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CapitalPress.com
Friday, April 2, 2021
Risks ahead for cattle producers
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
While the cattle indus-
try is unlikely to see the
pandemic-related problems
it faced in 2020, there are
still risks for producers this
year.
As seen in the early
months of the pandemic,
there was no capacity in
the meatpacking system to
adjust to disruption, and that
risk remains, said Shannon
Neibergs, an economist and
director of Western Exten-
sion Risk Management
Education Center at Wash-
ington State University.
On the positive front,
the beef cow inventory is
declining and trending to a
level that supports higher
prices throughout the cattle
industry. Beef production
increased year over year to
record levels in 2019 before
leveling out, and demand is
strong. Retail beef prices
have increased 42% from
2011, he said during a webi-
Ryan Brennecke/EO Media Group/Bend Bulletin
Drought will impact many cattle producers this year,
analysts say.
nar presented by Northwest
Farm Credit Services.
Cattle prices should be
supported by economic
recovery from the pan-
demic with retail support
maintained, enhanced food-
service and strong export
demand, he said.
“So all the demand side
right now is projected to be
improving and projected to
support those prices,” he
said.
But drought is going
to be a significant man-
agement risk for the cattle
industry. The latest Drought
Monitor shows 43% of
the total U.S. cattle inven-
tory is in drought areas.
The drought’s effect on hay
and corn is also going to be
important, he said.
Cattle producers have
already been feeding into
the Dec. 1 hay stocks. Those
hay stocks in the Pacific
Northwest were even with
the past three-year aver-
age. They were lower in the
Southwest, particularly in
Nevada and New Mexico,
he said.
Dec. 1 stocks were about
even in Montana, the Dako-
tas and Nebraska, but it
won’t be known until spring
how heavily producers in
those states had to feed due
to dry range conditions, he
said.
In addition, early plant-
ing intentions forecast U.S.
hay acres are being con-
verted to corn based on high
corn prices, he said.
“Here in the basin in
Washington, one of the
strategies is going to be
to take the first cutting of
alfalfa off and then convert
to corn, he said.
There have also been
disruptions in hay exports
from the West Coast due to
shipping container short-
ages, and the export hay
market drives hay price
trends, he said.
Phased approach doesn’t dim
opposition to Oregon overtime bill
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
A proposed phase-out
of Oregon’s agricultural
exemption for higher over-
time wages doesn’t appear
to have dimmed the farm
community’s opposition to
the bill.
House Bill 2358 would
require farmers to pay their
workers
one-and-a-half
times their regular wages
if they work longer than 40
hours per week.
Growers are currently
exempt from that require-
ment, which applies to most
other industries, and many
argue the bill would force
them to reduce work sched-
ules to avoid the higher labor
expenses.
Due to feedback about
the bill’s economic impacts,
Rep.
Andrea
Salinas,
D-Lake Oswego, has pro-
posed an amendment under
which higher overtime
wages would be required
beyond 50 hours per week in
2022, 45 hours per week in
2023 and 40 hours per week
in 2024.
The Fair Labor Standards
Act of 1938 excluded farm
workers from higher over-
time pay due to “racism and
bigotry,” Salinas said.
While Oregon farm-
ers have only inherited this
exemption, they can help
dismantle it, she said.
The Oregon Farm Bureau
and several other agricul-
tural organizations are urg-
ing lawmakers to reject the
amendment, arguing the
change would simply draw
out the process of farm-
ers limiting work hours,
increasing mechanization or
shifting to other crops.
“Farmers are price tak-
ers, and the economics of
agriculture provide no other
option but to control costs,”
the groups said in written
testimony.
The Oregon Association
of Nurseries doesn’t deny the
racist motivations for FLSA’s
overtime exemption but the
appropriate “fix” would be
changing the law nationally,
so competitors in other states
don’t have an advantage over
Oregon farmers, said Eliz-
abeth Remley, the group’s
lobbyist.
