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CapitalPress.com
Friday, April 30, 2021
Farm group sounds alarm on climate bill
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Legislation to help lower
the barriers that prevent
farmers, ranchers and forest
landowners from participat-
ing in carbon credit markets
has gained broad support in
agricultural circles. But it is
not without opposition.
The Growing Climate
Solutions Act would create
a certification program at
USDA for third-party ver-
ifiers and technical service
providers that help produc-
ers and forest landowners
earn carbon credits.
The
legislation
has
cleared the Senate Agricul-
ture Committee and was
introduced in the House on
April 22.
Numerous
groups,
including American Farm
Bureau Fed-
eration and
National
Farmers
Union, are
backing the
bill.
Joe
But one
Maxwell
farm orga-
nization is
strongly opposed to the leg-
islation, saying it would
only benefit agribusiness
corporations and do little for
the environment.
“We know there is a very
large number of agricul-
tural organizations that are
in support,” Joe Maxwell,
president and CEO of Fam-
ily Farm Action and a Mis-
souri farmer, told Capital
Press.
Family Farm Action
describes itself on its web-
site as “a coalition of farm-
USDA cancels
Farmers to Families
Food Box Program
By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
USDA will permanently end its Farm-
ers to Families Food Box Program at the
end of May.
The program, which bought meat,
dairy and produce from farmers and
directed it to hungry families, was cre-
ated by the Trump administration during
the pandemic.
Over the past year, USDA has spent
more than $4 billion on the program and
delivered more than 156 million boxes
through mid-April.
Supporters say the program helped
farmers and hungry families. Critics
say it was wasteful, inefficient and had
pricing problems. Ultimately, Agricul-
ture Secretary Tom Vilsack pulled the
program.
Some farm groups, including the
American Farm Bureau Federation,
expressed disappointment that the pro-
gram would be discontinued. In a state-
ment, AFBF President Zippy Duvall said
“the need is still there.”
But USDA staff say the program was
never meant to be permanent.
“The food box program was designed
and implemented as a temporary effort to
respond to market disruption caused by a
global pandemic,” Matt Herrick, USDA
spokesman, told the Capital Press on
April 21.
Herrick said the program had “sig-
nificant challenges.” Distribution was
not based on need; rural counties were
underserved; costs fluctuated; food var-
ied in quality and quantity; perishable
items often went unrefrigerated; and
small businesses couldn’t compete.
Herrick said the agency is “not going
to replace the program.”
However, USDA plans to combat
hunger through other means, including
a new dairy donation program, a fresh
produce box program, school meal pro-
grams and the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program.
These programs will rely on existing
infrastructure.
“We’re going to continue to provide
healthy food, but we’re going to do it
through the most efficient system that we
have,” Vilsack told the House Agricul-
ture Appropriations Committee April 21.
April 9, USDA announced it will use
pandemic relief funds from the Emer-
gency Food Assistance Program, or
TEFAP, to run a new produce-only food
box program at least through Sept. 30.
Under the new program, boxes must
contain 10 to 12 pounds of food includ-
ing 3 to 5 pounds of vegetables, 3 to 5
pounds of fruit and at least two locally
grown items, if possible.
USDA will begin soliciting pro-
duce in the near future. Produce suppli-
ers interested in participating can email
TEFAPFreshProduce@usda.gov.
On the dairy side, on April 20 USDA’s
Agricultural Marketing Service formally
informed dairy producers and proces-
sors about plans for the dairy donation
program.
Under the new program, whenever
a processor donates dairy products to a
nonprofit, it will be reimbursed.
USDA’s announcement didn’t seem
to take the dairy industry by surprise.
In a statement April 21, Jim Mulhern,
president and CEO of the National Milk
Producers Federation, said the Farmers
to Families Food Box Program was both
“very helpful” and “had its challenges.”
“That’s why we are not surprised by
the decision to move beyond the food
box program, and in fact, expected it,”
he said.
Mulhern said his organization sup-
ports USDA’s new plan.
Susannah Morgan, Oregon Food
Bank CEO, said that while she’s grate-
ful for Farmers to Families partnerships,
she agrees with USDA that investments
in programs such as SNAP “are a more
effective avenue to connect hard-hit
communities with nutritious food.”
