Friday, May 27, 2022
CapitalPress.com 9
Seafood industry angles
for marketing campaign
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
PORTLAND — Oregon’s seafood
industry is calling on Congress to fund a
national marketing campaign that would
promote the health benefi ts of seafood
and support commercial fi sheries in
coastal communities.
Industry leaders sent a letter in April
to the Oregon congressional delega-
tion, urging lawmakers to approve $25
million per year for fi ve years to estab-
lish the National Seafood Council and
National Seafood Marketing Campaign.
“While commercial fi sheries have
faced several challenges in recent years,
the impact that the COVID-19 pan-
demic has had on trade, labor, supply
chains and restaurants is unlike anything
we’ve experienced before,” the letter
states.
According to a report from the
National Marine Fisheries Service, rev-
enue from commercial fi shing and sea-
food processing declined 29% along the
West Coast and Alaska in 2020, com-
pared to the previous fi ve years from
2015-19.
“Unfortunately, our industry needs
this boost to rebound from the last two
years of COVID-caused economic
hardships,” the letter continues.
A 2019 study by the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife and ECONor-
thwest estimates commercial fi shing
each year generates 6,848 jobs, $356.2
million in labor income and $697.9 mil-
lion in total economic output statewide.
The Oregon letter was signed by
representatives of Pacifi c Seafood, the
Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission,
Fishpeople Seafood, Seafood and Gen-
der Equality and the Oregon Coast Vis-
itors Association. It is part of a national
push to create the seafood marketing
campaign, which was fi rst proposed
in 2020 by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s Marine
Fisheries Advisory Committee.
Since then, more than 40 seafood
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Seafood stew at the Schooner Restaurant & Lounge in Netarts, Ore. The
seafood industry is asking Congress for funding to promote seafood.
producers, suppliers and processors
from across the country have come
together to form the National Seafood
Council Task Force, lobbying Congress
to fund the campaign.
“The appropriations process for fi s-
cal year 2023 is really kicking off in ear-
nest in Congress right now,” said Matt
McAlvanah, the group’s campaign man-
ager. “This funding may or may not be
included, but the goal is to get it included
either this year or in future appropria-
tions bills.”
McAlvanah said the campaign would
focus heavily on public health benefi ts
to encourage more consumers to buy
and eat seafood.
Sonja Connor, research associate
professor in endocrinology, diabetes and
clinical nutrition at Oregon Health and
Science University, serves on the board
of directors for the National Seafood
Council Task Force’s Nutrition Advi-
sory Council.
Over her 40-year career, Connor said
she has extensively studied how seafood
benefi ts heart and brain health.
Omega-3 fatty acids in fi sh are shown
to make blood platelets less sticky, she
said, reducing the risk of a clot that can
cause a heart attack or stroke. There’s
also evidence they can reduce blood
triglyceride levels stored as fat in the
human body.
Eating seafood may also protect eye-
sight and reduce the risk for mood disor-
ders and depression, Connor said.
“The science is very clear that sea-
food is important for the optimal health
of a person throughout one’s life,” she
said. “It sort of boggles the mind, the
far-reaching benefi ts.”
Bill Hueff ner, vice president of mar-
keting and development for Pacifi c Sea-
food, said the timing has never been bet-
ter for the industry to launch a unifi ed
campaign. For the fi rst time last year, the
USDA agreed to purchase $45.9 million
of Pacifi c seafood to distribute for food
assistance.
Pacifi c Seafood, based in Clackamas,
Ore., is one of the country’s largest sea-
food companies. It has more than 2,500
employees at processing, aquaculture
and distribution plants in 10 states and
British Columbia, Canada.
Bill would direct FTC to
investigate beef packers
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
A bipartisan joint resolu-
tion introduced in the Sen-
ate would direct the Federal
Trade Commission to inves-
tigate the extent of anticom-
petitive practices and viola-
tions of antitrust laws in the
beef-packing industry.
The investigation would
include price-fi xing, anticom-
petitive acquisitions, domi-
nance of supply chains and
monopolization.
