Friday, July 16, 2021
Volume 94, Number 29
CapitalPress.com
$2.00
Williamson Orchards & Vineyards
Mike Williamson, center, and staff at work at Williamson Orchards & Vineyards.
WAY TO GROW
Idaho’s wine industry builds on its success
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
C
ALDWELL, Idaho — Jay
Hawkins liked what he saw.
Peering into the 10-foot-deep
pits he and his crew had dug in
his new 32-acre vineyard, he
saw just what he was looking for.
“There was sandy soil all the way to
about the 10-foot level,” said Hawkins,
owner-operator of Lanae Ridge Vineyard.
“We had no restrictive layers.”
Also, he said, “we were digging up
roots from vines we had taken out. Those
old vines demonstrated they could grow
very deeply.”
With that in mind, he will plant red
grape varietals on the sloped site near the
Snake River in southwest Idaho. They
will replace the white winegrapes that had
grown there nearly 43 years.
Hawkins took soil samples there and
on the adjacent 33 acres he and his wife,
Shelly, have owned since 2015. The latest
purchase will nearly double their acreage
and production of grapes.
Lanae Ridge Vineyard
Shelly and Jay Hawkins of Lanae
Ridge Vineyard.
Jay Hawkins is part of a succession of
Idaho vineyard growers who have helped
build a wine industry in a state known
more for potatoes than Pinot.
“Those original farmers endured the
learning curve, and we’re all benefi ting
from their lessons learned,” he said.
The Idaho wine industry is rapidly
expanding. The state has 69 wineries,
up from 11 in 2002, said Moya Shatz
Dolsby, executive director of the Idaho
Wine Commission.
Although the California, Washington
and Oregon wine industries are far big-
ger, “there is huge interest now in the
Idaho wine industry,” she said. “I am
getting a lot of phone calls from people
wanting to come in.”
Grape supply is one challenge for
Idaho. The state currently has about
1,300 acres of grapes, the Wine Commis-
sion reports. While that’s up 40% from
2002, it hasn’t kept up with demand from
wineries.
“We need more grapes in the ground
because the wineries are growing,”
Dolsby said. Residents want to drink
locally sourced wine, “but there are not
enough grapes to sustain the wineries, so
the wineries are having to go to Wash-
ington” to supplement their supply.
Heather Bradshaw, the Washington
State Wine Commission’s communi-
cations director, said that state now has
more than 60,000 acres of vineyards.
See Wine, Page 9
Idaho Wine Commis-
sion Executive Director
Moya Shatz Dolsby.
How Biden’s antitrust executive order could impact ag
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pres-
ident Joe Biden issued a sweeping
executive order July 9 on “Promot-
ing Competition in the American
Economy” aimed at reducing con-
solidation and increasing competi-
tion across U.S. business sectors,
including agriculture.
The antitrust order will impact
several farm sectors, especially the
meat industry.
“Big ag is putting a squeeze on
farmers,” Biden said at a White
House press briefi ng.
Without healthy competition, he
said, a few big players can “charge
whatever they want and treat you
however they want” — as in the
meatpacking sector, where four
companies process 85% of the beef
supply, according to the USDA.
The order includes 72 specifi c
actions. Related directly to farm-
ing, the president:
• Directed USDA to consider
new rules under the Packers and
Stockyards Act to make it eas-
ier for farmers to bring and win
claims, to stop processors from
underpaying chicken producers
and to adopt anti-retaliation pro-
tections for whistleblowers.
• Directed USDA to redefi ne
when meat can bear “Product of
USA” labels to refl ect where ani-
mals were actually grown and
processed.
• Directed USDA to support
alternative food systems such
as farmers markets and small
processors.
• Encouraged the Federal Trade
Commission to limit powerful
equipment manufacturers from
restricting farmers’ ability to use
independent repair shops or do
their own repairs — such as when
manufacturers block farmers from
repairing their own tractors.
• Directed the Federal Trade
Commission to “ban or limit” the
practice of businesses requiring
employees to sign “non-competi-
tive agreements,” which prohibit
employees from later working for
See Impact, Page 9
Marbled murrelet reclassifi ed as endangered in Oregon
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — The Oregon Fish
and Wildlife Commission has again
voted to grant endangered species
protections for the marbled mur-
relet, a small seabird that nests in
old-growth forests along the Pacifi c
Coast.
Environmental groups initially
petitioned the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife in 2016 to “uplist”
the marbled murrelet from threat-
ened to endangered under the state
Endangered Species Act, arguing the
Courtesy Roy W. Lowe/USFWS
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife
Commission voted to reclassify
the marbled murrelet as an en-
dangered species on July 9.
bird is in danger of going extinct.
Commissioners voted in favor
of uplisting in February 2018, but
abruptly changed course four months
later — reversing their decision and
maintaining the marbled murrelet’s
classifi cation as a threatened species.
Petitioners sued, and a Lane
County Circuit Court judge ruled
the commission violated state law
by not providing an explanation for
their sudden reversal. ODFW agreed
to revisit endangered species pro-
tections for the marbled murrelet in
August 2019.
While a fi nal resolution was
delayed by the COVID-19 pan-
demic, the commission voted 4-3 on
July 9 to uplist the bird.
State agencies that own, man-
age or least lands with marbled mur-
relet habitat now have 18 months to
develop and submit an endangered
species management plan to the
commission for approval. The Ore-
gon ESA does not apply to private
lands.
Conservationists cheered the out-
come, saying the marbled murrelet
continues to face serious threats in
Oregon from climate change, ocean
warming, wildfi res and logging
See Endangered, Page 9
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