Friday, January 7, 2022
CapitalPress.com 11
Idaho
Continued from Page 1
Resource Board, said a line item in the federal
infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed
in November allows a state’s Rescue Plan Act
money to be used as the non-federal match in a
Reclamation project.
The board last summer prioritized 20 projects
worth about $843 million. They include raising
Reclamation-owned Anderson Ranch Dam and
building a large aquifer-recharge project in the
Upper Snake River Valley.
“We need to look at this ARPA money and
the rules around it and see what we can do for
water projects that are going to last the next 50, 60
years,” said House Agricultural Affairs Commit-
tee Chairman Clark Kauffman, R-Filer.
$1.6 billion surplus
Lawmakers must also decide how to spend a
state general fund surplus of $1.6 billion, driven
by state sales and income tax revenue that is
higher than expected.
Paul Arrington, Idaho Water Users Associa-
tion executive director and general counsel, said
he expects lawmakers to focus on lasting benefits,
as in 2021.
“And so what we are looking at is how can
we address some of our needs to have sustain-
able water supplies into the future, whether that
be additional recharge, storage infrastructure like
Anderson Ranch or even fixing or modernizing
our existing delivery infrastructure,” he said.
Treasure Valley Water Users Association
Executive Director Roger Batt said he expects
infrastructure needs to be combined into a Water
Resource Board appropriation. If an appropria-
tion is approved, the board’s plan to spend it may
include matching grants such as those found in the
state’s flood-management program.
“As the population continues to grow, there
will be additional pressures on water,” said Russ
Hendricks of the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation.
Increasing the capability to store and use water
before it leaves the state would be beneficial in the
long term, he said.
Rep. Rick Youngblood,
R-Nampa, who co-chairs the
budget-setting Joint Finance-Ap-
propriations Committee, said a
sizable gain in the state’s pop-
ulation is fueling growth in the
state’s general fund. Meanwhile,
federal one-time pandemic funds
Rep. Rick
have helped pay for immediate
Youngblood needs.
He said budget writers are
identifying revenue sources “to not spend dollars
that are one-time on ongoing needs.” In spending
federal Rescue Plan Act funds this year, for exam-
ple, “we want them to be identified for one-time
capital projects.”
Little, in a June 3 memo to agency directors,
said except for the public school budget, agencies
should not exceed last year’s general fund appro-
priation by more than 3.1%.
EO Media File
The Oregon Capitol in Salem.
Oregon
Continued from Page 1
The overtime issue has
been presented as a “racial
equity agenda item,” but in
reality, ending the exemp-
tion wouldn’t put more money
into farmworkers’ pockets, she
said. “It’s just not going to be
the result because our mem-
bers can’t afford to pay more
wages.”
Proponents of ending the
overtime exemption seem to
believe farmers can just raise
their prices, when they’d
actually be forced to limit
employee hours to contain
labor costs, said Jeff Stone,
executive director of the Ore-
gon Association of Nurseries.
“Clearly, we need to use
different
words
because
they don’t understand the
price-taking side of ag,”
he said.
Budget requests
Some agency requests will impact agriculture
and forestry budgets.
Rob Sepich, budget and policy analyst for
the Legislative Services Office, said the Depart-
ment of Lands proposes to add full-time fire per-
sonnel and increase starting firefighters’ pay. The
Department of Water Resources is also request-
ing additional staff for water-rights work such as
adjudications.
The state Department of Agri-
culture wants to move employ-
ment at its invasive-species
check stations from seasonal and
temporary to full-time.
At its Center for Agriculture,
Food and the Environment, the
Rob
University of Idaho Agricultural
Sepich
Research & Extension Service
seeks to hire an operations man-
ager, a research support scientist and an exten-
sion 4-H educator focused on science, technology,
engineering and math.
For the fiscal year that started July 1, the state
general fund budget is about $4.22 billion. Tax
collections through November were more than
13% ahead of forecasts, the Division of Financial
Management reported.
The $11.2 billion overall budget, including fed-
eral funds, is 46.6% higher than a year earlier due
to federal coronavirus aid, the Relief and Eco-
nomic Security Act and ARPA funding, said Keith
Bybee, the Legislative Services Office Budget and
Policy Division manager.
