8
CapitalPress.com
Friday, March 4, 2022
First shipment of tariﬀ -free wheat from U.S. arrives in Vietnam
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
HO CHI MINH CITY —
Vietnam has received its ﬁ rst
shipment of U.S. wheat after
the southeast Asian nation
eliminated its 3% import
tariﬀ .
The shipment arrived Feb.
6 at Ho Chi Minh City car-
rying more than 68,350 met-
ric tons of soft white and hard
red spring wheat grown in
the Paciﬁ c Northwest and the
Northern Plains.
“It’s certainly signiﬁ cant
because of the reduction in
the cost of U.S. wheat mov-
ing into Vietnam,” said Steve
Mercer, vice president of com-
munications for U.S. Wheat
Associates. “With prices gen-
erally high, if you can reduce
the landed cost of imported
wheat by even 3%, it matters,
it really does.”
U.S. Wheat is the overseas
marketing arm for the industry.
Soft white wheat is particu-
larly popular in Vietnam, Mer-
cer said in a press statement.
Last year, Vietnam pur-
chased 157,000 metric tons
of white wheat, said Glen
Squires, CEO of the Washing-
ton Grain Commission.
“Tremendous
news,”
wheat into Vietnam.”
“With the import tariﬀ
reduced to zero, the Vietnam-
ese buyer saved almost $1 mil-
lion on this vessel load of U.S.
wheat alone,” Robert Han-
son, agricultural counselor for
USDA Foreign Agricultural
Service, based in Hanoi, said.
“We thank the Vietnam gov-
ernment for ending the tariﬀ ,
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service a decision that will hold the
A bulk vessel loaded with more than 68,000 metric line on food costs and help
tons of U.S. wheat purchased by Vietnamese ﬂ our mill- make U.S. wheat more com-
ers. The Vietnam government has eliminated a 3% U.S. petitive in Vietnam’s growing
wheat import tariﬀ .
market.”
It’s not certain when addi-
Squires said. “The lower- for increased movement of tional shipments might occur,
ing of the tariﬀ is a great sign U.S. wheat, Paciﬁ c Northwest Mercer said.
“Does this mean it’s going
to happen again? We couldn’t
possibly say,” he said.
U.S. wheat exports are
behind this year both in Viet-
nam and overall, Mercer said,
due to higher prices caused by
the short crop that was a result
of the drought.
Vietnam imports an aver-
age of about 4 million metric
Best Prices on Irrigation Supplies
tons of wheat per year. Austra-
lia and Canada are large wheat
suppliers to Vietnam and had
duty-free access to Vietnam
for many years under regional
trade agreements.
Vietnam ﬁ rst reduced the
U.S. wheat import tariﬀ from
5% to 3% in July 2020. Talks
continued until Vietnam pub-
lished the ﬁ nal decree, and
USDA and U.S. Trade Rep-
resentative Katherine Tai
announced in November
2021 that the tariﬀ would be
eliminated.
Even with the tariﬀ , Viet-
namese millers had doubled
the volume of U.S. wheat to
more than 520,000 metric tons
between 2015 and 2021.
In addition to soft white
and hard red spring wheat,
Vietnam imported U.S. hard
red winter and soft red winter
wheat in 2021. That returned
about $130 million to U.S.
farmers and the wheat sup-
ply industry, according to U.S.
Wheat.
I daho legislators
consider protections
for agricultural aircraft
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Sprinklers • Rain Guns
Drip Tape • Dripline • Filters • Poly Hose
Lay Flat Hose • Micro • Valves • Air Vents
Fertilizer Injectors ...and much more!
Fast & Free Shipping from Oregon
1-844-259-0640
www.irrigationking.com
10% OFF
PROMO CODE:
CAP10
BOISE — Agricultural
aircraft would be protected
from most nuisance law-
suits under a bill in the Idaho
Legislature.
