Friday, September 24, 2021
CapitalPress.com 7
Meat processors reject administration’s claims
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
The North American
Meat Institute, representing
meat and poultry processors,
is hitting back at the Biden
administration’s claims that
processors are responsible
for the higher price of beef,
pork and poultry in grocery
stores.
The
administration
accused processors of gen-
erating record profi ts during
the pandemic at the expense
of consumers, farmers and
ranchers.
Last week, the adminis-
tration released a study and
held a White House briefi ng
— featuring USDA Secre-
tary Tom Vilsack — on con-
centration in the processing
industry and proposals to
address it.
The Meat
Institute said
Vi l s a c k ’s
transparent
attempts to
“scapegoat”
Julie Anna the
meat
Potts
and poultry
industry will
not help consumers.
“The administration can-
not ignore the fundamen-
tal principles of supply and
demand,” said Julie Anna
Potts, the Meat Institute’s
president and CEO.
Vilsack
refuses
to
acknowledge what Ameri-
cans are experiencing fi rst-
hand, she said.
“The eff ects of COVID
and lack of labor are hurt-
ing consumers, and nothing
proposed by the secretary
of agriculture on the struc-
ture of the meat and poultry
industry will help families
struggling to pay for grocer-
ies,” she said.
Potts sent a letter to Vil-
sack on Tuesday saying she
was disappointed he failed
to acknowledge the array of
market forces aff ecting retail
prices.
A recent report on food
prices by USDA’s Economic
Research Service exam-
ined beef, pork and poultry
prices and “never identifi ed
industry structure as a price
driver,” she said.
She pointed out the
report said “high feed costs,
increased demand and
changes in the supply chain
have driven up prices for
wholesale beef and dairy.”
“Further, ERS identifi ed
economy-wide price infl a-
tion, confi rming that con-
sumer price infl ation is far
broader than meat and poul-
try products,” she said.
She also cited other gov-
ernment reports that pinned
2020 food-price infl ation
on pandemic-related shifts
in consumption and sup-
ply-chain disruptions, and
more recently economic
recovery and government
social benefi ts.
Rising input costs for
processors is another factor,
as noted by the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics, she said.
Those costs included
natural gas, corn, wheat,
slaughter steers and heif-
ers and corrugated recy-
cled paper, according to the
agency.
She also noted labor
shortages that aff ect pro-
cessing lines, warehouses,
maintenance and other crit-
ical jobs in the supply chain.
“Unfortunately, at the
press conference the chal-
lenges of labor shortages
were never acknowledged,”
she said.
She also noted that none
of the agricultural econ-
omists testifying at Sen-
ate and House Agricul-
ture Committee hearings
last summer suggested con-
sumer price infl ation was
linked to the structure of the
meat and poultry industry.
Over the past three
months, Meat Institute staff
met with White House and
USDA offi cials, and not
once did those offi cials “sug-
gest consumer prices were
rising because of industry
structure,” she said.
She also pointed out the
meat and poultry process-
ing industry has a signifi -
cant downstream economic
impact for U.S. agriculture,
with meat animals being the
major users of forage, feed
grains, protein meal from oil
seeds and distillers’ grains.
She also noted ERS
described meat and poultry
supply chains as “effi cient,”
with Americans spending an
average of 8.6% of their dis-
posable income on food in
2020.
“Before the administra-
tion attempts to recreate the
animal agriculture indus-
try, it is prudent to look back
and acknowledge the bene-
fi ts that fl ow from the food
supply chains as they exist,”
she said.
Smaller winegrape crop expected Southwest Washington cooperative
in California, southwest Oregon looks for more barley growers
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Winegrowers in Califor-
nia and southwest Oregon are
anticipating a lighter crop this
year after months of hot, dry
weather leading up to harvest.
According to the USDA
National Agricultural Sta-
tistics Service, California is
on track to produce 3.6 mil-
lion tons of winegrapes in
2021 — about 10% less than
normal.
“We’re going to limp by
this year,” said John Agu-
irre, president of the Califor-
nia Association of Winegrape
Growers. “Certainly, drought
is a problem.”
The good news, Aguirre
said, is that wildfi re smoke
should be less of a concern
for the industry than it was
a year ago, when growers
suff ered an estimated $500
million in crop losses from
canceled or reduced grape
contracts.
California
winegrapes
are worth $4 billion at the
farm gate. By comparison,
the Oregon and Washington
crops are worth about $597
million combined.
With the exception of
the Caldor Fire burning in
the Sierra Foothills, Aguirre
said most vineyards appear
to have avoided prolonged
and intense smoke that can
impact wine quality, impart-
ing an unpleasant ashy or
chemical taste.
“I’m expecting most
winegrape growers are going
to bring in their crop success-
fully, but we’re not out of the
woods yet,” Aguirre said.
“We’ve all got our fi ngers
crossed that we aren’t going
to experience a wildfi re break
out in wine country.”
