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CapitalPress.com
Friday, September 10, 2021
AgForestry interim executive director: ‘So much at stake’
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Vicky Scharlau has been
named the interim execu-
tive director of the Washing-
ton AgForestry leadership
program as the organization
develops its new strategic
plan.
Through her nonprofi t
association
management
company 501 Consultants,
based in Cashmere, Wash.,
Scharlau is also executive
director of the Columbia
Basin Development League,
Washington Winegrowers
Association and Washington
Wine Industry Foundation.
She will continue in those
roles with her team.
Scharlau replaces Matt
Kloes, who will leave at the
end of Sep-
tember after
two years
as executive
director.
T h e
AgForestry
program
Vicky
focuses on
Scharlau
developing
leaders in agriculture, for-
estry and natural resources.
The AgForestry leader-
ship development program
lasts 18 months. It includes
11 multi-day seminars. Par-
ticipants also spend one
week in Washington, D.C.,
and up to two weeks in a for-
eign country.
The cost to participants is
$6,000. The program spends
approximately $20,000 per
participant. The diff erence
is subsidized by partners and
in-kind donations. Class 44
will begin in October 2022.
Scharlau is a graduate of
Ag Forestry’s Class 10.
The need for the program
has never been greater, she
said.
“We have so much poten-
tial and so much at stake,”
she said. “If we don’t train
those who are in the indus-
try and people who we want
to stay in the industry for
tomorrow, we’re never going
to survive here.”
Scharlau grew up on a
dairy farm in Wisconsin. Her
bachelor’s degree is in agri-
cultural economics and agri-
cultural journalism from the
University of Wisconsin and
her master’s degree is in pub-
lic administration from the
University of Washington.
She worked for the Wash-
ington Department of Agri-
culture, then for the Wash-
ington Apple Commission
and Washington Horticul-
tural Association — now
merged into the Washington
State Tree Fruit Association
— before realizing there was
a need for the management
company, which she founded
in 1994.
“Smaller organizations
don’t have enough bud-
get or the infrastructure to
hire fi ve diff erent staff peo-
ple,” she said. “What we
provide is that ability to be
everything to a small-ish
organization.”
The management com-
pany provides a spectrum of
services to nonprofi t organi-
zations, and no organization
has to pay full price for any-
thing, she said.
“They’re not buying all of
my time as executive direc-
tor, they’re only buying a
portion of it,” Scharlau said.
The company is “very,
very intentional” about work-
ing with organizations about
what they want to accomplish
and how much money they
have to invest in their goals,
Scharlau said.
About 50% of the compa-
ny’s time is spent consulting,
including strategic planning,
grant writing and manage-
ment, training for boards of
directors and coaching for
executive directors, Schar-
lau said.
“Really any kind of a spot
need or spot issue that a non-
profi t might have, we can
usually help them,” she said.
How long AgForestry’s
strategic planning takes will
determine the time Scharlau
is in the interim position, she
said. The biggest challenge
is attracting the industry’s
future leaders today.
“Right now the board has
to determine where the orga-
nization needs to grow in
terms of meeting the needs
not only of our core sup-
porters of Ag Forestry, those
people who have been with
us from the beginning,” she
said. “But we also have to
recognize that the millennials
and younger are the future of
our natural resource industry.
We have to understand how
to help them build a future as
a leader.”
Vietnam poised to reduce or eliminate
tariff s on U.S. wheat, corn and pork
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Vietnam is poised to
reduce or eliminate tariff s on
wheat, corn and pork imports
from the U.S.
As part of bilateral meet-
ings with Vietnamese lead-
ers, Vice President Kamala
Harris said Vietnam is con-
sidering a U.S. proposal to
eliminate or reduce Most
Favored Nation import duties
on wheat, corn and pork
products. This would allow
farmers and pork producers
greater access to Vietnam’s
markets, according to a fact
sheet from Harris’ offi ce.
An announcement on
whether the tariff s will be
further reduced or eliminated
is expected in September,
said Steve Mercer, vice pres-
ident of communications for
U.S. Wheat Associates, the
overseas marketing arm for
the industry.
“It defi nitely is an import-
ant market and has the poten-
tial to grow,” Mercer told
the Capital Press. “The mill-
ing industry and wheat foods
industry is one of the fast-
est-growing in the world.”
Vice President
Kamala Harris
Vietnam
particularly
wants soft white wheat,
which is primarily grown in
the Pacifi c Northwest, Mer-
cer said.