It would require FTC to
report its fi ndings to Congress
within one year. That report
would include the monetary
and other harms to consum-
ers, ranchers, farmers, plant
workers and small businesses,
as well as recommendations
for legislation or other reme-
dial actions.
S.J.Res.47 was introduced
by Sens. Elizabeth Warren,
D-Mass., and Mike Rounds,
R-S.D., on May 19.
The senators said the
nation’s meatpacking indus-
try appears to be rife with
antitrust violations, with the
top four beef packers increas-
ing market share from 32% to
85% in the past three decades.
They also noted an aver-
age of nearly 17,000 cat-
tle ranchers have gone out of
business each year since 1980
and ranchers’ share of the con-
sumer beef dollar has gone
from 60 cents to 39 cents over
the past 50 years.
Additionally, beef-pack-
ing companies have paid mil-
lions of dollars to settle beef
price-fi xing claims in recent
years, they said.
“It’s time for Congress to
get back in the game and use
every tool to promote com-
petition in our markets so
we can lower costs for fami-
lies…,” Warren said.
Rounds said it’s criti-
cal to determine if violations
are occurring or if Congress
needs to strengthen current
antitrust laws.
In May of 2020, the
Department of Justice began
an investigation into whether
anticompetitive
practices
have led to the wide disparity
between fed cattle prices and
wholesale boxed beef prices.
But beef producers and
lawmakers have been frus-
trated because no fi ndings or
updates on the investigation
have been released.
U.S. Cattlemen’s Associa-
tion welcomes the resolution
and notes, importantly, it sets
a date for when the report is
due.
“We have not yet received
the results of the Department
of Justice’s investigation into
the beef industry directed by
former Secretary of Agricul-
ture Sonny Perdue. This is
completely unacceptable,”
said Justin Tupper, USCA
vice president.
But the National Cat-
tlemen’s Beef Association
does not support the move,
although it fully supports fed-
eral oversight of meatpackers.
“This is a distraction at this
point,” said Tanner Beymer,
NCBA senior director of gov-
ernment aff airs.
It muddies the waters
to involve another federal
agency to do what the Depart-
ment of Justice is already
doing, he said.
“The industry, Congress,
the agencies — let everybody
digest the fi ndings of that
before taking further action,
drafting new policies or any-
thing like that,” he said.
The DOJ is investigating if
there was a problem and, if so,
to what extent, he said.
Retiring Washington FFA advisor Wallace gives farewell address
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
KENNEWICK, Wash. —
Someone once asked Dennis
Wallace why he settled for
teaching agriculture.
“I never thought of it as
settling,” Wallace told 1,692
Washington FFA members
and guests May 14 during the
Washington FFA state con-
vention. “I wanted to teach
kids. I wanted to make them
see the relevance of agricul-
ture, leadership, citizenship
and cooperation.”
Wallace is retiring as
Washington FFA’s state advi-
sor May 31. He’s held the
position since July 2017.
He started in FFA 54 years
ago, as an eighth-grader,
when an agriculture teacher
recruited him with a home
visit during the summer to
compete at the county fair.
He later walked into the
agriculture classroom, where
an inspirational poster caught
his eye: “What’s an leader?
An ordinary individual with
extraordinary determination.”
“Made sense to me,” Wal-
lace said. “That told me that
anybody could be a leader.”
Wallace recalled going
to his fi rst national FFA con-
vention as a chapter delegate
in Kansas City in the fall of
1969 — the fi rst year women
joined the organization.
Two years later, Wash-
ington FFA got word from
nationals that they needed to
also ratify the change, or risk
having their charter revoked.
Wallace was state vice
president.
“You’d think that would be
an easy vote, wouldn’t you?”
Wallace said. “It wasn’t —
we had two state offi cers that
didn’t think it was right, they
spoke up against it. We had a
divided house.”
Ultimately, the members
voted to approve the change.
“It’s like everything else,”
Wallace said. “Once you give
people the power to engage,
they do it.”