Remley urged lawmak-
ers against taking action on
HB 2358 and instead spend
more time on a solution that
accounts for the numerous
benefits that Oregon farmers
provide their workers.
Those benefits, including
health insurance, childcare,
free housing and bonuses,
would have to be cut by farm-
ers who are unable to limit
work schedules to 40 hours
per week, according to the
bill’s opponents.
The bill’s proponents
countered that HB 2358’s
alleged financial burdens are
greatly exaggerated.
California passed legisla-
tion that will end the state’s
agricultural overtime exemp-
tion while Washington is pre-
paring to do the same, said
Alicia Temple, legislative
advocate for the Oregon Law
Center, which advocates for
laborers.
Oregon farmers will have
trouble recruiting workers
if they’re known to pay less
than growers in those neigh-
boring states, she said.
Christmas tree farms
didn’t qualify for the agricul-
tural overtime exemption due
to a legal interpretation that
stood for nearly 20 years, yet
such operations didn’t cease
production, Temple said. “It is
a myth that the industry can-
not survive paying overtime.”
“No one has cried wolf
more often” than farmers and
their lobbyists about labor
reforms in the past, but the
economic devastation “never
materializes,” said Mark
Brenner, a labor economist at
the University of Oregon.
A study at the University
of Massachusetts determined
that overtime pay for farm-
workers only increased labor
costs by 5%, or about 1.6%
of an average farm’s revenue,
Brenner said.
Idaho Potato
Commission CEO
Muir sets retirement
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Idaho Potato Commis-
sion President and CEO
Frank Muir plans to retire in
mid-September.
He prioritized national
branding and marketing
since leav-
ing
a
well-es-
tablished
corporate
career in
those dis-
ciplines in
2003 to join Frank Muir
IPC.
“I was hired as an outside
hired gun to do real market-
ing, and that’s what we’ve
tried to do the past 18 years
— to re-establish the Idaho
potato brand and to make it
relevant in a society that’s
constantly changing,” Muir
said.
Idaho produces nearly
one-third of all U.S. pota-
toes and is the nation’s top
producer.
Muir “could stretch a
marketing dollar farther
than any person I’ve ever
known,” said commission
board Chairman Todd Cor-
nelison of High Country
Potato, a shipper in Rexburg.
“He always used the term
‘leverage,’ and he was a mas-
ter at it.”
For example, separate
recent television commer-
cials by IPC and a national
potato processor benefited
the commission’s Idaho
potato brand.
Cornelison said the com-
mission is yet to establish the
process it will use to pick a
successor.
“We are going to be hard-
pressed to fill Frank Muir’s
shoes,” he said. “The search
will be broad, to include all
industries outside the potato
industry.”
Muir said the board will
have to decide what back-
ground and skill set it wants
— a traditional executive
director versus a marketing
specialist, for example. If it
were up to him, the board
would “keep the pedal to the
metal” in national advertis-
ing and promotion.
“It’s a complex indus-
try with lots of opinions,” he
said.
Muir arrived as low-car-
bohydrate diets dragged
demand. He and the com-
mission went on to adver-
tise nationally, helped by
the American Heart Asso-
ciation in 2011 certifying
the state’s fresh potatoes as
heart-healthy.
Farm-gate
revenue
roughly doubled during his
tenure, boosted by national
marketing as well as yield
gains. The commission has
several high-profile spon-
sorships and continues to
develop national retail, food-
service and online promo-
tions. It also helped redirect
potatoes between customer
sectors where needed amid
various COVID-19 impacts.
A 2006-2007 Pale Cyst
Nematode outbreak led to
some field quarantines and
lasting regulatory impacts
that left some growers feel-
ing the commission didn’t
advocate for them.
Recently, some grow-
ers in the state’s high-vol-
ume east sought more repre-
sentation on the board. And
branding-fueled price premi-
ums don’t always filter down
to the grower, due to sup-
ply-and-demand factors and
other market dynamics.
