Friday, May 21, 2021
CapitalPress.com 3
Lower USDA wheat projections reflect lack of rain Farm groups ask Inslee
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
USDA is projecting lower
winter wheat production and
yields this year compared to
2020’s bumper crops across
the Pacific Northwest.
The region’s wheat com-
mission executives say that’s
to be expected, given the lack
of rain this spring.
“Certainly with less mois-
ture so far this year, we would
expect yields to be down
in
Wash-
ington,”
said
Glen
Squires,
CEO of the
Washington
Grain Com-
mission.
Glen
“ ( We ’ r e )
Squires
hoping that
some timely
rains will occur this month
and into June to help the crop
along.”
Idaho farmers are in much
the same position.
“Idaho had record yields
last year for winter wheat and
we did not expect to match
those yields for a second
year, so it is not surprising
that the production estimates
are lower,” said Casey Chum-
rau, executive director of the
Idaho Wheat Commission.
“Considering the dry con-
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File
Northwest winter wheat production and yields are pro-
jected to be lower this year, according to the USDA.
ditions around the state, we
would be happy with only a 3
percent decrease as predicted
in this report.”
Idaho farmers planted
slightly more winter and
spring wheat acreage, Chum-
rau said.
“If prices remain high,
we may see an increase in
planted acres in the fall.
Wheat becomes a lot more
attractive at $8 (per bushel),”
she said. “But input costs are
also going up so growers will
need to lock in those costs
and pencil it out.”
Drought in much of Ore-
gon will have a “significant”
impact on expected average
yields.
“Without changes in
weather, I would expect to
see it down even further,”
Casey
Chumrau
Amanda
Hoey
Oregon Wheat CEO Amanda
Hoey said.
Washington acreage may
be slightly down from last
year, but 2020 was the highest
acreage since 2006, Squires
said. The Northwest’s overall
wheat acreage is unchanged
from last year, he said.
The USDA projects:
• Washington farmers will
harvest 1.69 million acres,
down 3.4% from 2020. Pro-
duction will be 108 million
bushels, down 19% from
2020.
• Oregon farmers are pro-
jected to harvest 705,000
acres of winter wheat, down
2.8% from 2020. Produc-
tion is pegged at 39.5 mil-
lion bushels, down 15% from
2020.
• Idaho farmers are
expected to harvest 680,000
acres, up 3% from 2020. Pro-
duction is expected to be 64.6
million bushels, down 3%
from 2020.
Yields are also expected to
be down. Washington’s aver-
age yield is expected to be 64
bushels per acre, down from
72 bushels per acre in 2020.
Oregon’s average yield of
56 bushels per acre would
be down from 64 bushels in
2020.
Idaho’s yield is expected
to average 95 bushels per
acre, down from 101 bushels
per acre last year.
Nationwide, production
is expected to be 1.28 billion
bushels, up 10% from 1.17
billion bushels in 2020.
The yield was forecast at
52.1 bushels per acre, up 1.2
bushels from last year. Grow-
ers planted an estimated 33.1
million acres in the fall of
2020.
Figures are based on May
1 conditions, according to
USDA.
La Nina gone, but may return again for next winter
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A La Nina that brought
a healthy snowpack to
Washington has ended, but
may return later this year
for a another winter, the
National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration said
Thursday.
NOAA’s Climate Pre-
diction Center reported that
Pacific Ocean temperatures
have warmed to normal and
likely will stay that way
through the summer.
The warming broke a link
between the sea and atmo-
sphere that had created a La
Nina since last fall. La Nina
winters are generally cool
and wet in Washington, but
are warm and dry farther
south.
Forecasters at NOAA and
Columbia University’s Cli-
mate Institute placed a 53%
chance on La Nina prevail-
ing again next winter, com-
pared to 40% for neutral
conditions and 7% for an El
Nino.
