2022, plus a one-time $1 mil- lion that is part of the governor’s announced plan for spending state surplus funds on projects benefit- ing the economy. The governor’s one-time expen- diture would go into the Ag BMP Fund if the Legislature approves both. ROGUE FARM CORPS PRESENTS: CHANGING HANDS AN ONLINE WORKSHOP SERIES FOR FARMERS & RANCHERS FEATURING 3 WORKSHOP TRACKS: • Farm financing & business planning FEB - MAR • Accessing & acquiring farmland • Farm & business transfers 2021 www.roguefarmcorps.org/changinghands/workshops S227940-1 S225400-1 By BRAD CARLSON Capital Press