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CapitalPress.com
Friday, August 5, 2022
USDA approves Oregon for state meat inspection program
By SIERRA DAWN McCLAIN
Capital Press
USDA on July 28
approved a regulatory plan
that allows Oregon to revive
its state meat inspection
program.
The goal is to expand
opportunities for small-
scale processors who can’t
sell commercially because
the meat they process is not
federally inspected. Ore-
gon has just 13 USDA-in-
spected facilities statewide;
the new program will allow
the state to also do inspec-
tions, though state-inspected
meat can only be sold within
Oregon.
USDA’s Food Safety
and Inspection Service
has finalized a cooperative
agreement with the Ore-
gon Department of Agricul-
ture, giving ODA authority
to inspect meat produced for
shipment within the state.
Lauren
Henderson,
ODA’s deputy director, has
been talking for decades
about re-establishing the
state inspection program to
increase Oregon’s slaugh-
ter and processing capac-
ity. ODA’s previous state
inspection program ended in
1971 due to budget cuts.
When the pandemic hit
and producers struggled to
move meat due to a short-
age of inspection services,
officials started talking more
seriously about re-instituting
state inspections.
In 2020, Oregon legis-
lators passed a bill approv-
ing the state meat inspection
program, and later approved
$2 million in grants to help
processors get started.
Thursday’s approval from
USDA was the final puzzle
piece needed.
“I am so proud of our
Sierra Dawn McClain/Capital Press
Carcasses at a meat plant.
state, our partners and the
many ODA staff that helped
make Oregon’s State Meat
Inspection Program a real-
ity,” ODA director Alexis
Taylor said in a statement.
USDA’s deputy under-
secretary Sandra Eskin said
she anticipates the program
will strengthen the food sys-
tem and help prevent supply
chain bottlenecks.
“This program is espe-
cially helpful to small meat
and poultry processors in
building their local and state
marketplaces,” said Eskin.
Oregon is now among 28
states with meat inspection
programs.
Though Thursday’s move
was applauded by many,
some meat experts are skep-
tical the program is all it is
chalked up to be.
At the Oregon Cattle-
men’s Association conven-
tion last November, some
ranchers and meat proces-
sors expressed concern that
the program may not be the
best use of taxpayer dollars.
Outfitting a plant to meet
inspection requirements is
no small feat, they said, and
the $2 million is just a drop
in the bucket.
Henderson, of ODA, told
cattlemen at the event that
he fully anticipates going
back before the Legislature
in the future to secure more
funding for the program
long-term.
To meet the new state
standards, processors will
have to meet requirements
“at least equal to those
imposed under the Fed-
eral Meat Inspection Act,”
according to USDA.
Some experts say that if a
processor is going to shoul-
der the effort and expense to
meet federal standards any-
way — including installing
fully washable walls, tem-
perature controls and waste-
water disposal systems —
why wouldn’t it just become
a USDA-inspected plant
that can sell meat nation-
ally rather than a state-in-
spected plant that can only
sell within Oregon?
If a place is going to
go through the trouble
of coming under inspec-
tion, most of them will just
go USDA-inspected, or
they already are USDA-in-
spected, said Rebecca This-
tlethwaite, director of Ore-
gon State University’s Niche
Meat Processor Assistance
Network.
Thistlethwaite said she
doesn’t expect many pro-
cessors to utilize the state
program.
Potato crop catching up after cold start
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Idaho’s potato crop has caught up well
after wet, cold weather during planting and
emergence seasons delayed its start.
Declo-area grower Mark Darrington liked
what he saw during recent test digs: tubers,
in contrast to the “big crop of vines” of one
variety that produced poorly in last year’s
drought and early, prolonged high heat.
In the south-central region, “compared to
last year, this crop looks fabulous,” he said.
“As compared to a five-year average, it is a
good, solid, average crop.”
“It was slow on emergence, but once it
emerged, it performed well,” Darrington
said.
Nearby to the south and west, Randy
Hardy said the crop had been 10-14 days
Idaho Farm Bureau Federation
behind before the recent momentum gain in
Idaho produces about one-third of U.S.
mostly warm, clear conditions.
“We’re not seeing the tuber development potatoes.
we normally would this time of year, but it’s
“We plan to give the crop around an
close,” said Hardy, who produces south of
Burley. “The (tuber) set looks really good extra week or so to mature as long as the
plants continue to look good as we get
and the canopy looks really good.”
He said July 27 that the region so far close to that date,” she said.
hasn’t seen wildfire smoke, which hindered
East-region grower Bryan Searle of
the ’21 crop substantially. Smoke interferes Shelley said many tubers are smaller than
with photosynthesis and can keep night- usual now but potatoes are benefiting from
time temperatures higher than is ideal for the good conditions.
plants.
