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CapitalPress.com
Friday, February 4, 2022
Administration takes multi-pronged
approach to port disruptions
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
The Biden administration’s Supply
Chain Task Force has been “laser-fo-
cused” on agricultural exports since the
disruptions began, John Porcari, ports
envoy for the task force, said Monday.
The economics of containers is one
reason for the disruption. Exporting an
empty container from the U.S. is more
valuable to ocean carriers than a con-
tainer filled with agricultural products,
he said.
Another reason is the record-set-
ting volume of container traffic the
pandemic brought to the U.S., he said
during a webinar hosted by National
Milk Producers Federation and U.S.
Don Jenkins/Capital Press File
Dairy Export Council.
“That means an unprecedented Cargo containers at the Port of Tacoma in Washington state. The Biden
shortage of chassis, containers, truck- administration says it is working on ways to get ocean carriers to speed
ers and the entire ecosystem that serves up ag exports.
freight,” he said.
The third reason is lost ocean carrier ocean carriers, simply do not under-
“I think collectively this will give
service, he said.
stand the word reciprocity. They don’t the FMC (Federal Maritime Commis-
“They’re concentrating on fewer understand that this is a two-way street sion) the tool that they need to make
ports and the most lucrative service,” he — in and out. And until they get that this system work better, to make it
said.
message, all the good things that you’re more efficient and effective,” he said.
The administration is finding ways to doing is simply not going to solve the
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack
incentivize and streamline agricultural problem,” he said.
talked about his agency’s just-an-
exports and working with ocean carriers
Economics are going to drive those nounced partnership with the Port of
to restore service, he said.
carriers to do exactly what they’re doing Oakland to set up a 25-acre “pop-up”
In addition, there is unprecedented until there’s a law that says they can’t, site to make it easier for agricultural
port funding in the infrastructure bill as he said.
companies to fill empty shipping con-
well as the port action plan previously
“If you’re bringing a container full tainers with commodities. The goal
rolled out by the administration, he said. into the United States then you’re going is to expand that opportunity in other
“We’ll have better data, state freight to take a container out that is also full, ports along the coast, he said.
plans to support the kind of infrastruc- otherwise you’re not coming,” he said.
The port is just one part of a multi-
ture projects that help us export and
He and Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., pronged strategy to make sure service
looking at exporting as a system of sys- introduced the Ocean Shipping Reform is there for U.S. agriculture, Porcari
tems and making sure that every weak Act, which passed in the House.
said.
link in that system is worked on,” he
There are multiple previously
The bill requires reciprocity, sets
said.
minimum service standards and makes announced pop-up sites in Georgia and
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., said it clear the burden for proving detention more to come, he said.
everything the administration is doing is and demurrage fees are appropriate are
“So we’ll continue to build fluidity
not going to solve the problem.
on the carriers that impose them, John- at the ports so that exports aren’t disad-
vantaged,” he said.
“The problem is these shippers, the son said.
Vaccine mandate could delay H-2A workers at border
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Capital Press File
Seasonal foreign farmworkers must be fully vaccinated against COVID before en-
tering the U.S.
COVID cases driven by the
Omicron variant in declining
to exempt essential workers.
Foreign travelers deemed
“non-essential” have been
required to show proof of
vaccination since Nov. 8.
The Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention
recommended
extending
the requirement to essen-
tial travelers. DHS said rap-
idly increasing cases and the
growing availability of vac-
cines justified the broader
mandate.
American Farm Bureau
President Zippy Duvall said
the vaccination requirement
will worsen food-supply
problems.
“We are extremely con-
cerned that the Department
of Homeland Security’s
decision to require essential
workers be vaccinated before
entering the United States
will limit agriculture’s ability
to grow safe and nutritious
food,” he said in a statement.
Washington had the fourth
highest number of H-2A jobs
in the U.S last year, trailing
Florida, Georgia and Califor-
nia. The U.S. Department of
Labor certified 28,727 H-2A
positions in the state.
