Friday, August 6, 2021
CapitalPress.com 5
U.S. Wheat chairman: Biggest
need is face-to-face contact
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
The Wilco-Hazelnut Grow-
ers of Oregon cooperative’s
processing facility in Don-
ald, Ore.
Hazelnut
processors
reach
settlement
deal
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
The Hazelnut Growers of
Oregon cooperative has set-
tled a lawsuit brought by a
smaller processor who sought
$2.4 million for alleged con-
tract violations and trade
secret theft.
Pacific Hazelnut Farms of
Aurora, Ore., filed the com-
plaint last year, accusing
HGO of breaching packag-
ing, license and supply agree-
ments while misappropriat-
ing proprietary recipes and
processes.
Though the companies
aren’t disclosing the terms
of the settlement deal, they
do plan to continue working
together.
Andrew Halls, owner of
Pacific Hazelnut Farms, said
that resolving the disagree-
ment turned out to be “very
simple” after several discus-
sions with Sam Bugarsky,
CEO of the Wilco cooperative,
which merged with HGO.
“Basically, once Sam and
I sat down and went through
what the dispute was, it was
quite clear what needed to be
done,” Halls said.
The Wilco-HGO cooper-
ative said the settlement will
benefit the hazelnut indus-
try and “both parties regret
we weren’t able to come to an
agreement sooner.”
Bugarsky said the lawsuit
sprang from a “communica-
tion breakdown” during con-
tract re-negotiations, which
occurred when the coronavi-
rus pandemic started.
“Everybody was distracted
at the beginning of the COVID
outbreak,” he said.
The cooperative will con-
tinue to supply Pacific Hazel-
nut with hazelnuts and sell the
company’s finished products,
though not under HGO’s Ore-
gon Orchard brand, he said.
The lawsuit claimed that
HGO contracted with Pacific
Hazelnut to process and pack-
age hazelnuts under the Ore-
gon Orchard brand but hadn’t
met the guaranteed volume.
Pacific Hazelnut claimed
the cooperative hadn’t made
a required compensation pay-
ment for falling short of the
agreed volume, didn’t honor
an agreement to hear prod-
uct development pitches and
disregarded an exclusive
license that allowed the plain-
tiff to use the Oregon Orchard
trademark.
The complaint also alleged
that HGO representatives took
“willful or malicious” steps
to learn recipes and processes
at Pacific Hazelnut in order
to manufacture “identical”
products.
In its answer to the com-
plaint, HGO alleged that
Pacific Hazelnut hadn’t made
a “good faith effort” to obtain
“safe quality food” certifica-
tion for its facility as required
by contract and hadn’t taken
“reasonable steps” to protect
its trade secrets, among other
defenses.
The cooperative also filed
a counterclaim against Pacific
Hazelnut, alleging the com-
pany hadn’t lived up to sales
requirements under an earlier
contract to license the Oregon
Orchard brand.
Pacific Hazelnut had sold
less than one-third of the
amount of Oregon Orchard
products required under the
earlier contract, causing HGO
to lose royalty payments,
according to the counterclaim.
Oregon farmer Darren
Padget is ready for another
year as chairman of U.S.
Wheat Associates. But he
hopes to meet customers
face-to-face again.
Personal contact is the
biggest need in the coming
year, he told the Capital Press
from his combine in Grass
Valley, Ore.
“We’ve got everything
else going, the exports have
been flowing,” Padget said.
“That never got interrupted.”
U.S. Wheat, the overseas
marketing arm for the indus-
try, has been able to have lim-
ited contact with overseas
buyers.
“But we don’t have the
board trips and the farmer-to-
end user contact that we rel-
ish,” Padget said.
Overseas customers in
some countries have been
“surprisingly slow” to get
vaccinated, he said.
U.S. Wheat recently has
had team seminars with key
customers, such as China and
South Korea.
“Those are good to reach
a lot of people, and I’ve been
able to do it from my field,
U.S. Wheat Associates
Darren Padget at his Grass Valley, Ore., farm in 2019. Padget began his term as
chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates in July 2020.
so I guess that’s kind of an
interesting twist,” Padget
said.