MORE
INFORMATION
Family Farm Action:
https://farmaction.us/
ers, workers, local busi-
nesses and organizations
building the ‘political mus-
cle’ to take on abusive cor-
porate monopoly power.”
It was not an easy deci-
sion to oppose the bill, but
it is not the right direction
for family farmers, Maxwell
said.
“Those that will bene-
fit are those that are already
in the business of verifying
carbon capture and the pol-
luters,” he said.
Agribusinesses that stand
to benefit the most from car-
bon credits also have a hand
in the companies buying and
selling credits to third par-
ties. They are determining
what carbon sequestration
is and telling farmers how to
farm, he said.
“They will hold all the
cards,” he said.
USDA needs to be reg-
ulating
climate-solution
practices and needs to be
the owner of the carbon
credit bank. But this bill
would have USDA sanction-
ing those companies, and
those companies will have a
monopoly, he said.
If USDA is granting
monopolies, there needs to
be antitrust standards like
there are in the telephone
and utilities sectors, he said,
but this bill is silent on those
standards.
This will lead to agribusi-
ness companies telling farm-
ers “you farm this way and
we will give you a credit
for those practices” with no
guarantee that credit will
have any value for the farm-
ers, he said.
“Farmers could end up
with contracts for how they
will farm, but it doesn’t
guarantee any value or what
farmers would be paid,” he
said.
“Farmers don’t need
another monopoly like poul-
try — and it being sanctioned
by USDA,” he said.
Family Farm Action
strongly agrees farmers can
be part of the climate change
solution, but the carbon cred-
its under the proposed bill
will be owned and sold by
third parties, he said.
Another problem is that
a plant or concentrated ani-
mal feeding operation, some
owned by the third-party
agribusiness that are associ-
ated with the verifiers, can
purchase credits and con-
tinue to pollute, he said.
“This doesn’t do anything
to stop the polluters,” he said.
If they’re not eliminat-
ing carbon emissions, they
shouldn’t be eligible for car-
bon credits, he said.
“This is being supported
by a lot of folks because
everybody thinks they’re
going to make a lot of
money,” he said.
But the benefit will go
to the agribusiness corpo-
rations, and there’s no evi-
dence it will actually reduce
emissions, he said.
Farmers have been here
before when “big ag” comes
in with a scheme for new
profits and says “just trust
us,” he said.
California almond acreage on the rise
By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
MODESTO, Calif. — Cali-
fornia’s almond acreage contin-
ues to rapidly increase.
New data from USDA’s
National Agricultural Statistics
Service, combined with acre-
age estimates from LandIQ, an
agricultural consulting service,
show that the number of mature,
crop-bearing almond acres state-
wide increased 5.9% between
2019 and 2020.
California now has 1.25 mil-
lion acres of mature almond trees
and 1.6 million total almond
acres, including young trees.
Nonpareil almonds — the
state’s most popular almond
variety — remained in the lead,
followed by Monterey, Butte,
Carmel and Padre varieties.
Fresno, Kern, Stanislaus,
Merced and Madera were the
leading
counties,
together
accounting for 73% of the total
bearing acreage.
Industry leaders say the
growth in acreage has largely
been fueled by growth in
demand, and global consumer
demand for almonds continues
Courtesy of Jim Watts
According to new USDA data, California almond acreage continues to expand.
to gain momentum.
“Demand has consistently
been very strong during this crop
year,” Richard Waycott, pres-
ident and CEO of the Almond
Board, said in a statement.
Between August 2020 and
March 2021, Waycott said global
shipments went up 17.7% and
production crossed the 3 bil-
lion-pound threshold for the first
time.
Waycott said he anticipates
that almond production “will
also rise in coming years.”
Much of the demand comes
from abroad.
According to the Agricultural
Marketing Resource Center,
California produces about 80%
of the world’s almonds, and the
nuts are California’s No. 1 agri-
cultural export.
The latest data from USDA
show that all major export
regions for the crop have
reported strong numbers for the
year to date. Shipments to China
and Hong Kong were up 59%,
South Korea up 45%, India up
51% and Western Europe up
12% compared to a year ago.
This acreage report from
USDA-NASS is the first of
three major reports expected
for the almond crop this year.