Vietnam is the last
remaining Comprehensive
and Progressive Trans-Pa-
cifi c Partnership (CPTPP)
country applying a tariff
against U.S. wheat imports
but not against Canadian and
Australian wheat, making the
announcement “particularly
noteworthy” for U.S. wheat
growers, Mercer said.
The U.S. was a member of
the original TPP trade agree-
ment with 11 other countries.
President Donald Trump
withdrew from TPP in Janu-
ary 2017, emphasizing bilat-
eral agreements instead.
The newly announced
reduction follows one in July
2020, when Vietnam reduced
its tariff on imported U.S.
wheat — excluding durum
— from 5% to 3% in a revi-
sion of its Most Favored
Nation tariff rates, according
to U.S. Wheat.
U.S. Wheat worked with
USDA’s Foreign Agricul-
tural Service to reach out
to Vietnam’s Ministry of
Finance. Citing rising prices
and a tighter wheat supply,
the industry told the minis-
try that reducing or eliminat-
ing the tariff would benefi t
Vietnamese residents, Mer-
cer said.
Vietnam imports an aver-
age of more than 3 mil-
lion metric tons of wheat
per year, primarily from
Australia.
Despite the tariff s, Viet-
nam’s imports of U.S. soft
white, hard red winter
and hard red spring wheat
exceeded 500,000 metric
tons in the 2020/21 market-
ing year, according to U.S.
Wheat.
Vietnam went from
importing a high of 93,500
metric tons of U.S. soft
white wheat in 2017-2018 to
157,000 metric tons last year,
Mercer said.
“That’s been a pretty
steady increase,” he said.
“We are very excited to
see this tariff being lifted
between Vietnam and the
U.S., and we commend
the Administration, FAS
and Vietnam’s Ministry of
Finance for their diligence
to aid both the U.S. and Viet-
nam,” Chandler Goule, CEO
of the National Association
of Wheat Growers, said in a
press release. “We are eager
to see all of the doors this will
open for both countries.”
Enhanced Vietnam market
access is one of the National
Pork Producer Council’s
top trade priorities, said Jim
Monroe, assistant vice presi-
dent of communications.
Vietnam’s tariff s on
U.S. pork were temporar-
ily reduced for six months
in 2020 and farmers enjoyed
a “signifi cant increase” in
exports there, Monroe said.
Dairy West
Karianne Fallow of Dairy West, left, Idaho Gov. Brad Lit-
tle and Erin Fitzgerald of U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in
Action.
Little proclaims
‘Decade of Ag’
in Idaho
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Gov. Brad Little has
declared 2020-30 the Decade
of Agriculture in Idaho. He
is the fi rst governor to issue
such a proclamation.
U.S. Farmers and Ranch-
S219937-1
ers in Action, a national coa-
lition of agricultural busi-
nesses and organizations,
spearheaded the eff ort after
forming more than two
years ago. The group calls
on agriculture and food sys-
tem leaders to endorse a
shared vision of economic
and climate-related sustain-
ability. More than 60 Idaho
ag businesses and organi-
zations supported Little’s
proclamation.
Dairy West CEO Kari-
anne Fallow said in a release
that the economic, social
and environmental demands
of a growing global popu-
lation require resilient, cre-
ative solutions. Idaho agri-
culture, as the backbone
of the state’s economy and
a national leader, plays an
integral role in an econom-
ically and ecologically sus-
tainable future, she said.
Many climate-related ini-
tiatives that focus on emis-
sions have deadlines of 2030
or 2050, “and in order to
advance those, action really
needs to start now,” Dairy
West Senior Vice President
Kristi Spence said in an inter-
view. The U.S. dairy industry
aims to be at net-zero carbon
emissions by 2050.
She said the industry has
made progress, and is evalu-
ating its emissions as well as
current and future technol-
ogy that could help it reach
the goal.
“And dairy in our region
has a history of not only being
a leader, but also in collab-
orating with the greater ag
sector,” Spence said.
Little, a Republican
rancher from Emmett, said
in the proclamation that
Idaho as an agricultural
leader is engaged in sus-
tainable practices and in
investing in much-needed
research. The state is well
positioned to “further invest
in the potential of its agri-
cultural community and
commit to being part of an
economically viable and
sustainable future.”
Necessary growth of agri-
culture could be impeded
by episodic weather events,
environmental and climate
stressors, loss of farmland
from urbanization, regula-
tory complexity and declin-
ing revenue, his procla-
mation said. The sector
currently accounts for 18%
of economic output, 26% of
exports, and 1 in 8 jobs in
Idaho.