Friday, September 24, 2021
CapitalPress.com 5
Below-average NW hop yields
predicted due to summer heat wave
By BRAD CARLSON and
SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
Growers are in the thick
of hop harvest across the
Pacifi c Northwest, where
lower-than-average yields
are predicted because of
heat waves that scalded the
region in June and July.
Across Washington, Ore-
gon and Idaho, the nation’s
main hop-growing region,
high temperatures brought
losses, smaller hop cones
and increased spider mite
pressure. However, growers
say the challenges were mild
compared to 2020’s wild-
fi res, windstorms and mar-
ket disruptions.
“Heat waves, the Delta
variant — what’s next?”
said Steve Carpenter, chief
supply offi cer for Yakima
Chief Hops, a grow-
er-owned dealer handling
nearly 40% of the U.S.
crop. “At least within our
company, though, we’re
seeing a good crop com-
ing in and very encourag-
ing numbers in terms of
shipments. It encourages
me that we’ve maybe come
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Peter Weathers, left, and his sister, Erica Lorentz, during
hop harvest.
around the corner.”
In June, USDA predicted
the Pacifi c Northwest would
string 60,735 acres for har-
vest, 4% more than the pre-
vious year and an all-time
record.
Carpenter estimated that
because of heat damage,
however, the 2021 harvest
will actually fall below aver-
age. According to USDA’s
National Agricultural Sta-
tistics Service, the fi ve-year
average is 56,847 harvested
acres.
Much of that decrease in
strung hops can be attributed
to baby hop plants, stunted
by heat, never making it to
the trellis, according to Ann
George, executive director
of Hop Growers of America.
Yields in Yakima, Wash.,
the No. 1 hop produc-
ing state, are “down a bit”
this year, said Carpenter
of Yakima Chief. Moxee
fared better, with yields at or
above average.
Oregon, industry lead-
ers say, was hurt more. The
Citra variety, an aroma hop
highly sought after by brew-
ers, was hit worst because
it’s not very heat-resilient.
Fred Geschwill, co-owner
of F & B Farms and Nurs-
ery in Woodburn, Ore., a
third generation hop grower
with about 300 hop acres,
said some of his Citra bocks,
especially younger fi elds,
took up to a 60% reduction
in yield.
“We were aff ected pretty
heavily on our farm,” said
Geschwill.
Because of the heat,
Geschwill said, spider
mites were “early and really
abundant.”
At Sodbuster Farms
in Salem, brother-sister
team Peter Weathers and
Erica Lorentz, who run the
farm alongside other fam-
ily members, said they saw
about a 30% Citra loss. Of
the farm’s 900 hop acres,
about 230 acres are Citra.
Cones are also smaller
and lighter, they said.
Like Geschwill, they
also faced “really bad” spi-
der mites, and both farms
say fi nding enough laborers
this harvest was even harder
than in previous years.
Southwest Idaho hop
yields will also be below
average.
Obendorf Farms owner
and manager Brock Oben-
dorf said Sept. 13 that yields
on early-maturing variet-
ies have been down 15-20%
from average.
Hemp insulation company
chooses south-central Idaho
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Hempitecture Inc., a
Ketchum, Idaho, company
that specializes in sustain-
able building materials, is
expanding its operations
and bringing a state-of-the-
art manufacturing facility to
Jerome, Idaho.
The company has since
fi nalized a Jerome loca-
tion to be the home of its
21,632-square-foot facility.
It will be at the Northridge
Junction industrial park
directly off Interstate 84 and
U.S. Highway 93.
The proposed facility will
manufacture HempWool, a
sustainable, high-perform-
ing natural fi ber thermal
insulation for residential
and commercial construc-
tion projects, according to
a press release from South-
ern Idaho Economic Devel-
o p m e n t
Organization.
The insu-
lation prod-
uct is non-
toxic
and
carbon neu-
Matthew
tral.
The
Mead
product is
made from
the inner woody core of the
hemp plant, according to the
company’s website.
Additionally, the facil-
ity can manufacture sustain-
able packaging insulation
for the cold-freight shipping
industry.
“We’re thrilled to be
locating our non-woven
manufacturing facility in
Jerome, Idaho,” said Mat-
thew Mead, Hempitecture
founder and CEO.
Jerome is ideally situated
between large acreage hemp
cultivation in the Rocky
Mountain West and major
U.S. construction markets,
he said.
“We’re thankful for the
support of the community
in making this project possi-
ble, and we look forward to
being an asset to the region
and insulation industry for
many years to come,” he
said.
Connie Stopher, exec-
utive director of Southern
Idaho Economic Develop-
ment Organization, said “the
combination of sustainabil-
ity, agricultural technology
and innovation makes this
a wonderful addition to the
Magic Valley and the state
of Idaho.”
The company brings
jobs, new opportunities for
local farmers to diversify
their rotational crops using
less water and a product to
booming construction proj-
ects in the state and region,
said Charlie Howell, Jerome
County commissioner.
Hempitecture cofounders
Mead and Tommy Gibbons
were named on the 2019
Forbes 30 Under 30 list. In
May of 2021, Gibbons was
selected to represent Hempi-
tecture at a Department of
Energy-sponsored research
fellowship program at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory
in Knoxville, Tenn.
In June of 2021, Hempi-
tecture and its research part-
ners at the University of Ida-
ho’s College of Renewable
Resources were awarded
a $206,000 research grant
from the Idaho Depart-
ment of Commerce’s Idaho
Global Entrepreneurial Mis-
sion program.
At the beginning of June,
Hempitecture announced an
equity fundraising campaign
to build the facility and sur-
passed its goal of $2.5 mil-
lion by the end of June.