In some cases, buyers
have been able to see harvest
as it is actually happening.
“They’re watching the
combine run or in yester-
day’s case, we had to blow it
out because we were switch-
ing seed varieties,” Padget
stuff. “Stuff they wouldn’t
normally see.”
Several representatives
from a Japanese company
will visit Padget’s farm
in August as part of their
annual crop tour. Those cus-
tomers are stationed in the
U.S., Padget said.
“I will take that as a win,”
he said. “That’s the first visi-
tors we’ve had in two years.”
A South American con-
ference is scheduled for
November. U.S. Wheat is
slated to have its annual fall
board meeting in Kansas
City, Mo.
“Everybody hopes to get
out and about, but that’s just
not happening right now,”
Padget said.
Padget estimates he and
other farmers are harvest-
ing about 60% of a normal
wheat crop due to drought
conditions.
“However, the quality has
been surprising,” he said.
“I just wasn’t expecting as
good of quality as we’ve had
with the finish we had in that
hot weather. I think we’ll be
able to satisfy our custom-
ers’ needs as long as they’re
able to be a little flexible this
year.”
White wheat ending
stocks may be a little tighter
this year than originally
anticipated.
“It’s going to be an inter-
esting year,” Padget said.
“I don’t know if the price
is going to make up for the
lack of quantity, but I think
there’s definitely going to be
marketing opportunities we
didn’t foresee, even five or
six months ago.”
Padget finds U.S. Agricul-
ture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s
selection of Daniel Whitley
to USDA’s Foreign Agricul-
tural Service to be a positive
sign.
“We’ve dealt with admin-
istration changes before, and
we’ll deal with this one,” he
said.
U.S. Wheat and National
Association of Wheat Grow-
ers both extended terms
for the 2020 slate of offi-
cers due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
EPA, Army want input on WOTUS
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
The Environmental Pro-
tection Agency and U.S.
Department of the Army
have announced virtual
meetings to get public input
on their efforts to revise the
definition of “waters of the
United States” or WOTUS.
The agencies said their
efforts are focused on devel-
oping a reasonable, effec-
tive and durable definition
of WOTUS that protects
public health, the environ-
ment and downstream com-
munities while supporting
economic opportunity, agri-
culture and other industries.
The agencies’ process
includes two rulemakings.
A forthcoming founda-
tional rule would restore
the regulations defining
WOTUS that were in place
for decades until 2015,
with updates to be consis-
tent with relevant Supreme
Court decisions. A separate,
second rulemaking process
would refine this regulatory
foundation and establish an
updated and durable defini-
tion of WOTUS.
The intent is to restore
protections and write a rule
to define WOTUS that is
grounded in science and the
law, emphasizes effective
implementation and priori-
tizes collaborative partner-
ships with states, Tribes,
local governments and
stakeholders, the agencies
said in a press release.
To help ensure EPA and
the Army hear from diverse
perspectives, future engage-
ment activities will be
developed in coordination
with the USDA.
“It is vital that farmers
and rural Americans have a
seat at the table and a voice
in this process so that the
rule responds to concerns
and realities on the ground,”
USDA Secretary Tom Vil-
sack said in a press release.
“The engagement in the
coming months is import-
ant, and I encourage all
stakeholders to provide
their experiences and views
in order to help shape future
policy,” he said.
The virtual meetings are
set for:
• Aug. 18, 3-5 p.m. EST.
• Aug. 23, 1-3 p.m. EST.
• Aug. 25, 3-5 p.m. EST
(for small entities).
• Aug. 26, 6-8 p.m. EST.
• Aug. 31, 3-5 p.m. EST.
The agencies have also
reserved Sept. 2, 2-4 p.m.
EST for an additional meet-
ing that will be added if all
speaking slots are filled in
earlier meetings.
Persons or organiza-
tions wishing to provide
verbal
recommendations
during the meetings will
be selected on a first-come,
first-serve basis. Individuals
will be asked to limit their
spoken presentation to three
minutes.
Once the speaking slots
are filled, participants may
be placed on a standby
list to speak or continue
to register to listen to the
recommendations.
To register or submit
written recommendations,
visit: www.epa.gov/wotus.
S252928-1