The next four to five weeks will be crit-
Hardy said daytime and nighttime tem- ical, he said.
peratures have been good recently, and
“Currently, the crop looks pretty good,”
“if things stay together and it doesn’t get Joe Esta, vice president at Wada Farms
excessively hot, I think we’ve got a pretty in Idaho Falls, said July 26. The business
nice crop coming.”
likes to see rows in the region close by
Planted acres in the state are about July 4, “and they were trailing that a lit-
290,000, down 8% from 315,000 a year tle bit.”
earlier, USDA’s National Agricultural Sta-
The company in recent test digs found
tistics Service reported June 30. Many some larger potatoes, though “not as many
growers shifted to crops that use less water as we’d like to see,” he said.
and other inputs.
Esta said smoke and long stretches with
Angie Rader, a partner in Wilder-based daytime temperatures above 95 degrees
Doug Gross Farms, said many grow- can stunt growth, but those conditions
ers in the southwest region planned for have not occurred.
below-average supplies of irrigation water
Darrington said he recently found good
but now have enough thanks to the wet test weight and yield in fall-planted bar-
ley, traditionally a sign processing pota-
spring.
“Growth got a little behind because of toes will show good specific gravity. A
the moisture, but we’re happy to have the high measurement — heavy on solids and
moisture,” she said.
light on water — lets processors get more
Rader said the farm’s crop at one point usable material from each potato and fry
was about three weeks behind average it best.
progress to date but recently lags by just
“If we can finish out, it’s going to be a
a week or so.
really great crop,” he said.
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
08/08/2022. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2018 HOND CIV 4D
VIN = SHHFK7G42JU239055
Amount due on lien $1515.00
Reputed owner(s)
ZACHARY RYAN TAVARES
UNITUS COMMUNITY C.U
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
08/15/2022. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2019 HONDA ACC 4D
VIN = 1HGCV1F55KA091613
Amount due on lien $1515.00
Reputed owner(s)
PEDRO SORIANO SANCHEZ
Spokane County Fire District 2
A tractor and baler were total losses following a fire July 29 near Latah, Wash.,
said Devin Billington, deputy fire chief for Spokane County Fire District 2.
Tractors total losses in two separate
fires in Washington and Idaho
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Two tractors, a combine
and a baler were total losses
in separate fires in Washing-
ton and Idaho on July 29, fire
district spokesmen say.
Fire crews responded to
a fire at 6:24 p.m. east of
Latah, Wash.
“When we got there,
it was about a 50-foot by
50-foot timothy grass fire,”
said Devin Billington, dep-
uty chief of Spokane County
Fire District 2. “We were
able to contain it to that size.
There was a farmer there
who helped with plowing
the field to dirt to contain it
there.”
A John Deere tractor and
baler were total losses, Bill-
ington said.
“There’s a lot of mov-
ing parts on those machines,
on the balers,” Billington
said. “It was low-100 degree
weather at the time of the
call, with moderately high
wind speeds, so kind of a rec-
ipe for fire.”
Eleven trucks and 19 per-
sonnel responded to the call,
Billington said.
The fire was extinguished
by 7:55 p.m., so crews
moved to managing hotspots.
By 10:38 p.m., everything
was extinguished and cooled
down.
The cause of the fire is
undetermined,
Billington
said. The insurance company
is working with the farmer.
Damage to the crop and land
was not significant.
In Idaho, firefighters from
the Worley Fire Department
joined other departments in
responding to a fire off High-
way 95 about 17 miles south
of Coeur d’Alene.
Scott Campos, the Worley
Fire Department chief, said
the fire occurred at roughly
6 p.m.
“They arrived on scene
and found several hay bales
on fire that was spread across
an area approximately an
eighth to a quarter of a mile,”
Campos told the Capital
Press.
Once they knew the com-
bine was on fire, the opera-
tors of the tractor and com-
bine drove to a clearing in
hopes of avoiding burning
windrows, Campos said.
“Unfortunately,
he
dropped some fire along the
way that did get some bales
involved,” Campos said.
“There was a skid-steer
on scene, so I would have
recommended cutting a line
around that and letting it burn
in one place, rather than tak-
ing it across the field,” he
said. “It’s a judgment call, for
sure.”
Both pieces of machinery
appear to be totaled, Cam-
pos said. He speculated that
the operator sacrificed them
to get them to the clearing.
There was some damage to
the land, but “not much,” he
said.
The fire is being investi-
gated by the Idaho Depart-
ment of Lands, which will
determine the value of the
damage, Campos said.
No further informa-
tion was available from the
department.
There were no injuries
at either incident, Billington
and Campos said.
One Japanese beetle found in Richland, Wash.
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
A single Japanese beetle
trapped in Richland, Wash.,
has heightened concerns within
the state Department of Agri-
culture that the invasive pest
is spreading in south-central
Washington.