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Blane Saunders loads cranberries into bins Sept. 21
on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula.
Cranberry harvest begins
with smaller surplus
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Growers in Oregon,
Washington and three
other states are expected
to produce 813.5 million
pounds of cranberries this
year, a harvest that will
further reduce a surplus
that drove down prices,
according to the Cranberry
Marketing Committee.
The cranberry commit-
tee projects that U.S. and
foreign production com-
bined with carry-over
inventory will exceed
demand by 30%. The sur-
plus peaked in 2016 at
roughly 100%.
Washington
cran-
berry grower Malcolm
McPhail, a member of
the Ocean Spray coopera-
tive, said co-op prices have
rebounded to above $45
per 100-pound barrel after
falling several years ago to
$25 a barrel.
“When we’re in the 40s,
we’re OK,” he said.
The industry resorted to
volume controls in 2017
and 2018, as the USDA
ordered farmers to with-
hold cranberries from the
marketplace. Crops have
been smaller since 2016,
and the industry reports an
increase in exports.
The USDA reported
cranberry prices averaged
$37.30 per 100-pound bar-
rel in 2020, compared to
$30.60 in 2016.
Oregon and Washing-
ton are expected to have
solid crops, though short
of records. The cranberry
committee forecast Ore-
gon’s crop at 52 million
pounds and Washington’s
at 17.3 million pounds.
Oregon farmers on
the coast began deliver-
ing cranberries to Ocean
Spray earlier this month,
according to grower Char-
lie Ruddell.
Wisconsin, by far the
largest cranberry state, is
expected to produce 492
million pounds, followed
by Massachusetts with
196.9 million pounds and
New Jersey at 53.4 million
pounds.
Overall, the cranberry
committee projected the
crop to be about 5% larger
than last year.
In a separate prediction,
the USDA projects the
U.S. crop will be 783 mil-
lion pounds, up 1% from
last year. The USDA does
not include Washington in
its forecast or in calculat-
ing the harvest. The USDA
forecast Oregon’s crop at
604 million pounds.
With cranberry con-
sumption in the U.S.
fairly fl at, the industry has
looked to increase sales
overseas, particularly in
China and India.
Cranberries continue to
be caught up in trade dis-
putes, however. The Euro-
pean Union slapped a 25%
retaliatory tariff on cran-
berry concentrate in 2018
in response to U.S. tariff s
on steel and aluminum.
The value of concen-
trate exports to Europe
has declined to $5 million
from $51 million, accord-
ing to the cranberry mar-
keting committee.
Dried cranberries were
among many U.S. goods
that faced a 25% retalia-
tory tariff by the European
Union earlier this year.
The U.S. and EU agreed
to suspend the warring tar-
iff s for fi ve years while try-
ing to work out a dispute
over government subsidies
to aircraft companies Boe-
ing and Airbus.
National cattlemen association slams beef advertising complaint
USDA Agricultural Research Service
A cattle roundup in New Mexico. The National Cattle-
men’s Beef Association has taken umbrage at a com-
plaint fi led by the Physicians Committee for Responsi-
ble Medicine.
“NCBA’s advertisement
is contrary to abundant scien-
tifi c evidence and deceptive
on its face,” the petition said.
The Physicians Commit-
tee also sent a letter to USDA
Secretary Tom Vilsack asking
him to “replace these decep-
tive advertisements with
helpful notices that promote
members, 17,000 of whom
are doctors.
“The Physicians Commit-
tee is dedicated to saving and
improving human and ani-
mal lives through plant-based
diets and ethical and eff ective
scientifi c research,” the com-
mittee’s website says.
“PCRM’s
questionable
reputation aside, the facts and
science are on beef’s side,”
NCBA said.
Beef cattle account for
2% of greenhouse gas emis-
sions in the U.S., according
to the EPA. And according
to USDA and the Food and
Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations, the U.S.
has produced the most sus-
tainable beef in the world
for decades and has reduced
emissions per pound of beef
by 40% since the 1960s,
NCBA said.
S258354-1
National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association has come out
swinging against an organiza-
tion that is petitioning the Fed-
eral Trade Commission and
USDA to stop NCBA from
placing what it calls deceptive
advertisements “that down-
play the beef industry’s role in
the climate crisis.”
The Physicians Commit-
tee for Responsible Medicine
is petitioning FTC to “perma-
nently prohibit NCBA from
disseminating, or causing the
dissemination of, any adver-
tisement claiming that beef is
an environmentally sustain-
able food.”
At issue is the “Beefi ng
Up Sustainability” campaign
developed by NCBA as a
contractor to the Beef Check-
off . Part of the campaign
included advertisements in
the Wall Street Journal, New
York Times and Washington
Post.
The campaign was devel-
oped to share the beef indus-
try’s science-based sustain-
ability story and connect
consumers with facts about
how their beef is raised,
NCBA said in a statement on
Tuesday.
The Physicians Commit-
tee said NCBA’s advertise-
ment incorrectly states “elim-
inating beef is not a realistic
or impactful solution for cli-
mate change.”
The petition cites research
from the World Health Orga-
nization stating “reducing
livestock herds would also
reduce emissions of methane,
which is the second largest
contributor to global warming
after carbon dioxide.”
replacing animal products for
plant-based diets to improve
both climate and human
health.”
NCBA said its campaign
reached millions of con-
sumers and inspired curious
readers to learn more and,
unsurprisingly, led to mud-
slinging from animal activ-
ist groups.
The Physicians Commit-
tee masquerades as medi-
cal authorities, despite the
fact that fewer than 10% of
its members are physicians,
NCBA said.
On its website, the com-
mittee claims to have 175,000
S253069-1
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press