Friday, April 29, 2022
CapitalPress.com 3
Potato processors Conservancy purchases Oregon
agree to pay more ranch, plans ‘climate preserve’
to Idaho growers
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
French fry processors
will pay Idaho potato grow-
ers about 20% more this
year, but farmers worry that
may not be enough to off -
set the rising price of inputs
such as fertilizer.
The Southern Idaho
Potato Cooperative each
year negotiates separately
with processors Lamb
Weston, McCain Foods and
J.R. Simplot Co. on behalf
of member growers. The
eff ort impacts other play-
ers, such as dehydrators
who also contract for potato
acreage.
Ron Jones, the coop-
erative’s negotiator, said
April 25 that it had certifi ed
agreements with Lamb and
McCain. It has not certifi ed
an agreement with Simplot.
Contract details were not
released. The number of
acres grown is not part of
the negotiations; processors
make arrangements with
individual growers for the
volume to be contracted.
“The increased price for
potatoes may not be enough
to off set the increase in input
costs,” Jones said. “In par-
ticular, fertilizer costs have
increased dramatically.”
Labor, repair and other
costs also rose, as did
open-market prices for pota-
toes and processors’ internal
costs. Last summer’s heat-
wave reduced yields and
quality around the West.
The contract price for the
2021 crop decreased slightly
from 2020 as the industry
dealt with COVID-19 uncer-
tainties. Input costs also rose
between 2020 and 2021.
Jones said this year’s
20% increase in price per
hundredweight of process-
ing potatoes is “an approxi-
mation. Some growers with
some varieties would be
paid more, and others would
see a lesser increase.”
For example, a processor
may pay a higher percentage
increase for a variety that is
more diffi cult to grow or is
produced in eastern Idaho,
where a shorter growing
season can reduce yield, he
said.
Idaho grows about one-
third of U.S. potatoes and
is the country’s top pro-
ducer. More than half the
state’s 300,000-plus acres of
potatoes are for processing.
Washington ranks second in
total acres, but 90% of its
crop is for processing.
Jones said year-to-year
contract price increases are
similar in Idaho and Wash-
ington, where negotiations
began last summer and con-
cluded in October.
Dale Lathim, Potato
Growers of Washington
executive director, said that
state’s price increase “set the
bar for the rest of the groups
in North America to target
for their negotiations.”
“The 20% price increase
sounds like it’s very large
and it is, but grower costs
are going up that much or
more,” Lathim said. “This
will keep some growers at
par to where they have been
economically, but many
growers that don’t have a lot
of buying power or have to
lease their land will be defi -
nitely taking a hit on the
profi tability of their potato
contracts.”
“This does not make
everybody happy,” Jones
said of the Idaho contract.
“Growers in diff erent loca-
tions have diff erent costs.”
For example, many east-
ern Idaho growers use more
fertilizer and less manure,
but have lower rents, he
said. Growers in the west
may need to fumigate.
Lamb Weston in its last
two quarterly earnings
reports mentioned higher
potato costs, resulting from
the lower 2021 Northwest
harvest, among challenges.
Its April 7 report said the
company
had
secured
enough raw potatoes to meet
near-term production needs.
Oregon Court of Appeals
overturns $1 billion timber
verdict against state
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — The Oregon
Court of Appeals Wednesday
struck down a $1 billion jury
verdict that was intended to
compensate 14 county gov-
ernments for insuffi cient log-
ging on state forestlands.
A law that requires Ore-
gon to manage the forest-
land for the “greatest perma-
nent value” does not create
an “immutable promise” to
maximize revenue for the
counties, the appeals court
ruled.
The appellate court said
that “historically, ‘value’ has
myriad defi nitions, some of
which could relate to reve-
nue production and others
that do not relate to revenue
production.”
The statute also directs
that forests be managed for
the “greatest permanent
value” to the state, rather
than to the counties, which
means the text falls short of
the “clear and unmistakable
intent” of making a contrac-
tual promise, the ruling said.
For that reason, a state
judge in Linn County
wrongly refused to dis-
miss the class action lawsuit
against the state government,
the ruling said.