“We appreciate his ser-
vice, but we look forward to
ushering in a new era with
new vision and new leader-
ship,” said Stephanie Mick-
elsen, a PCN-impacted
grower near Idaho Falls.
“Some marketing and
promotion does need to hap-
pen,” she said. A question
has been “if some promotion
programs are really return-
ing the value of what they are
spending.”
IPC answers yes, citing
the farm-gate revenue jump
and the consumer “impres-
sions” national advertising
and sponsorships generate. It
says it spends much less than
many national consumer
brands.
Muir, 65, said that in
retirement, he plans to spend
more time with grandchil-
dren and on church-related
service. He has also had
some inquiries about doing
consulting.
Washington farm groups turn against overtime bill
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
04/05/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2016 FORD EXP LL
VIN = 1FM5K8HT1GGB62987
Amount due on lien $1,435.00
Reputed owner(s)
ARTURO ABEL ANDRADE OLVERA
INROADS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
04/05/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2018 SUBARU FORESTER 4DR
VIN = JF2SJAWC6JH536288
Amount due on lien $1,455.00
Reputed owner(s)
SHU YING LIANG
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK NA
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
04/12/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2005 FORD F350 PU
VIN = 1FTWW31Y05EC00790
Amount due on lien $1,515.00
Reputed owner(s)
JOHN SELDON COMSTOCK
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
04/05/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2015 BMW M4 CP
VIN = WBS3R9C59FK330367
Amount due on lien $1,435.00
Reputed owner(s)
JUSTIN CRUZ ESQUIVEL
IQ CREDIT UNION
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
04/05/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2015 TOYOTA COROLLA 4DR
VIN = 2T1BURHE1FC368591
Amount due on lien $1,435.00
Reputed owner(s)
LUIS REYES MERIDA
TOYOTA MOTOR CREDIT CORP
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
04/05/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2012 WINN MH
VIN = WDAPF4CCXB5600592
Amount due on lien $1,435.00
Reputed owner(s)
JEFFREY LEE VOSHALL
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
04/05/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2015 HONDA ACCORD 4DR
VIN = 1HGCR2F82FA081258
Amount due on lien $1,435.00
Reputed owner(s)
LAMIN DAMPHA
COLUMBIA CREDIT UNION
S236036-1
S237709-1
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
04/12/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2018 DODGE CHARGER 4DR
VIN = 2C3CDXCT9JH180869
Amount due on lien $1,535.00
Reputed owner(s)
PAUL M SCHWEND & ANDREA G GASPAR
REGIONAL ACCEPTANCE CORP
S236038-1
LEGAL
Notice of Oregon Strawberry Commission
Public Budget Hearing
NOTICE HERBY IS GIVEN that a public meeting will be held
pursuant to ORS 576.416, the Oregon Strawberry Commission
(OSC) via ZOOM on Tuesday April 20, 2021, at 10am for the
purpose of receiving comments on the Commission’s proposed
budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022.
At this meeting, any producer of strawberries in the state of
Oregon has the right to be heard with respect to the proposed
budget.
ZOOM https://zoom.us/j/3970636110
Meeting ID: 397 063 6110
Call-In number: 1-253-215-8782
Copies of the proposed budget are available at the commission
office, 1827 NE 44th Ave, Suite 315, Portland, Oregon 97213
and online at: oregon-strawberries.org. Any questions may
be referred to the Oregon Strawberry Commission office at
503-274-5458.
S237603-1
dize a majority of family
owned orchards, specifically
those that are owned by by
minority or disadvantaged
farmers,” Okanogan County
farmer Flor de Marie Mal-
donado said.
If the Legislature doesn’t
pass an overtime bill this ses-
sion, the law could be shaped
by court decisions. Law-
makers also could take up
the issue next year, possibly
before any precedent-setting
ruling.
The Supreme Court did
not rule on whether its deci-
sion applied to the past three
years, nor was the court
explicit about whether the
ruling applied to all farm-
workers, not just dairy
workers.
The court’s concur-
ring and dissenting opin-
ions, however, assumed the
decision would apply to all
farmworkers.
