VITICULTURE SPEICIAL SECTION | INSIDE
Capital Press
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Friday, September 10, 2021
Volume 94, Number 37
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Zippy Duvall
American Farm Bureau President speaks on Snake River
dams, climate and other issues crucial to agriculture
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
ZIPPY DUVALL
Age: 65
Occupation: Presi-
dent, American Farm
Bureau Federation;
farmer
First elected: 2016
Farms in: Greensboro,
Ga.
Family: Wife Bonnie
passed away in 2020;
four children, fi ve
grandchildren
Website: https://www.
fb.org/
L
EWISTON, Idaho — Zippy
Duvall recently got an
up-close look at the Lower
Granite Dam, one of four
dams Pacifi c Northwest farm-
ers say are critical to their
livelihoods.
Duvall, president of the American
Farm Bureau Federation, toured the area
to learn more about the lower Snake River
dams and off er his support to the region’s
farmers.
The dams are at the epicenter of a roil-
ing debate over their impact on the region’s
economy. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho,
has called for tearing out the dams, while
most of the region’s farmers adamantly
oppose it. They say the dams provide irri-
gation water, electricity and make the river
navigable for the huge barges transporting
wheat downriver to export terminals on the
Columbia River.
The dams are just one of many issues
impacting agriculture that draw Duvall’s
attention. As leader of the Farm Bureau,
Duvall represents the interests of nearly 6
million farm families. The grassroots fed-
eration includes 2,800 county and state
Farm Bureaus in all 50 states and Puerto
Rico.
Duvall, 65, is a third-generation farmer
in Greensboro, Ga., about 75 miles east of
Atlanta. He raises beef cattle, broiler chick-
ens and hay.
See Duvall, Page 9
Capital Press File
American Farm Bureau Federation President
Zippy Duvall meets with producers, FFA mem-
bers and other Farm Bureau members during a
2017 dinner at Big D Ranch in Meridian, Idaho.
Duvall spent the week visiting with hundreds of
Idaho farmers and ranchers.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, at the Lower Granite Dam near Lewiston, Idaho, on June 16.
Drought, markets and demand
Oregon ranchers lose appeal
impact Northwest farmland rental rates over ‘grazing preferences’
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
Farmland rental prices in
the Northwest changed sig-
nifi cantly from 2020 to 2021.
In Oregon, Washington
and Idaho, according to a
USDA report released Mon-
day, irrigated cropland is
more expensive to rent in
2021 compared to last year,
which experts attribute to
high specialty crop prices and
demand for land with water
rights.
However, rental prices
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Farmland with fl owers in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
for non-irrigated cropland
have stagnated or decreased
due to drought and poor dry-
land crop yields. Pastureland
rental costs have changed
little.
Most farmers say they pre-
fer fl at or falling rental rates.
“Just personally, from
what I’m hearing, with the
margin of profi t as narrow as
it is, any time any expense
goes up, that’s going to
impact (farmers) negatively,”
said Randy Welk, USDA’s
state statistician for Idaho.
Cropland
According to USDA’s
2021 cash rent report, Oregon
producers on average paid
$181 per acre to rent crop-
land this year, $21 more per
acre than in 2020 — a 13%
increase.
Irrigated Oregon crop-
land is $245 per acre, up $25
from 2020. The rental price
of non-irrigated cropland, in
contrast, went down $5, from
$80 to $75 per acre.
Dave Losh, USDA state
statistician for Oregon, said
demand for irrigated crop-
land on the west side of the
state appears to be pushing
this year’s irrigated cropland
prices up.
See Rates, Page 9
TIME TO PLAN
for next year.
An Oregon ranch family has failed to
convince a federal appeals court to pre-
serve their property’s “priority” to graze
livestock on public allotments.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
has ruled that ranchers automatically lose
the “grazing preference” for their prop-
erty upon the expiration of their permit to
release livestock onto federal allotments.
The ruling has broad implications for
Western ranchers, since it rejects legal
arguments that a private “base” property
must retain its grazing preference even if
a grazing permit isn’t renewed.
The 9th Circuit’s decision indicates
the concept of “grazing priority” doesn’t
mean much anymore, said Mike Hanley, a
rancher involved in the litigation.
“It could be the death knell of the Tay-
lor Grazing Act,” he said, referring to the
federal statute that regulates public land
livestock allotments.
In practical terms, the decision will
make it tougher for ranchers to trans-
fer private property, including to family
members, without encountering heavy
regulatory burdens, he said.
The case demonstrates the diffi culty
of litigating against the federal govern-
ment, particularly in the 9th Circuit, Han-
Bank of Eastern Oregon
offers Operating Lines of
Credit and Term loans on
Equipment and Land.
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press File
From left to right, Mike Hanley and his
wife, Linda, stand with daughter Mar-
tha Corrigan and her husband, John, at
the family’s ranch near Jordan Valley,
Ore. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap-
peals has ruled against the family in its
dispute with the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management.
ley said. “In the long term, you’re going
to lose.”
Grazing preferences provide private
ranch properties with the top priority to
obtain grazing permits on neighboring
federal allotments.
Within the livestock industry, such
preferences are crucial to the fi nancial
value of private ranches. They’re also
considered to stabilize the long-term con-
nection between ranchers and surrounding
federal lands.
Specializing in
Agricultural &
Commercial Loans.
See Grazing, Page 9
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