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EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER Friday, April 2, 2021 Volume 94, Number 14 CapitalPress.com $2.00 AG AND THE CORONAVIRUS ... ONE YEAR LATER Agriculture breathes a sigh of relief Capital Press T he spread of COVID-19 forced the closure or curtailment of many sectors of the economy last spring and sent shockwaves through all facets of agriculture. Restaurants and other venues were shut down, and many Americans shifted their eating habits to cook-in or take-out. Agricultural supply chains were disrupted as proces- sors scrambled to switch from foodservice sales to retail. Some commodity contracts were cut back only to be reinstated as the year progressed. Others were canceled. Caught in the middle were farmers. Their markets shifted or shrank. Milk had to be dumped because there was no longer a buyer for it. The supply of cattle and other livestock was backed up as meat processors struggled to stay open amid the spreading pandemic. Nearly every seg- ment of agriculture experienced some level of turbulence. And prices gyrated. As price-takers, farmers were at the whim of a marketplace that was transforming and reinventing itself on the fl y. But farmers are also resourceful. Many adapted to the changing marketplace and found new customers. And with the help of federal programs that protected their bottom line, most farmers made it through the dark- Courtesy of Jim Simnitt Jim Simnitt est hours of the pandemic. A year later, we talked with Northwest farmers and farmworkers about their experiences during those times. They were all diff erent, but their reactions can be summed up in one sentence: “I’m still here.” Nursery his nursery was “dead smack in the middle of shipping.” Simnitt Nursery is a second-generation, 80-acre wholesale nursery specializing in rhododendrons and Pieris. The nursery ships to 35 states. When the pandemic fi rst jolted the market, buyers across the nation told Simnitt to halt shipments for two weeks. “I was nervous I’d miss that fl owering time, that nar- row window,” said Simnitt. It was a bumpy spring. Some buyers canceled orders. Simnitt separated trucks and spaced people out, slowing production-per-hour 15%. “I was still nervous going through April,” said Simnitt. But around May, things took a turn. People stuck at home redid their yards: gardens, lawns, new patios. Sales of Simnitt’s fl owering shrubs took off . “It ended up being a really good year,” Simnitt said. But he still had to change his business model. In previous years, customers toured his nursery, handling plants. During COVID-19, he off ered virtual tours using his cell phone. “I’m really looking forward to getting back to seeing people in person,” he said. Jim Simnitt, co-owner of Simnitt Nursery in Canby, Ore. When COVID-19 hit last March, Jim Simnitt, 42, said See Pandemic, Page 11 Senate bill would mandate Farmworkers are getting meatpacker cash purchases vaccinated across the West By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bill that would require any U.S. meat processing facility that slaughters over 125,000 head of cattle annually to purchase 50% of its weekly volume on the open or “spot” market has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. The bill — off ered March 24 by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Jon Tester, D- Mont. — aims to increase the volume of cash trade. Such transactions set the base price for formula contracts heavily used by meatpackers and pro- vide transparency in the cattle market. Those concerns, along with packer consolidation, are By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN and GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press Capital Press File Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate would require large processors to buy most of their cattle through the cash market. hot topics among cattle pro- ducers — with cattle groups divided on the solution. U.S. Cattlemen’s Associa- tion and R-CALF USA were quick to support the bill, while the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association warned against a broad federal mandate. NCBA will continue to work alongside its affi liates, Con- gress and USDA to increase price discovery and improve the business climate for produc- ers across the country, Ethan Lane, NCBA vice president of government aff airs, said in a statement. “However, simply put, Sen. Grassley’s bill misses the mark. The industry — from lead- ing livestock economists to NCBA state affi liates — agrees that any legislative solution to increased price discovery must account for the unique dynam- ics within each geographic region,” he said. A one-size-fi ts-all govern- ment mandate rarely achieves the intended goal, he said. NCBA supports a voluntary approach fi rst to increase the number of negotiated trades. If a voluntary approach is unsuc- cessful, its grassroots policy provides guidance toward a legislative solution that more closely resembles Sen. Deb Fischer’s Cattle Market Trans- parency Act, he said. Fischer is a Nebraska Republican. Fischer’s bill would estab- lish regional minimums for negotiated cash trade to enable price discovery and provide cat- tle producers with more market information. Across the West, COVID-19 vacci- nation is underway for farmworkers. Health departments are vaccinating farmworkers through mobile clinics and organized events. In a recent United Farm Workers Foundation survey of 10,149 farm- workers, 73% said they would get the vaccine as soon as possible, 22% said they were neutral and 5% said they would not get vaccinated. To encourage vaccination, some employers, including California-based Bolthouse Farms, are off ering workers cash bonuses. Oregon As of March 29, all migrant and sea- sonal farmworkers were eligible to be scheduled for a COVID-19 vaccine. Rudy Owens, a spokesman for the Oregon Health Authority, said vacci- nation planning for vulnerable popula- tions — including farmworkers — has been underway for months. The agency launched a pilot project with the Gov- ernor’s Offi ce in early March, working with federally qualifi ed health centers to administer vaccines. “The goal was to expand vaccina- tion eff orts to help serve those experi- encing the worst impacts of COVID- 19,” Owens said. One such event was held March 24-27 with Morrow County Public Ryan Brennecke/Oregon Capital Insider Across the Western U.S., farmworkers are getting vaccinated at mobile clinics, vaccination events and other venues. Health at the Sage Center in Board- man, Ore. Multilingual staff and volun- teers were able to vaccinate 1,066 peo- ple during the four-day event, held in the center parking lot. Owens said OHA is also part- nering with other community-based organizations, farmworker unions such as Pineros y Campesinos Uni- dos del Noroeste, and advertising on Spanish-language radio stations to reach farmworkers in rural parts of the state. “This community is often mobile and based in rural communities, mak- ing access to services diffi cult,” Owens said. “Many farmworkers speak Span- ish or meso-American Indigenous lan- guages, so we have worked to ensure information is culturally and linguisti- cally appropriate. See Vaccinations, Page 11 Welcome to our Caldwell, Idaho Team! Founded in 1945 Becky Temple, Alan Bullard, Logan and Gaye Doanato. by Farmers and Ranchers. Experienced Schleicher, and ready to serve Western Idaho, We still measure success by the acre. with a focus on Agriculture and Commercial loans. ARLINGTON BOARDMAN CONDON FOSSIL HERMISTON IRRIGON LA GRANDE MORO PENDLETON ATHENA BURNS ENTERPRISE HEPPNER IONE JOHN DAY MADRAS ONTARIO PRAIRIE CITY CALDWELL 208-402-4887 / 422 S. 9TH AVE S216209-1 Member FDIC