WAFLA director of visa
services Ryan Ogburn said
he expects Washington
farmers to request more for-
eign workers this year, but
most will be returning work-
ers who were fully vacci-
nated last year while in the
U.S.
“I don’t think it will be
too much of an issue,” he
said. “At least for Washing-
ton state, any effect will be
rather marginal.”
Farmers must try to
recruit U.S. workers to fill
jobs before applying to
hire foreign farmworkers.
The Washington Employ-
ment Security Department
last year stepped up recruit-
ing efforts, but did not find
any domestic workers to fill
farm jobs.
Ogburn said the competi-
tion for labor remains fierce.
Nationwide, the Labor
Department in 2021 cer-
tified 317,619 H-2A posi-
tions, a 15% increase over
the year before. The national
rate of increase was more
than double the 7% growth
in Washington.
Marsh said he expects
another large increase in
the demand for foreign
farmworkers.
A worker arriving at
the border without proof
of vaccination will need
at least two weeks to
become fully vaccinated
and several more weeks
for two-dose vaccines.
Agricultural employ-
ers had sought to test and
vaccinate workers after
they entered the U.S. to
avoid delays at the border.
“Unfortunately,
the
Department of Homeland
Security did not quite see
it the way we did,” Marsh
said.
Ecology officials asked
senators to not pass SB 5882
and let the public discus-
OLYMPIA — Wash- sions go forward.
ington ranchers told leg-
Washington Cattle Feed-
islators Jan. 28 they were ers Association executive
betrayed and blindsided by director Jack Field said the
the Department of Ecolo- current policy has protected
gy’s plan to require livestock water. The revised policy
owners to have a water right would “have dramatic, neg-
to draw stockwater from ative impacts on livestock
producers of all sizes,” he
creeks and rivers.
Ecology says the new said.
“This is a very
policy, announced in
important
policy
December, will clar-
ify historic water
that will touch live-
stock producers in
laws. Cattlemen told
every
legislative
the Senate Agri-
culture and Natural
district of the state,”
Field said.
Resources Commit-
tee that the depart-
“The only reason
ment was rewriting
Washing-
the Legislature may
ton State
history.
not have heard from
Capitol
Toni Meacham, a
every horse, sheep,
lawyer and rancher
goat, pig and alpaca
representing the Washing- owner is because they don’t
ton Cattlemen’s Associa- know about it,” he said.
tion, called the new water-
Stevens County Con-
right stockwater policy a servation District manager
“surprise attack on ranchers Dean Hellie said ranchers in
northeast Washington have
across the state.”
In response to the plan, been drawing from streams
Senate Bill 5882, intro- for more than 150 years.
duced by Sen. Ron Muz-
Ecology’s revised policy
zall, R-Oak Harbor, would sowed confusion and jeop-
affirm that livestock owners ardized conservation proj-
can draw small amounts of ects to improve water qual-
surface water for their ani- ity, he said.
mals. The bill cites a historic
“Hopefully, this bill will
connection between owning pass and clearly answer the
land and water rights.
question: Do stock have a
Ecology maintains that water right?” Hellie said.
SB 5882 will have to pass
the 1917 water code obli-
gates the agency to grant the Democratic-controlled
water rights for beneficial Agriculture and Natural
use. The agency says it isn’t Resources Committee by
rewriting water law, just Feb. 3 to stay alive. Besides
updating its policy on advis- Ecology,
environmental
ing livestock owners.
groups oppose the bill.
Ecology water resources
The current stockwa-
ter policy, written in 1994, manager Dave Christensen
encourages livestock own- said the agency has put
ers to move animals away the policy “on indefinite
from streams and rivers by hold as we have these dis-
pumping water into troughs. cussions around the pol-
The policy doesn’t outright icy, around the issues of
say a surface water right is stockwater.”
Sen. Jim Honeyford,
needed.
Responding to com- R-Sunnyside, said he was
plaints, Ecology has put the worried about what will hap-
revised stockwater policy on pen after lawmakers adjourn
hold. The Washington State in March. “I’m always con-
Conservation Commission cerned when things are
plans to lead meetings to delayed until we leave ses-
sion,” he said.
gather public comments.