House Bill 606 would
amend the state’s Right to
Farm Act to include aerial
applicators. It would add
“the ingress and egress of
agricultural aircraft to agri-
cultural lands or treatment
areas” to the list of covered
activities.
Its purpose statement
says agricultural aircraft
must travel to and from
agricultural lands and treat-
ment areas to perform vital
functions — and a grow-
ing agricultural-urban inter-
face means “it is important
to recognize and protect the
S280804-1
John Deere Dealers
See one of these dealers for a demonstration
1,962 ACRES.
AND THEY ALL FIT
IN YOUR POCKET.
Belkorp Ag, LLC
Modesto, CA
Campbell Tractor &
Implement
Fruitland, ID
Homedale, ID
Nampa, ID
Wendell, ID
Papé Machinery, Inc.
Chehalis, WA
Ellensburg, WA
Eugene, OR
Four Lakes, WA
Lynden, WA
Madras, OR
Merrill, OR
Moscow, ID
Ponderay, ID
Quincy, WA
Sumner, WA
Tekoa, WA
Walla Walla, WA
Tri-County Equipment
Baker City, OR
Enterprise, OR
La Grande, OR
Take your farm everywhere you go with John Deere Operations Center™.
As a complete management tool, Operations Center allows you to see
near real-time data, assign jobs to operators and even make adjustments,
all from your mobile device. You can also share valuable insights with your
trusted contacts, helping you analyze your performance and make a plan
for next season. It’s your way of farming, plus the confidence and control
you need to Gain Ground+
See what you have to gain : JohnDeere.com/GainGround
S266473-1
ability for agricultural air-
craft to access agricultural
lands.”
HB 606 would not relieve
pilots from Federal Aviation
Administration regulations
related to low ﬂ ying and
congested areas. State and
federal pesticide application
and environmental compli-
ance standards would not
change.
David Lehman, execu-
tive director of the approx-
imately 40-member Idaho
Agricultural Aviation Asso-
ciation, said the proposal
protects ingress and egress
on agricultural land and
certain federal land where
pilots are working. It also
codiﬁ es that ﬂ ying airplanes
or helicopters is an allowed
agricultural use.
“The issue that has come
up in the last number of
years is increasing conﬂ ict
with the urban-agricultural
interface,” he said. “There
are more and more issues
getting in and out of treat-
ment areas.”
For example, a Filer man
in 2013 was charged with
ﬁ ring at a shotgun at an
aerial applicator. Lehman
said the number of com-
plaints about ag-related ﬂ y-
ing has increased.
George Parker, who owns
an agricultural aviation busi-
ness in south-central Idaho,
told the House Agricultural
Aﬀ airs Committee Feb. 22
that he sometimes gets four
complaints a week com-
pared to about four per sum-
mer when the area was not
growing as quickly.
Some people will com-
plain frequently, he said. He
often contacts ﬂ ight stan-
dards oﬃ cials or a sheriﬀ ’s
oﬃ ce before ﬂ ying.
“People are moving here
for the lifestyle,” Lehman
said. “But it also means they
have to have a good under-
standing of the rural econ-
omy as well and expect agri-
cultural activities taking
place in those areas.”
He expects substan-
tial growth over the next
decade, including more
urbanization.
“We’re going to have to
have another evolution of
how agriculture and urban
(uses) interact with each
other, and it should be to
protect a vital part of our
economy,” Lehman said.
The committee Feb. 22
voted to send HB 606 to the
full House with a do-pass
recommendation.
One concern was whether
it provides suﬃ cient pro-
tection. Lehman and bill
sponsor Rep. Judy Boyle,
R-Midvale, said it does in
combination with existing
state law.
The Right to Farm law
states that farming is a nat-
ural right and recognizes it
as a permitted use. It allows
transporting
agricultural
products to or from and
ag facility. It also permits
“noise, odors, dust, fumes,
light and other conditions
associated with an agricul-
tural operation or an agricul-
tural facility.”