Friday, June 17, 2022
CapitalPress.com 7
Cover crop seed demand rises; competitors squeeze supply
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SCIO, Ore. — Fierce
competition for acreage in
Oregon’s Willamette Val-
ley is limiting the supply
of cover crop seed just as
demand is increasing.
Seed growers haven’t
planted as many acres of
cover crops, including clo-
ver and radish, due to expec-
tations of higher returns for
wheat and grass seed, said
Jerry Hall, president of GO
Seed in Salem, Ore.
“A lot of the shortage is
market-driven,” he said.
Clover and other legumes
fi x nitrogen, helping farmers
reduce fertilizer expenses,
while cover crops generally
improve soil health, poten-
tially decreasing the need
for other farm inputs as well,
experts say.
Meanwhile, the USDA
aims to double cover crop
plantings by corn and soy-
bean farmers to 30 million
acres in less than a decade to
reduce erosion and sequester
carbon.
“Where’s the seed going
to come from?” wonders
Gary Weaver, owner of
Weaver Seed of Oregon near
Scio, Ore. “We won’t have a
problem producing it if the
price is right.”
Because cover crops are
typically planted for agro-
nomic reasons rather than to
generate revenue, prices for
seed must remain cost-eff ec-
tive for farmers.
That constraint can pose
an economic dilemma for
the cover crop industry, since
seed producers often need a
fi nancial incentive to expand
their acreage.
“How do we keep that
seed aff ordable for the farmer
on the other side?” Hall
asked. “It’s a balancing act to
keep it aff ordable.”
In Oregon’s Willamette
Valley, a popular seed pro-
duction area, the acreage of
cover crops grown for seed
has plunged about 50% since
last year due to competition,
Weaver said.
“There’s going to be short-
ages for the next few years as
long as this wheat price stays
up,” Weaver said. “You can’t
blame the farmers.”
In light of soaring prices
for competing commodi-
ties, as well as fuel and fer-
tilizer, the outlook for cover
crop seeds is tough to pre-
dict, he said.
Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press
Chad Weaver, left, and Gary Weaver examine a fi eld of
kale grown for seed at their company, Weaver Seed of
Oregon near Scio, Ore.
“We don’t know where
it’s going,” Weaver said.
Based on the drop in Ore-
gon’s acreage, a seed short-
age is likely looming in the
near term, he said.
At the same time, the pop-
ularity of cover crops is tak-
ing off , Weaver said. One of
the company’s seed dealers
expects sales to climb 20%
this year.
“The innovators have
done their job,” Weaver said.
“The neighbors are looking
over the fence.”
The USDA is promoting
the conservation benefi ts of
cover crops by off ering farm-
ers reduced insurance premi-
ums and other incentives to
plant them.
However, the USDA
can further help farmers by
advising which cover crop
varieties will perform well
under their growing condi-
tions, Hall said.
Currently, the agency
doesn’t make such recom-
mendations to avoid being
perceived as a “shill” for
any particular producers, but
site-appropriate seed is key
in helping cover crops suc-
ceed, he said.
One possible solution
would be a national cover
crop testing program to
examine how diff erent vari-
eties perform across agricul-
tural regions, Hall said. “We
need to get more information
to the farmer.”
Competition from other
crops isn’t the only factor
aff ecting the seed supply.
Production
is
also
dependent on specialized
seed-cleaning equipment for
cover crops, he said. “It’s
more than just replacing the
screens.”
Historically, seed produc-
ers have often been reluctant
to make the additional invest-
ments, Hall said.
“Apparently, we’re not as
good at hyping cover crops
as we are hemp,” he joked.
Seed producers also bene-
fi t agronomically from grow-
ing cover crop seed, since
they can suppress weeds, Hall
said. Less herbicide spraying
and soil tillage means fewer
passes over the fi eld, cutting
fuel usage as well.
“If we add to the rotation,
instead of doing grass after
Minnesota farmer takes over
U.S. Wheat leadership role
OCEAN SHIPPING REFORM ACT OF 2022
maybe $11 a bushel, and
you may come out with $5.
It just depends on the qual-
Rhonda Larson started ity of your wheat.”
farming “as soon as I could
In Larson’s area, farm-
reach the pedals,” she said ers raise a lot of sugar beets,
with a laugh.
with wheat acreage in direct
An East Grand Forks, alignment, she said.
Minn., wheat farmer, Lar-
“Wheat is wonderful for
son recently took over as the ground, and it makes
chairperson of the U.S. great ground for other
Wheat Associates board of crops,” she said. “So you
directors. She will serve a want to plant it, but ... it has
one-year term.
to be economically feasible
She replaces Grass Val- that it’s going to be worth
ley, Ore., farmer
it.”
Darren Padget, who
Larson wants to
served an extended,
keep wheat “on the
two-year term due
forefront” for the
to the COVID-19
public.
pandemic. Padget is
“I think a lot of
now past chairman.
people don’t under-
U.S. Wheat is
stand that food
the overseas mar-
comes from ... the
Rhonda
keting arm for the
ground, and farmers
Larson
industry.