May 12, the agency will release
an initial forecast of this year’s
crop. July 12, NASS will
release a more accurate 2021
crop report based on actual nut
counts on trees.
Mild winter, early spring aid SW Idaho vineyards
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Winter and early spring
weather treated Gregg Alger’s
vineyards well, but he’s not cele-
brating just yet.
“Vines were able to come
down slowly (to dormancy) in
gradually colder temperatures,”
the Caldwell, Idaho-based Alger
said. Winter overnight lows often
were higher than usual.
Now, following a warm win-
ter and early spring, “going into
2021 bud break, the vineyards
look good,” he said. “But we’re
still in a pretty tricky stage now.”
Most southwest Idaho vine-
yards began emerging from win-
ter dormancy on schedule, but
the risk of frost will continue
until mid-May.
“Late frosts are a big concern
right now,” said Alger, who owns
Huston Vineyards. Recently,
nights have been “a little cool.”
Meanwhile, “we are watering
the vineyards earlier than I have
ever watered them,” he said.
“Things are a little drier than
Bitner Vineyards
Syrah grapes starting to bud April 20 at Bitner Vineyards in
Caldwell, Idaho.
usual.”
Martin Fujishin, a winemaker
in the Caldwell-Marsing area,
said it appears vineyards are a
bit ahead of schedule compared
to long-term averages. “We are
seeing some bud breaks in some
of our higher-elevation blocks
and on our warmer sites.”
Getting an early start “always
gives us concerns about seeing
frost,” Fujishin said. In the Sun-
nyslope growing area, where
frost can occur until around
May 10, “we’re always waiting
for that last frost date to pass
before we can take a breath of
relief.”
Dry springs in the Treasure
Valley usually prompt concern
about adequate water supply for
irrigation, he said, adding that it
looks mostly good for now.
In recent years, Fujishin has
seen wider variation in spring
weather.
“We had some pretty warm
days in February,” he said.
“Some vines got a jump-start
earlier than we would like to
see. In an ideal world, we would
see a gradual increase in tem-
peratures that gives those vines a
chance to wake up in a measured
way.”
Vineyard and winery owner
Ron Bitner of Caldwell said his
vines stayed healthy and undam-
aged over winter.
“So far are off to a good start”
in the 2021 growing season, he
said.
“It looks like we are pretty
much on schedule,” Bitner said.
Pruning is finished.
The state has 69 wineries and
about 1,300 acres of vineyards.
Combine demolition derby canceled for second year
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
LIND, Wash. — Organizers
of a popular Eastern Washington
combine demolition derby have
canceled the event for a second
straight year due to COVID-19
restrictions.
“It’s really the only decision,”
said Josh Knodel, a Lind, Wash.,
farmer and chairman of the Lind
Lions Club, which sponsors the
event each year as a fundraiser.
The board recently met
with the Adams County Health
Department director, who out-
lined the requirements necessary
for a safe event. They included
limiting the number of specta-
tors to 25% of capacity and hir-
ing extra security.
“It would be too hard for us as a
club to enforce those restrictions,”
Knodel told the Capital Press.
Operating with a smaller
audience without raising ticket
prices wouldn’t work, he said.
LIND, WASH.,
LIONS CLUB
Donations can be sent to:
Lind Lions Club
P.O. Box 37
Lind, WA 99341
https://www.facebook.com/
groups/lindcombinedemoli-
tionderby
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File
The Lind, Wash., Lions Club has canceled its annual combine
demolition derby for a second straight year due to pandemic
restrictions.
“The only reason the Lions
Club puts the combine derby on
is for a fundraiser,” Knodel said.
“If we can’t make any money at
it, it kind of defeats the purpose.”
The event typically draws
5,000 to 6,000 people each year.
“It wouldn’t be the same
event people are used to,” he
said. “It’s not worth the head-
ache and leaving a bad taste in
people’s mouths. That’s not what
we want to do as a club.”
Knodel said it costs $20,000
to put on the event. The club typ-
ically makes a profit of $25,000,
which goes back into the Lind
community.
This year, Knodel expects the
club to dig into reserves to con-
tinue supporting the community.
“We’ve always been prepared
for a rainy day,” Knodel said. “I
guess all these people all these
years who have criticized us for
not spending all of our money
every year, well, now it’s going
to pay off.”