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Port of Morrow appeals
$1.3 million DEQ fine
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
BOARDMAN,
Ore.
— The Port of Morrow is
appealing $1.3 million in
fines levied by state envi-
ronmental regulators for
excessively spreading nitro-
gen-rich wastewater as fer-
tilizer on area farmland.
The port is seeking to
reduce its penalty, and has
requested a contested case
hearing with the Oregon
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality.
Located along the Colum-
bia River in northeast Ore-
gon, the Port of Morrow’s
Boardman Industrial Park
is a regional food process-
ing powerhouse, with com-
panies producing everything
from frozen french fries to
cheddar cheese.
Under a DEQ permit, the
port can recycle wastewater
from the facilities by spray-
ing it on farmland growing
potatoes, wheat, alfalfa and
other crops.
However, the amount
of wastewater applied can-
not exceed a certain thresh-
old to prevent groundwater
contamination.
DEQ alleges the port vio-
lated its permit more than
1,000 times from 2018 to
2021, exceeding the nitro-
gen limit and threatening
public health and safety.
In its response, the port
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A federal rule requiring
foreign farmworkers to be
vaccinated against COVID
before entering the U.S.
could delay or strand workers
at the border, National Coun-
cil of Agricultural Employ-
ers President Michael Marsh
said Jan. 26.
The Department of
Homeland Security rejected
pleas to exempt essential
workers, such as truck driv-
ers and farmworkers, from
a mandate that applies to all
foreign travelers. The rule
went into effect Jan. 22 and
will remain in place until at
least April 21.
Farmworkers
coming
to the U.S. on H-2A visas
must show proof that they
have been fully inoculated
with vaccines approved by
the Food and Drug Admin-
istration or the World Health
Organization.
Other vaccinations, such
as the Russian vaccine Sput-
nik, are approved in Mexico,
but not in the U.S.
Marsh said H-2A work-
ers unable to show proof or
who have been immunized
with an unapproved vaccine
will be turned away or stalled
at the border for weeks until
they are fully vaccinated.
“I’m very concerned
we’ll have potentially a
large shortage of agricultural
workers this season,” he said.
DHS cited a surge in
Ranchers tout bill to douse
Ecology stockwater policy
Office: 541-451-1275
Email: info@rfc-nw.com
www.rfc-nw.com
S235805-1
did not dispute that violations
occurred — specifically, that
soil nitrates measured more
than 30 pounds per acre in
the fourth- and fifth-foot lev-
els underground.
The port chalked up these
offenses a combination of
less available acreage and
unusually high winter pre-
cipitation that required more
fertilizer applications.
Because of those unex-
pected challenges, the port
claims DEQ authorized up
to 80 pounds per acre of
soil nitrates in the fourth-
and fifth-foot levels in 2019.
Only six of the 66 fields
cited by DEQ exceeded that
limit, according to the port.
Violations were “uninten-
tional, and beyond the rea-
sonable control of the port,”
the appeal states, and “had
no adverse effect on ground-
water nitrate levels.”
The port also denies it
violated its permit by failing
to monitor nitrogen uptake
in crops, since there are no
standard methods for such
monitoring and DEQ did not
provide an agency-approved
method until 2021.
Measuring nitrogen in
plant tissue is “neither an
accurate nor a useful mea-
sure of the amount of nitro-
gen removed from fields
by crops, and the informa-
tion does not measure com-
pliance with any permit
requirement or serve any
other purpose under the per-
mit,” the appeal states.
Groundwater nitrates are a
serious concern in the Lower
Umatilla Basin, which was
designated a Groundwater
Management Area in 1990
to curb contamination from
non-point sources like farms
and municipal wastewater
facilities.
Drinking
groundwater
with elevated nitrates can be
harmful in infants, causing
a condition known as met-
hemoglobinemia, or “Blue
Baby Syndrome.”