After a month-long trial in
1990, a jury determined the
State of Oregon violated a
contract requiring it to max-
imize revenue from forest-
lands donated by the counties
in the 1930s and ‘40s.
State forests must be man-
aged for the “greatest perma-
nent value” by law, but the
14 counties claimed the Ore-
gon Department of Forestry
impermissibly expanded that
defi nition beyond its original
intent.
Under language adopted
in the late 1990s, the “great-
est permanent value” was
changed to include environ-
mental and recreational con-
siderations that restricted
timber harvests, shortchang-
ing the 14 counties and tax
districts within them of rev-
enues, the plaintiff s claimed.
Attorneys for Oregon
appealed the jury verdict on
the grounds that the counties
didn’t have an enforceable
contract that dictated how
state forest offi cials must
manage the nearly 700,000
acres of donated property.
The law governing state
forestlands pertains to “mat-
ters of statewide concern”
that cannot be challenged in
court by the counties, state
attorneys claimed. As polit-
ical subdivisions of the Ore-
gon government, the coun-
ties cannot sue over such
state policies.
Federal
environmental
laws enacted since the prop-
erty was donated, such as the
Endangered Species Act, also
eff ectively limit how much
timber can be extracted from
state forestlands, according
to state attorneys.
The counties claimed that
Oregon forestry offi cials
weren’t obligated to cre-
ate habitat for federally-pro-
tected species that resulted
in logging restrictions. In
any case, the counties said
the state government can
alter forest management pol-
icies but must still pay them
damages for breaching the
contract.
Counties provide health-
care and other functions
under contract with the state
government, so they must be
able to rely on such agree-
ments being enforceable, the
plaintiff s said. If the coun-
ties had known the state
government could re-in-
terpret the contract’s terms
at will, they’d never have
donated such huge amounts
of forestlands.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
BEND, Ore. — A Cal-
ifornia-based nonprofi t has
acquired the 30,000-acre
Cherry Creek Ranch in Cen-
tral Oregon and plans to
establish the organization’s
fi rst “climate preserve,”
dedicated to mitigating the
impacts of climate change.
The Wildlands Conser-
vancy bought the former cat-
tle ranch northeast of Bend
for $16.5 million, or $550
per acre. Part of the funding
was provided by the Cen-
ter for Biological Diversity,
which is also partnering on
a revamped vision for the
property.
All land management
decisions at the newly chris-
tened Enchanted Rocks Pre-
serve will be made in favor
of creating a climate-resil-
ient landscape, said Fra-
zier Haney, the conservan-
cy’s executive director. That
includes halting the removal
of juniper trees that seques-
ter atmospheric carbon, and
eliminating diversions previ-
ously used for fl ood irriga-
tion along Cherry Creek to
provide more water in-stream
for fi sh and wildlife.
Jack Thompson/The Wildlands Conservancy
The Wildlands Conservancy has partnered with the Center for Biological Diversity to pur-
chase the 30,000-acre Enchanted Rocks Preserve in Central Oregon for conservation.
“We have moved off all
the cattle, and are in the pro-
cess of getting staff into the
house there,” Haney said.
“The change on the ground is
just beginning.”
Enchanted Rocks is the
23rd preserve under the Wild-
lands Conservancy, and the
fi rst outside California. Com-
bined, the group manages a
little more than 200,000 acres
for nature, outdoor recreation
and education.
Haney said the Con-
servancy
was
initially
approached by a real estate
agent in Bend about buying
the 33,000-acre Skyline For-
est on the eastern slope of the
Three Sisters Wilderness.
When that proposal did
not work out, Haney said
they were steered to Cherry
Creek Ranch near the John
Day River where they were
immediately struck by the
area’s natural beauty, sur-
rounded by rimrocks and
multi-colored
geological
formations that lended the
preserve’s name.
“It was the most beautiful
thing we’d seen in Oregon,”
he said. “It was like a com-
pass aligned in my brain. I
knew it was for us.”
Over the next year, the
Wildlands
Conservancy
will raise additional funds to
build new visitor facilities at
Enchanted Rocks and open
the preserve to the public.
Haney said the conser-
vancy brings in more than
1.5 million visitors each
year to its nature preserves,
and provides more free out-
door education programs for
underserved communities
than any other nonprofi t in
California.