Instead, the primary chal-
lenge for farmers has been
navigating extreme drought
and water scarcity.
Jeff Bitter, president of
Allied Grape Growers, a
co-op representing 500 wine-
grape growers across Cali-
fornia, said the impacts vary
by region but he generally
expects smaller yields.
On the North Coast,
which includes the world-fa-
Capital Press FIle
An example of smoke-tainted winegrapes. Growers say
the problem of smoke from wildfi res is less serious this
year than in 2020 but the hot, dry summer has posed
other challenges.
mous Napa Val-
Working
with
ley, some areas have
other local wine-
experienced
just
growers, Gruber said
one-quarter to one-
they came up with a
third of their usual
new strategy. For the
total annual rainfall,
few weeks they had
Bitter said.
water, they irrigated
John
“You had a lot of
as normal up until
Aguirre
people with a lim-
the fi nal week, when
ited supply of water
they saturated the
in their ponds,” Bitter said. ground as much as possible
“They had to fi nd a way to in hopes it would last through
make that last all year long.” the heat of summer.
Meanwhile, on the west
The heat, Gruber said,
side of the Central Valley, was intense. For 30 days
Bitter said water scarcity has in June and July, tempera-
dramatically raised the cost of tures exceeded 95 degrees.
buying and transferring water During the major “heat
to irrigate parched vineyards, dome” that enveloped the
with prices reaching as much Pacifi c Northwest in late
as $2,000 per acre-foot.
June, temperatures reached
Bitter said he is aware of as high as 117 degrees, turn-
at least some vineyards that ing grapes black and leaves
were abandoned completely crispy.
due to a lack of water.
Gruber said he didn’t har-
“They just can’t aff ord to vest any grapes from vines
keep them in production,” younger than fi ve years old.
he said. “There will be more As for mature vines, he said
(abandoned) going into the the crop is down 10-20%.
future unless something
However, the heat fi nally
changes very quickly.”
snapped in August and
Across the border in allowed the fruit quality to
southern Oregon, Brian Gru- rebound, Gruber said, with
ber said winegrowers in the fl avors coming into balance.
Rogue and Applegate valleys
“Had it stayed that hot all
are facing similar conditions. the way through the last 3-4
Gruber is the winemaker at weeks, I would be less opti-
Quady North winery in Med- mistic about the quality of the
ford, and also has his own fruit,” he said.
4-acre vineyard within the
Southern Oregon has had
Talent Irrigation District.
plenty of wildfi re smoke,
Normally, Gruber said he Gruber said, but nothing like
receives fi ve months of irri- last year. The risk of smoke
gation water in a given sea- taint, he said, is based on a
son. This year, however, number of factors, including
there was only enough for the proximity and duration of
fi ve weeks.
fi res.
DRIVE AWAY HUNGER
OCTOBER 1-31
CHEHALIS, Wash. —
Farmers in a southwest
Washington
cooperative
have fi nished their second
year of growing barley for a
Vancouver, Wash., malting
company, nearly doubling
production over the previous
year despite lower per-acre
yields.
Southwest Washington
Growers Cooperative pres-
ident Dave Fenn, a Lewis
County farmer, said co-op
leaders hope more farmers
will sign up to grow barley
for next year.
“We’re competing with
very high wheat prices, high
grass seed prices,” Fenn said.
“I’m a little disappointed we
haven’t been able to get more
acres, but that means farmers
are doing well with compet-
ing crops.”
The cooperative was
formed after some farmers in
the region in 2017 lost con-
tracts to grow vegetables for
a processor. They hope to
build silos and conveyor sys-
tems at the Port of Chehalis
to load and load grains onto
Don Jenkins/Capital Press FIle
Lewis County farmer Dave Fenn, president of the
Southwest Washington Growers Cooperative, in a
fi eld of winter barley. The new co-op produced more
barley this year for a Vancouver malting company.
railcars. The port is half-
way between Portland and
Seattle.
The Legislature this year
appropriated $1.75 million
for the project, which is still
on the drawing board. The
facility could be used to load
and unload other types of
grain and animal feed, orga-
nizers say.
For the past two years,
farmers have made do with
a portable conveyor system
that loads barley directly
from trucks to railcars. “It’s
strictly temporary,” Fenn
said.
Seven farmers grew bar-
ley this year. The coopera-
tive delivered 607 tons of
winter barley and 470 tons of
spring barley to Great West-
ern Malting Co.
Farmers planted 280
acres of winter barley,
though 30 acres close to the
coast fl ooded. “It’s just too
wet there,” said Mike Per-
oni, project manager for the
Northwest Agriculture Busi-
ness Center.
Farmers planted 215
acres of spring barley.
The cooperative has
drawn interest from farmers
as far north as Skagit County
and as far south as the Wil-
lamette Valley, according to
organizers.
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