Some past El Nino win-
ters have led to low snow-
packs and summer droughts
in Washington, including in
2015. This year, the state’s
La Nina-swollen snowpack
has held up through a dry, but
not hot, spring.
Washington Department
of Ecology drought coordi-
nator Jeff Marti said Thurs-
day that conditions are look-
ing favorable for irrigated
farmland, but not so for unir-
rigated farmland.
“It’s an interesting set of
conditions right now. We
had a really good snowpack
and still do for most of the
state, but we’ve had a really
dry spring, especially in the
Columbia Basin,” he said.
Several weather stations
in the basin had their driest
April on record, following a
dry March, according to the
Office of the Washington
State Climatologist.
The U.S. Drought Mon-
itor on Thursday classified
20% of Washington in a
“severe drought,” the second
driest of four drought catego-
ries. Another 33% of the state
is in “moderate drought.”
In Western Washington,
parts of Clark and Cowlitz
counties are in a severe
drought. The dry spring,
however, has made farming
conditions good west of the
Cascades, according to the
USDA’s weekly crop report.
to repeal housing rules
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
OLYMPIA — Two farm
groups petitioned Gov. Jay
Inslee on May 14 to immedi-
ately lift emergency COVID
restrictions on housing sea-
sonal farmworkers, argu-
ing the rules are out of step
with new federal advice on
masks and social distancing
for the fully vaccinated.
The governor has seven
days — through May 21—
to repeal the rules or explain
to the Washington Farm
Bureau and Wafla why he
won’t.
The groups say the rules
are unnecessary, especially
after Inslee said Thursday
that businesses will fully
reopen June 30.
Inslee’s announcement
trailed the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Preven-
tion’s new position that
immunized people can
safely interact indoors or
outdoors without masks or
socially distancing.
Washington’s
farm-
worker housing rules call
for masks, social distancing
and isolating workers, even
if fully vaccinated. The rules
will be in effect until Sept. 6
unless the Inslee administra-
tion changes course.
Wafla CEO Dan Fazio
said vaccination rates
among farmworkers exceed
those of the public, making
farmworker housing safer
than other settings cited by
the CDC.
“We are 90% vaccinated
with a goal of 100%, and we
have these ridiculous reg-
ulations in place,” he said.
“There is no emergency
once you have 90% of the
people vaccinated. That’s
what the CDC is trying to
say.”
The governor’s office
declined to comment, say-
ing it was waiting to hear
from the Department of
Labor and Industries. An
L&I spokesman Thursday
said the agency was review-
ing the rules.
The Farm Bureau and
Wafla, a guestworker sup-
plier, have been pressing
L&I and the Department of
Health for months to loosen
the rules, or plan ahead
for when farmworkers are
vaccinated.
The rules, a year old,
reduced housing capacity,
imposing hardships on farm-
ers and forcing more work-
ers to live in the community,
where they are more likely
to contract COVID, accord-
ing to the farm groups.
Farm Bureau CEO John
Stuhlmiller said he hasn’t
seen a sign from the admin-
istration that the rules will
change.
“We need these eco-
nomically crippling restric-
tions lifted like the gover-
nor is doing for the rest of
the state,” he said. “All the
facts point to having them
go away now.”
The Farm Bureau and
Wafla challenged the rules in
a lawsuit filed in February in
Yakima County. The groups
won a few concessions. The
state, however, was granted
a change of venue to Thur-
ston County, stalling the
suit’s progress. The case is
not currently before a judge.
The farm groups con-
tinue to ask for the science
behind limiting bunk beds to
shelters with no more than
15 workers. The workers
must be isolated in “pods.”
Vaccinated pods can
mingle on buses and kitch-
ens with other vaccinated
pods, providing workers
wear masks and socially dis-
tance. The CDC says masks
and social distancing are
not needed, the farm groups
note.
The farm groups also
complain the rules let union
and legal aid representa-
tives visit farmworker hous-
ing, even if they’re not
vaccinated.
State law allows groups
to petition the governor to
repeal emergency rules.
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