State budget surpluses often prompt tax-relief
proposals.
Timber compromise
Another major natural
resource proposal before Ore-
gon lawmakers will be the com-
promise deal between environ-
mental groups and the timber
industry, under which logging
Washington
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the current budget.
“Sometimes it’s been true,
people have looked at supple-
mental budget years as quiet
months in Olympia. It can-
not be quiet months in Olym-
pia this year,” Inslee said.
“It may be a short session,
but it is a long list of crises
that requires us to act with
urgency.”
Tax collections are exceed-
ing forecasts. Inslee has
rebuffed a Republican invita-
tion to use some of the unex-
pected revenue to cut taxes.
The governor cautioned
“those who get stars in their
eyes” and think the money
Meat: Administration has claimed
industry structure is keeping
down prices for cattle producer
Continued from Page 1
and poultry processors, strengthen-
ing rules to protect farmers, enforc-
ing existing antitrust laws and bring-
ing greater transparency to cattle
markets, he said.
The North American Meat Insti-
tute, however, contends government
intervention in markets won’t help
consumers or livestock producers.
For the third time in six months,
Biden and the administration have
announced the same plan to fund gov-
ernment intervention in an attempt to
increase prices for livestock produc-
ers while blaming inflation on private
industry, said Julie Anna Potts, the
Meat Institute’s president and CEO.
“The Biden administration con-
tinues to ignore the number one chal-
lenge to meat and poultry production
— labor shortages,” she said.
“Press conferences and using tax-
payer dollars to establish govern-
ment-sponsored packing and pro-
cessing plants will not do anything to
address the lack of labor at meat and
poultry plants and spiking inflation
across the economy,” she said.
“The administration wants the
American people to believe that the
meat and poultry industry is unique
and not experiencing the same prob-
lems causing inflation across the
economy, like increased input costs,
increased energy costs, labor short-
ages and transportation challenges,”
she said.
The administration has claimed
industry structure is keeping down
prices for cattle producers, conve-
niently ignoring the fact the beef
industry has changed little for almost
30 years. Prices reflect supply and
demand, the Meat Institute said.
Lauren
Smith
Jeff
Stone
buffers near streams would be
expanded.
The agreement would also
restrict logging below steep
slopes to prevent sediment from
reaching streams and imple-
ment other changes in the forest
practices law.
The “private timber accord”
was negotiated with help from
Gov. Kate Brown’s office. It is
anticipated to receive a “rub-
ber stamp” from lawmakers in
2022.
“This is a legislative prior-
ity and has all the ingredients to
pass,” said Cooper, adding that
the Oregon Farm Bureau is still
studying the proposal. “I have
a hard time seeing a situation
where it doesn’t go forward.”
Certain aspects of the accord,
such as increased regulations
for beaver removal in forests,
have made the Farm Bureau
nervous about the implications
for agriculture.
will keep pouring into state
coffers.
“The need for expendi-
tures (is) going to go on, but
the revenues are going to go
away,” he said.
Even if the private-sec-
tor economy cools, the Inslee
administration can look for-
ward to new revenue sources.
The capital gains tax took
effect Jan. 1. The state esti-
mates it will collect $442
million when tax bills are
due April 2023.
The Washington Farm
Bureau and others are suing
to overturn the tax. The suit
remains in Douglas County
Superior Court. The state
Supreme Court ultimately
will rule on the tax’s legality.
Also in 2023, manufac-
turers must start bidding
“It could be a reason to
adapt that policy to other
lands,” said Lauren Smith, the
group’s director of govern-
ment affairs.
The Farm Bureau also plans
to advocate for the resump-
tion of a program under which
private landowners pay an
assessment to raise money for
predator control by USDA’s
Wildlife Services. The pro-
gram was allowed to sunset
during the previous legislative
session after animal advocates
opposed extending it.
“There doesn’t seem to be an
avenue for our communities to
manage predators,” Smith said.
Climate legislation
There’s likely to be
action on climate legisla-
tion, if Democratic lawmak-
ers try to enshrine an emis-
sions reduction plan from
the state’s Department of
Environmental Quality in
law, Stone said.