As a climate preserve,
Haney said the conservancy
will protect 10,000 acres of
forest at Enchanted Rocks
from commercial logging.
The group also opposes
a federal program that
calls for removing juniper
trees to improve rangeland
health and habitat for sage
grouse.
New dean chosen to lead WSU’s ag college
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
PULLMAN, Wash. —
Wendy Powers will be the
next dean of Washington
State University’s agricul-
tural college.
Currently associate vice
president of agriculture and
natural resources at the Uni-
versity of California, Pow-
ers’ appointment as the head
of WSU’s College of Agri-
cultural, Human and Natu-
ral Resources begins on Aug.
15.
A priority will be fi nd-
ing resources for the college,
including more facilities,
expanding research pro-
grams and hiring more fac-
ulty and staff to support those
programs, Powers told the
Capital Press.
“Also increasing student
enrollment, and really try-
ing to get those numbers up
there,” she said. “All of that
with an eff ort towards try-
ing to ensure WSU and the
college are really present in
every community across the
state and making a diff er-
ence in the lives of all the
Washingtonians.”
Powers said she’s “eager”
to meet farmers and ranchers
and hear about their concerns
and needs from the college.
“I think there’s a great
future
in
agriculture,”
she
said.
“We’ve seen
through the
pandemic
how import-
ant
local
Wendy
food pro-
Powers
duction and
food access is. I’m eager to
work with them and advance
that any way we can.”
Powers replaces former
dean André-Denis Wright,
who led the college from
2018 to 2021. Interim dean
Rich Koenig has overseen
CAHNRS since mid-2021.
“We applaud WSU for
selecting an experienced
leader who understands the
land-grant mission and the
importance of collaboration,”
said Glen Squires, CEO of
the Washington Grain Com-
mission. “We look forward
to working with Dr. Pow-
ers. We’ve had good working
relationships with past deans,
and we certainly believe
we’ll be able to work well
with Dr. Powers.”
During the hiring process,
Powers’ extension experi-
ence stood out, Squires said.
He said he was impressed by
her ability to apply research
in the countryside.
“We are pleased by the
announcement of Dr. Pow-
ers’ selection as the next
Dean of CAHNRS,” said Jon
DeVaney, president of the
Washington State Tree Fruit
Association. “It is a testament
to the shared commitment of
WSU and its stakeholders
to the mission of CAHNRS
that we were able to recruit
a candidate of Dr. Powers’
background and experience.
We look forward to continu-
ing the cooperative relation-
ship we have enjoyed with
Dr. Wright and Dr. Koenig in
strengthening CAHNRS pro-
grams and the state’s agricul-
tural sector.”
Powers stood out from
the beginning during a
“very broad national search”
because of her breadth of
leadership experience, WSU
provost Elizabeth Chilton
told the Capital Press.
Powers’ position at the
University of California
gives her “system-level expe-
rience,” Chilton said.
“Which, of course, for
WSU, we have a footprint in
every county,” Chilton said.
Finalists for the position
spent two days at WSU,
including visiting an exten-
sion site in Prosser. Pow-
ers reported back to Chil-
ton what she’d heard and
her ideas if off ered the
position.
“She is an amazing lis-
tener,” Chilton said. “I think
what (farmers) are going to
fi nd is someone who really
listens and takes seriously the
land-grant mission to serve
the communities and state
of Washington, and will be
really listening to them, as to
how we can help meet those
needs.”
Powers said she’s partic-
ularly excited to emphasize
undergraduate and graduate
education alongside WSU’s
cooperative extension and
agricultural
experiment
stations.
“WSU has an amazing
reputation in research, coop-
erative extension and edu-
cation,” she said. “I’m very
excited about being part of
that legacy.”
Powers holds a doctorate
in animal science and a mas-
ter’s degree in dairy science
from the University of Flor-
ida, and a bachelor’s degree
in animal science from Cor-
nell University.
According to a WSU
press release, as a scientist,
Powers linked research dis-
covery with outreach to the
livestock industry, provid-
ing knowledge and tools to
help producers reduce their
environmental impacts while
staying competitive and
meeting growing consumer
demand.
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