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
08/15/2022. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2001 BMW 525I 4D
VIN = WBADT43461GX25722
Amount due on lien $1535.00
Reputed owner(s)
MARK L WYNER &
NICOLE R BRANSON
LEGAL
NOTICE OF RYEGRASS COMMISSION
ASSESSMENT CHANGE HEARING
TO: ALL OREGON RYEGRASS GROWERS
Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held pursuant
to ORS 576.416 (5), on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, at 6:00 p.m.,
at the Cascade Grill Restaurant, 110 Opal St. NE, Albany, Oregon,
upon a proposal to increase the assessment due the Commission
on Oregon-grown Perennial Ryegrass seed from 15¢/cwt to three
and one-half tenths of one percent (0.35%) of the purchase price
per pound, clean seed basis, from the price paid to the producer
thereof, to take effect beginning January 1, 2023. Annual Rye-
grass seed will remain at 15¢/cwt. At this hearing any producer
of Oregon-grown Perennial Ryegrass seed has a right to be heard
with respect to the proposed assessment increase. For further in-
formation, contact the Oregon Ryegrass Growers Seed Commis-
sion business office, P.O. Box 3366, Salem, Oregon 97302, tele-
phone 503-364-2944. The meeting location is accessible to persons
with disabilities. Please make any request for an interpreter for
the hearing impaired or for other accommodations for persons
with disabilities at least 48 hours before the meeting be contact-
ing the Commission office at 503-364-2944.
An agriculture department
employee was surprised to find
the beetle Thursday during a
routine check of a pest trap,
according to the department.
The beetle was more than 35
miles east of an infestation in
Grandview. Earlier in the week,
the department confirmed that a
gardener had found three bee-
tles in Wapato, 30 miles west of
Grandview.
“Finding two detections so
far from the original grid in two
separate directions suggests
the Japanese beetle popula-
tion is spreading very quickly,”
Camilo Acosta, Japanese beetle
eradication project coordinator,
said in a statement.
“The longer the invasive
pest continues to thrive here,
the more difficult and expen-
sive it will be to control,”
Acosta said.
Japanese beetles, Popil-
lia japonica Newman, for-
age on more than 300 types of
plants, including high-value
crops such as hops and grapes,
which are grown in south-cen-
tral Washington.
Beetles have now been
found in a 65-mile corridor
along Interstate 82. The depart-
ment has set out more traps
and checked area nurseries in
response.
The department asked
growers and residents to watch
for and report beetles, espe-
cially in Yakima, Benton and
Franklin counties.
Japanese beetle adults are
metallic green and brown and
have tufts of white hair on their
sides. The agriculture department
began what it expects will be a
multi-year eradication campaign
last spring by applying pesticides
to lawns in a 49-square mile area
in and around Grandview.
LEGAL NOTICE
OF PUBLIC HEARING
The USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS)
announces a meeting of the
Washington State Technical
Advisory Committee (STAC) on
Thursday, August 18, 2022 from
9:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. This meeting
will be held by virtual only. No face
to face option will be available. For
more information, contact Nick
Vira at 360-704-7758.
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
08/08/2022. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2015 TOYT CAM 4D
VIN = 4T1BF1FK9FU954779
Amount due on lien $1415.00
Reputed owner(s)
RUBEN ESCOTT VILLA
TOYOTA MOTOR CREDIT CORP
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
08/08/2022. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2016 TOYT HIG LL
VIN = 5TDDKRFH1GS342805
Amount due on lien $1415.00
Reputed owner(s) SAMIM NOORI &
MOHAMMAD A MAULIKZADA
TOYOTA MOTOR CREDIT CORP
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
08/08/2022. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2007 CHEV TIL ST
VIN = 4KBC4B1UXJ803101
Amount due on lien $1435.00
Reputed owner(s)
NORTHWEST LANDSCAPE SERVICES
BANNER BANK
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
08/15/2022. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2015 MERZ C300 4D
VIN =55SWF4JB7FU090367
Amount due on lien $1515.00
Reputed owner(s)
MILAGROS ELAIDE BARRIOS ALPIZAR
GATEWAY INSURANCE CO
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
08/15/2022. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2010 TOYT TAC PU
VIN =5TETX4CN4AZ712472
Amount due on lien $1535.00
Reputed owner(s)
GENE E SAMPSON
TOYOTA MOTOR CREDIT CORP
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
08/15/2022. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
2015 MAZD 3 4D
VIN = 3MZBM1L71FM225686
Amount due on lien $1515.00
Reputed owner(s)
TAYLOR VIRTUE
LEGAL
PURSUANT TO ORS
CHAPTER 87
Notice is hereby given that the
following vehicle will be sold,
for cash to the highest bidder, on
08/15/2022. The sale will be held
at 10:00am by
COPART OF WASHINGTON INC
2885 NATIONAL WAY WOODBURN, OR
1999 HONDA ACC 4DR
VIN = JHMCG5649XC031044
Amount due on lien $1535.00
Reputed owner(s)
ROBERT HENRY CLARK