“I expect there will be a bill
to codify whatever the Cli-
mate Protection Plan rules
say,” he said. “I’d be sur-
prised if the majority did not
try to push something through
legislatively.”
for the right to emit green-
house gases. The cap-and-
trade auctions are expected
to bring the state $220 mil-
lion the first year.
Inslee did not propose
raising taxes, but it’s possi-
ble the Legislature will con-
sider raising the gas tax and
other transportation-related
fees.
‘Crisis’ proposals
For the “climate crisis,”
Inslee proposes spending
$626.5 million.
For the “salmon crisis,” he
proposes $187 million.
The salmon plan includes
$8.4 million for the state
Department of Fish and Wild-
life to set and enforce “ripari-
an-protection zones.”
Although
the
buffers
Other issues
Farm groups will probably
lay the groundwork for future
legislative proposals by ini-
tiating discussions about real
estate tax reform and water
storage, he said.
County tax assessors some-
times differ in what they con-
sider taxable real property,
such as stationary equipment
for greenhouses and seed
cleaning, Stone said. The goal
would be to make those rules
uniform.
As for water supplies, a
grant program created several
years ago is largely focused on
efficiency and hasn’t been used
to develop water storage facili-
ties, as intended, he said. “That
needs to be taken down to the
studs and rebuilt.”
In light of the politically
charged atmosphere and the
governor’s race, it’s likely that
agriculture will have to fend
off “just plain stupid” propos-
als intended to score points
with certain voters, Stone said.
“2022 I would hope it would
be boring, but I fear it may not
be,” he said of the session. “I
just don’t want anything truly
harmful to get any oxygen
during a short session.”
would take land out of agri-
cultural production, the gov-
ernor’s office did not include
farm groups in developing the
proposal.
“We don’t do things that
way in Washington — at least
we didn’t use to,” said Jay
Gordon, policy director for
the Washington State Dairy
Federation.
Inslee has proposed ban-
ning natural gas in new
buildings by 2034. His cli-
mate agenda includes $100
million for electric vehicle
rebates.
He also proposes to set
aside $100 million for solar
projects by tribes, electric util-
ities, schools, local govern-
ments, state agencies, hous-
ing authorities and nonprofit
groups.
Glyphosate: China is the world’s
No. 1 glyphosate supplier
Continued from Page 1
“It’s all over the board,” said
Johnson.
Some factors are broad sup-
ply chain issues: clogged ports,
too few containers, labor short-
ages, COVID-19 disruptions and
reduced packaging supplies.
Other factors are specific to
the industry.
China is the world’s No. 1 gly-
phosate supplier, exporting about
80% of its supply — and Chi-
na’s industry has faced multiple
challenges.
In 2020, floods hit one of Chi-
na’s major glyphosate manufac-
turers, causing a significant sup-
ply gap.
New policies and restric-
tions in China, related to energy
use and COVID, further slowed
production. In August of 2021,
Bayer Crop Sciences, a major
U.S. manufacturer, had to shut
down its glyphosate-manufactur-
ing plant in Luling, La., for five
weeks after Hurricane Ida.
Finally, phosphate mining, a
key part of production, has faced
recent disruptions, and there’s a
reduced supply of inert, or inac-
tive, ingredients.
Johnson, of Purdue, advises
farmers to take steps to prepare
for the 2022 growing season.
First, he said, farmers should
contact their supplier to find out
what volume of each herbicide
the supplier can guarantee.
For example, if the supplier
can only guarantee 60% of the
usual volume, the grower will
need to plan ahead for the best,
most targeted use.
Johnson said growers should
also explore alternatives, which
may mean moving to a tillage
system or using targeted rather
than broad-spectrum herbicides.
Although Johnson said the
glyphosate shortage will be a
challenge, he encourages grow-
ers to see the silver lining.
This crisis, he said, presents
an opportunity for growers to
learn, or re-learn, how to identify
weeds and incorporate other con-
trol methods rather than relying
on broad-spectrum products.
“The silver lining, from my
perspective, is that we’ll become
a lot more knowledgeable,” he
said. “And inadvertently, we may
also help slow down weed resis-
tance to glyphosate.”
Johnson encourages farmers
to create “plans B, C and D.”