Friday, February 25, 2022
CapitalPress.com 3
USDA releases first National Hemp Report
UW
economist
scientists Portland
ponders whether industry
foresee
value underrepresented
wolves in
Olympics
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Wolves likely will col-
onize the South Cascades
and Olympic Peninsula and
outnumber wolves in East-
ern Washington within 20
years, according to Uni-
versity of Washington
researchers.
UW conservation scien-
tist Lisanne Petracca cau-
tioned that the predictions
are far from certain, espe-
cially the timing. Research-
ers are confident the state’s
wolf population will grow,
but are less sure how fast
wolves will spread.
Nevertheless,
wolves
can be expected to disperse
west and settle in greater
numbers than now seen
in northeast Washington,
Petracca told the Fish and
Wildlife Commission on
Saturday.
“We are pretty certain
that wolves will begin to
establish in the Southern
Cascades and the north-
west coast, and that they
apparently will come to
outnumber wolves else-
where,” she said.
UW scientists and stat-
isticians, aided by Fish and
Wildlife biologists, are try-
ing to project the growth
and spread of wolves in
Washington over the next
50 years, inserting science
into politically charged
wolf management.
Washington’s wolf pop-
ulation has increased yearly
in the past decade and wolf
packs saturate northeast
Washington. Wolves, how-
ever, have been slower to
spread west than expected
by Fish and Wildlife.
No wolf packs have
been documented in the
South Cascades or Olym-
pic Peninsula, though both
forested areas are consid-
ered prime wolf habitat.
Even so, wolves may be
more numerous in West-
ern Washington by 2040
and outnumber wolves east
of the Cascades 2 to 1 by
2070, according to the UW
research.
In a preliminary pre-
sentation on the project,
Petracca said researchers
built a population model
to project 15 different
scenarios.
A baseline scenario
assumed no changes to
wolf management or sur-
vival rates. Researchers
also assumed that high-
ways, people and terrain
would not stop wolves
from seeking their pre-
ferred habitat.
The baseline scenario
suggests “that if things just
continue as they are that
we’re more certain than
not that in 20 years, wolves
will be on the Peninsula,”
Petracca said.
Another
scenario
assumed Fish and Wild-
life will kill more wolves
to protect livestock in
northeast
Washing-
ton. Under that scenario,
wolves would still colonize
the South Cascades and
Olympic Peninsula, she
said.
Petracca
repeatedly
stressed that the modeling
results are not firm fore-
casts. “It’s really difficult,
actually, to try to build a
model and estimate where
wolves will go,” she said.
“We truly have no idea
how and when wolves will
get to the South Cascades,
into the Peninsula. We can
try to estimate that as best
we can, but it’s really hard
to do it,” she said.
Fish and Wildlife and
the Confederated Tribes
of the Colville Reserva-
tion counted 178 wolves in
2020, the latest tally.
By 2070, the wolf pop-
ulation could be about
500 and perhaps as many
as 2,000, Petracca said.
“We can see populations
are going to grow, grow,
grow.”
Capital Press
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Rows of hemp plants grow in Oregon.
other cannabinoids made up roughly
three-quarters of the crop’s total
value. Growers across the U.S. pro-
duced 19.7 million pounds of floral
hemp valued at $623 million, with an
average price of $39.60 per pound.
Oregon produced 2.39 million
pounds of floral hemp worth $235.4
million, making it the state’s sev-
enth-most valuable agricultural com-
modity ahead of potatoes and behind
wheat.
California produced slightly
more volume at 2.6 million pounds,
though less of the crop was actually
processed, contributing to a lower
value of $61.5 million. Washing-
ton’s production was much smaller,
at 630,000 pounds valued at $1.4
million.
Idaho did not have a regulated
hemp growing program in 2021.
The state Department of Agriculture
began licensing growers in Novem-
ber for the 2022 season.
While cannabinoids still dominate
the industry, the survey did show an
emerging market for hemp fiber,
grain and seed. Nationally, hemp
grown for seed was valued at $41.5
million, hemp for fiber was valued
at $41.4 million and hemp for grain
was valued at $5.99 million.
However, at least one economist
based in Portland who specializes in
hemp and cannabis research said he
believes the survey underestimates
key segments of the market.
Beau Whitney, of Whitney Eco-
nomics, said that while the report
contains many valuable points,
“there are still nuances of the market
that slipped through the cracks.”
For example, he said state depart-
ments of agriculture reported
233,950 acres licensed to grow hemp
in 2021. If NASS is correct, that
means just 23.2% of the licensed
acreage was planted, and just 14.3%
was harvested.
Based on his own modeling,
Whitney said he expected growers to
plant 93,580 acres and believes the
actual number was underreported.
The Skagit Community
Foundation, the Northwest
Agriculture Business Center
and other organizations have
created a program to assist
Skagit County, Wash., agricul-
tural producers who sustained
flood and storm damage in
November.
Funding is earmarked for
damage not covered by insur-
ance or federal and state relief
programs. Applications will be
reviewed, ranked and approved
until funding is exhausted.
The maximum award
amount is $5,000. The average
award is expected to be $3,500.
Applicants may receive a par-
tial award.
Skagit County farms and
ranches with a gross annual
income of $10,000 or more are
eligible. Applications will be
accepted between March 4 and
21. To apply, go to www.agbi-
zcenter.org.
Applicants can apply in
English or Spanish.
S273727-1
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
PORTLAND — Results are in for
the USDA’s first hemp acreage and
production survey, which was sent to
growers last fall to collect benchmark
data for the newly regulated crop.
Industrial hemp was worth $824
million in 2021, according to the
inaugural report published Feb. 17
by the National Agricultural Statistics
Service.
Growers planted 54,200 acres
of hemp in the open and harvested
33,500 acres. Hemp that wasn’t har-
vested might have been damaged by
weather or destroyed if it exceeded
the legal limit of 0.3% THC, the psy-
chedelic compound in cannabis that
gets users high.
Another 15.6 million square feet of
space — about 358 acres — was also
dedicated to growing hemp “under
protection,” such as in greenhouses
and hoop houses.
“Not only will this data guide
USDA agencies in their support of
domestic hemp production, the results
can also help inform producers’ deci-
sions about growing, harvesting and
selling hemp as well as the type of
hemp they decide to produce,” said
NASS Administrator Hubert Hamer.
Unsurprisingly, hemp flow-
ers used largely to extract CBD and
Grants
available
for Skagit
County
farmers