Larson
raise it,” she said.
said she wants to ensure “I think the pandemic has
wheat remains profi table for put a little more emphasis
farmers.
on food and where it comes
“I’d like to keep wheat from, but I still think there’s
as a good, viable crop for a disconnect between
farmers,” she told the Cap- the grocery store and the
ital Press. “Yes, the price is farmer. I think a lot of peo-
there right now, and we can ple think your food comes
make some money, but we from the grocery store, and
all know it ebbs and fl ows. not from us.”
When it goes down, people
She also wants to empha-
can’t aff ord to plant it.”
size that farmers are stew-
Larson called for better ards of the land.
wheat quality, noting farm-
“The ground is our big-
ers are subject to discounts gest asset, so we are very,
for sprout damage, low fall- very concerned about tak-
ing number tests, test weight ing care of (it) and making
and protein level.
sure it’s there for the next
“All of that aff ects your generation to farm,” she
bottom line,” she said. “You said.
might go in there and think
Larson raises wheat,
you’re going to get, now, soybeans and sugar beets on
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Getty Images
Congress passed the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 on Monday.
Congress passes ocean
shipping reform bill
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
Congress on Monday passed
the Ocean Shipping Reform
Act of 2022, a bill that aims
to ease longstanding sup-
ply chain problems and port
disruptions.
The House passed the
bill, 369-42. The bill had
already passed the Senate in
late March.
President Biden was
expected to sign the bill into
law on Thursday. The White
House recently released a
video featuring Biden talking
with retail CEOs and calling
on the House to pass the bill.
The legislation will
broaden the powers of the
Federal Maritime Commis-
sion, giving it authority to
investigate late fees charged
by carriers and prohibit
ocean carriers and marine
terminals from refusing to
fi ll available cargo space.
Agricultural
indus-
try leaders say the act will
empower the Federal Mar-
itime Commission to crack
down on excessive fees
charged by carriers and
ensure ranchers and farmers
are treated fairly.
More than 90 agricultural
and business organizations
on June 10 had signed a let-
ter urging Congress to pass
the bill and Biden to sign it
into law, and the bill’s pas-
sage on June 13 was widely
applauded.
“Today’s actions couldn’t
have come at a more needed
time for the United States
and the world as changes
from the Ocean Shipping
Reform Act will enable
more U.S. agricultural prod-
ucts to reach the global mar-
ketplace,” Ted McKinney,
CEO of the National Asso-
ciation of State Departments
of Agriculture, said in a
statement.
The measure, McKinney
said, will help maintain “fair
ocean carrier practices” and
lessen undue burdens on the
food system.
grass after grass, we’re going
to clean up those fi elds,” he
said.
While legumes fi x nitro-
gen, cover crops like rad-
ish can alleviate fertilizer
expenses by “scavenging”
nutrients that would other-
wise leach into the ground,
said Chad Weaver, general
manager of Weaver Seed.
As the plant decays,
those nutrients then become
available for the next sea-
son’s crop, he said. “You’re
going to buy less commercial
fertilizer.”
In areas with scarce water
or declining aquifers, cover
crops help retain moisture by
reducing runoff and increas-
ing absorption, Chad Weaver
said. Evaporation is also
decreased compared to bare
ground.
“The sun’s not beating
down on the soil,” he said.
“It keeps it cooler.”
Boosting
benefi cial
insects and microbes while
fully reaping other rewards
typically takes about three to
fi ve years of planting cover
crops, Chad Weaver said.
“You’re basically building
the project,” he said. “It’s got
to be consecutive years and
sticking to that program.”
“I was pleased to team
up with President Biden to
urge passage and look for-
ward to him quickly signing
the Ocean Shipping Reform
Act into law so farmers and
ranchers can continue to
meet the needs of families
in America and overseas,”
American Farm Bureau
Federation President Zippy
Duvall said in a statement.
The Agriculture Trans-
portation Coalition, a group
representing
agriculture
exporters in U.S. transporta-
tion policy, called the bill’s
passage “great news” and a
“big step forward.”
The measure was spon-
sored by Sens. Amy Klo-
buchar, D-Minn., and John
Thune, R-S.D., and Reps.
John Garamendi, D-Calif.,
and Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.
Experts say the legisla-
tion will be the largest over-
haul of shipping regulations
since 1998.
her father’s 3,000-acre farm
with her brothers and her
son, 38.
Larson said she loves
the smell of the dirt as she
farms.
“I love sitting up on top
of the grain drill and fi lling
it, it’s sunset and it’s beau-
tiful and it’s still,” she said.
“And then your neighbors
— farm people are diff er-
ent. You’ve got neighbors
who will come running
whenever you need them.”
Larson was encour-
aged by former U.S. Wheat
senior adviser Jim Frahm to
go through the leadership
positions at the organization
as she ended a term on the
board representing Minne-
sota farmers.
“He said it was his last
meeting because he was
retiring, and I said, ‘Well
this is my last meeting,
too, because I’m going to
go off the board, too,’” she
recalled. “And he said, ‘No
you’re not, you should go
through the chairs.’ And
I thought, ‘Well, maybe I
should.’”
At the end of her term,
Larson most hopes to have
kept wheat on the radar for
farmers.
“It has to be economi-
cally feasible to plant,” she
said.
Larson began her term
during the U.S. Wheat meet-
ing June 8 in Bend, Ore.
Michael Peters of Okarche,
Okla., is vice chairman.
Clark Hamilton of Ririe,
Idaho, is secretary-treasurer.
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