It stepped up FFA, to the
point where the organization
wants to continue to be inclu-
sive today, he said.
“You’re not a boys’ club,
you’re an all-club,” Wallace
said. “How do we get FFA
more welcoming for all stu-
dents? How do we get teach-
ers who look like the students
that they teach? How can we
be more inclusive, how can
we be more diverse? How can
we be equitable?
“You know what? That’s
a problem I’m not going to
solve,” Wallace addressed the
members. “Do you know who
is? You guys. You’re going
to be the ones that are going
to fi nd the problems and the
solutions to what we’re fac-
ing today.”
The current members’
leadership, advocacy and
determination will set the
course for FFA.
“My goodness, we are the
answer to a lot of our woes
today,” Wallace said.
Some FFA members want
Wash. FFA weighs location
of next year’s convention
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Fresh off a successful
in-person return, Washington
FFA offi cials will decide in
July where the next conven-
tion will be located.
Washington FFA’s 92nd
convention relocated from
Washington State Univer-
sity’s campus in Pullman
to Three Rivers Conven-
tion Center in Kennewick
because of WSU’s policy
requiring anyone staying in
the dorms to show proof of
COVID vaccination.
FFA offi cials decided to
relocate because that’s not a
public high school require-
ment, and organizers didn’t
want to require students
attending convention to have
a COVID vaccination card.
“Kennewick provided a
great alternative venue for
state convention and showed
us that even with our mostly
volunteer staff we are able
to put on a convention away
from WSU,” said Jesse Tay-
lor, executive director of the
Washington FFA Foundation.
WSU is
still looking
at COVID-
19 policies
for
over-
night guests
staying on
Jesse
the campus,
Taylor
Taylor said.
“WSU
is moving forward with the
expectation that it will be
able to host FFA on its Pull-
man campus next year, pro-
vided that COVID-19 infec-
tion rates remain low and
stable,” said David Wasson,
director of WSU News and
media relations.
WSU’s policies for visi-
tors and guests are updated
as necessary based on local
conditions for each campus
and in consultation with state
and local health offi cials,
Wasson said.
Taylor and Washing-
ton FFA executive director
Dany Cavadini will present
their thoughts to Washing-
ton FFA’s board of directors,
who make the fi nal decision.
Taylor expects an announce-
ment about location to be
made shortly after the board
meeting July 12.
Taylor thought this year’s
return went “extremely
well,” given a short planning
window and the new loca-
tion, citing student members
and “top notch, competitive
and robust” career and lead-
ership development events.
“Our
FFA
advisors
brought over 115 individual
chapters to convention this
year into the unknown and
they were very gracious and
fl exible with us,” he said. “I
won’t say it was perfect, but
it was as close to perfect as
we could have imagined
given the circumstances.”
Taylor further praised
advisors for their “fl exibility,
grace and professionalism.”
“These teachers have
been through a lot,” he said.
“Teaching Career and Tech-
nical Education through the
pandemic was an incredi-
bly challenging feat as it is
hands-on education.”
The teachers brought kids
that were ready to learn and
be part of something “incred-
ible,” Taylor added.
to go into professions that
don’t have anything to do
with agriculture, but Wallace
noted that they can continue
to support the industry.
“We have a lot of people in
Seattle who believe Boeing is
the most important industry in
the state; you go a little further
up to Bellevue and they’ll tell
you it’s IT, information tech-
nology and Microsoft,” Wal-
lace said. “And yet, those
people still eat, and they’re
not producing it.”
As he and others retire,
there needs to be a pipeline of
people who want to teach and
make an impact, Wallace said.
“We need the best and
brightest of our minds func-
tioning at a higher rate,” he
said. “We need you to solve
the problems of the future. We
need you to be on board and
on task.”
Wallace told the members
if he was young, he’d love to
be in their place.
“You have a chance to
be you, whoever you are,”
he said. “You’re accepted,
you’re welcomed and you’re
expected to perform. You’re
expected to be part of a
moment that shows that the
youth of America is valid,
strong and has a voice that
carries.”
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