Capital Press
EMPOWERING PRODUCERS OF FOOD & FIBER
Friday, May 13, 2022
Volume 95, Number 19
CapitalPress.com
$2.00
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Logs are stacked in preparation for processing at the Freres Lumber plywood mill in Lyons, Ore.
SOUTHERN TIMBER
STEALS NORTHWEST THUNDER
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
R
OSEBURG, Ore.
— The timber
industry may be
synonymous with
the Northwest in
the popular imag-
ination, but the economic reality
is the industry’s center of gravity
has quietly shifted to the South.
The region’s wood products
manufacturing sector has been
losing market share to the U.S.
Southeast for years and it’s not
expected to recover its momen-
tum in the foreseeable future.
Its thunder has been stolen by
the South’s abundant timber sup-
plies and looser environmental
regulations, which have fueled a
boom in new production facilities.
Those mills
can buy logs
at lower prices
while supplying
lumber for hous-
ing
construc-
tion that’s surg-
Eric Geyer ing right in their
backyard.
“If you know the demand is in
the Southeast and the supply is in
the Southeast, it’s logical that’s
where you’d build your capac-
ity,” said Eric Geyer, strategic
business development director for
Roseburg Forest Products. “With-
out any more fiber supply, the
Northwest’s growth is stagnant or
declining slightly. It will mirror
the available fiber.”
Roseburg Forest Products was
founded in Oregon more than 85
years ago but five of its 13 mills
are now in the Southeast, where
it began investing about 15 years
ago.
The company bought most of
those facilities, as well as 200,000
acres of forestland, in just the past
five years.
“There’s a value in diversifi-
cation, both in products and in
geography,” Geyer said. “Our
customers are nationwide, so our
facilities should be in all those
locations.”
The South has increased its
lumber milling capacity by about
30% in five years, or about 5.5
billion board-feet, mostly by
building new facilities but also
by renovating older ones, accord-
ing to the Beck Group, a timber
industry consulting firm.
See Timber, Page 11
Lumber production
(in billions of board-feet)
21
South
20
West
15
12.5
14
11
10
5
2010
2020
Capital Press graphic
Source: The Beck Group
Criminal background checks impede Oregon hemp planting
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Capital Press File
Hemp planting in Oregon
has been delayed by crimi-
nal background checks, as
state farm regulators can’t
access federal records.
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Crimi-
nal background checks have delayed
hemp planting approvals in Oregon
because state farm regulators haven’t
yet been able to fully access federal
records.
To obtain hemp-growing licenses,
farmers must now undergo crimi-
nal history checks as part of the Ore-
gon Department of Agriculture’s new
USDA-approved plan to regulate the
crop.
However, the agency is still wait-
ing for permission from the Federal
Bureau of Investigation to tap into
nationwide criminal records with the
help of state police officials.
Oregon farm regulators had
expected the FBI to approve the
request after 4-5 months, before this
year’s growing season began, said
Lauren Henderson, ODA’s deputy
director.
Instead, the process is still ongo-
ing after about 9-10 months, which
is now impeding farmers from get-
ting their licenses and timely planting
hemp, he said.
“That’s a big problem. We’re in a
place where those who are trying to
do the right thing are having a hard
time doing the right thing,” Hender-
son said May 5 at the Oregon Board
of Agriculture meeting in Corvallis,
Ore.
State police officials have access to
the federal criminal database, which
can retrieve nationwide records based
on personal information as well as
fingerprints, but they must obtain the
FBI’s permission to share it with the
ODA, he said.
The delay has convinced the ODA
not to wait for the FBI’s “gold stan-
dard” reports and to instead con-
duct state-level criminal background
checks, he said. For federal data, the
agency will rely on the USDA, which
can access records but cannot run
searches based on fingerprints.
“Given the urgency for growers to
plant, the ODA can no longer wait for
full FBI approval,” Henderson said.
Criminal background checks were
not required for state hemp licenses
before 2022 because the ODA was
operating under an earlier federal
program in which hemp was grown
for research purposes.
See Hemp, Page 11
Nitrogen prices hit ceiling, drop on wholesale market
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
The unprecedented spike in nitro-
gen fertilizer prices that followed Rus-
sia’s invasion of Ukraine appears to
have hit its limit, but costs are expected
to remain elevated.
After reaching the record-break-
ing level of $940 per short ton in late
March, the price of urea has fallen to
roughly $650 per short ton in the U.S.
wholesale market along the Gulf of
Mexico.
That wholesale plunge hasn’t done
much good for Northwest farmers,
since the product isn’t reaching them
due to railroad transportation prob-
lems, said Tom Wimmer, chief oper-
ating officer at Marion Ag Service, an
Oregon farm supplier.
“It hasn’t affected us on the West
Coast yet,” Wimmer said. “The price
is still inflated over here.”
Nitrogen prices have probably
hit their ceiling, at least for now, but
it’s unlikely farmers will be eager to
replenish their inventories with costs
still so high, he said.
They’re more likely to operate
“hand-to-mouth” and buy only what
they need, Wimmer said. “I think it’s
going to be a wait-and-see game.”
In Oregon’s Willamette Val-
ley, demand for nitrogen is season-
ally declining in grass seed — a large
acreage crop — while the wet spring
across the U.S. has dampened demand
for urea, said Doug Kuenzi, agron-
omy division manager for the Pratum
See Nitrogen, Page 11
10AM - 3PM
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Tom Wimmer, chief operating
officer at Marion Ag Service,
an Oregon farm supplier.