S236035-1
TO: ALL OREGON CLOVER SEED GROWERS
Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held pursuant
to ORS 576.416 (5), on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, at 7:00 a.m., via
a Zoom call, upon a proposed budget for operation of the Clover
Commission during the fiscal year July 1, 2021 through June 30,
2022. At this hearing any producer of Oregon grown Clover seed
has a right to be heard with respect to the proposed budget, a
copy of which is available for public inspection, under reasonable
circumstances, in the office of each County Extension Agent in
Oregon. For further information, contact the Clover Commission
business office, P.O. Box 3366, Salem, Oregon 97302, telephone
503-364-2944. The meeting location is accessible to persons
with disabilities. Please make any requests for an interpreter for
the hearing impaired or for other accommodation for persons with
disabilities at least 48 hours before the meeting by contacting the
S237386-1
Commission office at 503-364-2944.
would actually further invite
litigation, questioning the
constitutionality of perpetu-
ating that double standard,”
Kendro said.
The court ruled that not
paying dairy workers time-
and-a-half after 40 hours
violated the state constitu-
tion because farm work is
dangerous. The decision
opened the way for dozens
of lawsuits seeking to apply
the decision retroactively,
for up to three years under
the state law.
The Senate bill bars the
lawsuits. Farm groups, how-
ever, want to tighten up the
bill to foreclose the state
from suing farms. Also, the
Legislature may pass a bill
this year that allows private
attorneys to act on behalf of
the state and sue for unpaid
wages.
“A three-year retro-
active suit would jeopar-
S236037-1
LEGAL
NOTICE OF CLOVER COMMISSION BUDGET HEARING
law. Three justices signed a
concurring opinion, arguing
that the state needed to pro-
tect farmworkers from being
overworked, drawing a par-
allel between farmworkers
and foster children.
Western
Washington
farmworker Adiana Salazar
said she likes having time
in the winter to spend with
her child. If she’s held to
40 hours during the busiest
weeks, she will have to find
a second job, she said.
“Where is the data to
back up that (the court’s)
decision won’t hurt farms
and farmworkers like me?”
she asked.
The Washington State
Labor Council will oppose
the bill if lawmakers lift the
40-hour threshold for peak
seasons, government affairs
director Joe Kendro warned
the committee.
“A seasonal carve-out
S236032-1
S237711-1
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
04/12/2021. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2009 FORD F 150 PU
VIN = 1FTPW14V89FA34903
Amount due on lien $1,555.00
Reputed owner(s)
STEVEN F & GRACE K ATKINS
OREGON STATE CREDIT UNION
anne Elsey said. The bill
also doesn’t acknowledge
the seasonal nature of farm
work, she said.
“Without it, the bill is
not worth moving forward,
Elsey told the House Appro-
priations Committee on
Tuesday.
A parade of witnesses
made the same points.
The Supreme Court’s rul-
ing made overtime pay for
farmworkers a foregone
conclusion, but lawmakers
could still shape the law to
help farm owners and their
employees, they said.
“Overtime is coming, and
we need a workable solu-
tion,” King County farmer
Rosella Mosby said. “With-
out a seasonality amend-
ment, you will put farms out
of business faster than you
will help farmworkers.”
The court’s 5-4 deci-
sion upset a 61-year-old
S237710-1
OLYMPIA — Washing-
ton farm groups are now
opposing a Senate bill grant-
ing farmworkers time-and-
a-half pay after 40 hours in a
week, unless the House lifts
the threshold to 50 hours for
12 weeks a year.
Previously, farm groups
lukewarmly embraced Sen-
ate Bill 5172 as an alterna-
tive to courts fleshing out
a state Supreme Court rul-
ing mandating overtime.
The bill phases in overtime
pay and gives farms some
protection from back-pay
lawsuits.
The protections, how-
ever, are not strong enough,
Washington Farm Bureau
associate director of gov-
ernment relations Bre-
S236027-1
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
