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CapitalPress.com
Friday, August 19, 2022
Ecology agricultural advisory panel light on farm groups
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Farm groups were unrepresented
until recently on a panel formed to
advise the Washington Department
of Ecology on how farmers and tim-
berland owners can profit from the
state’s low-carbon fuel standard.
The panel has met twice with
conservation groups, government
agencies, the timber industry, out-
of-state companies, the Swinomish
Indian Tribal Community and the
Washington Physicians for Social
Responsibility represented.
Pacific Northwest Canola Asso-
ciation Executive Director Karen
Sowers was added this week as the
panel’s 17th member and the first
from a farm group.
“I would feel bad if I were the
only one,” Sowers said Aug. 9. “I
think it would behoove the panel to
have more representation from ag
landowners.”
Lawmakers directed Ecology
to convene a panel of “stakehold-
ers” to advise the state on rewarding
farmers and timberland owners who
sequester carbon.
kane-based nonprofit, works to pre-
serve forests, water and wildlife,
according to its website. The Lands
Council and two other groups are
currently suing the U.S. Forest Ser-
vice, alleging the agency allows too
much cattle grazing in the Colville
National Forest. Efforts to reach the
council’s panel representative were
unsuccessful.
Based in Hermiston, Ore., Pacific
Ag describes itself as North Ameri-
EO Media Group File ca’s largest crop residue harvest and
The Pacific Northwest Canola Association will have a representative supply company.
on a panel that will advise the Washington Department of Ecology
Indigo Agriculture, based in Bos-
about how farmers can profit from the low-carbon fuel standard.
ton, develops biological and digital
technologies that improve farmers’
By capturing carbon, landowners confident agricultural landowners profitability, according to its website.
could earn credits to sell to fuel sup- are well represented.
Efforts to contact representa-
pliers that must offset carbon emis-
Besides Sowers, Woodward tives from those companies were
sions from gasoline and diesel.
cited panel members from Colum- unsuccessful.
Lawmakers didn’t tell Ecology bia Land Trust, the Lands Council,
Woodward said Ecology is open
who would be on the panel, only Pacific Ag Biofuel and Indigo Agri- to adding more agricultural land-
that it must include representatives culture as representatives of agricul- owner representatives to the panel.
No agricultural landowner represen-
of forestland and agricultural land- tural landowners.
owners. Weyerhaeuser and Inland
Based in Vancouver, Wash., tative has declined an invitation to
Empire Paper Co. executives and Columbia Land Trust is a nonprofit join, she said.
a small forestland owner are on the that acquires land. The trust’s hold-
“One of the things we’re look-
ings include cattle grazing and farm- ing at is making sure the people and
panel.
organizations we invite are con-
Ecology spokeswoman Susan ing, spokesman Dan Roix said.
The Lands Council, a Spo- nected to the transportation fuel sup-
Woodward said the department is
ply chain. For example, that they
work with a crop that is used as a
feedstock for biofuel,” she said in an
email.
Washington State Conservation
Commission policy director Ron
Shultz said he was not aware of
Ecology’s Agriculture and Forestry
Carbon Capture and Sequestration
Advisory Panel.
“I think it would be very bene-
ficial to have both the commission
and conservation districts involved,”
he said. “We would be very inter-
ested in engaging.”
Washington State Dairy Federa-
tion policy director Jay Gordon said
he too was unaware of the panel.
Dairies are capable of producing
renewable transportation fuels.
Gordon said he didn’t agree with
the panel’s makeup, but that Wash-
ington is in the early stages of fig-
uring out how to reduce reliance on
fossil fuels.
“I don’t begrudge Ecology for
what they’re doing at all,” he said.
“They’re a little short on ag rep-
resentation — ag representatives
should be in the mix — but they’re
learning.”
In-person wheat trade team visits resume
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
After a two-year hia-
tus due to the COVID-
19 pandemic, in-person
wheat industry trade teams
have resumed in the Pacific
Northwest.
Nearly a dozen teams are
slated to tour the region this
summer, said Amanda Hoey,
CEO of Oregon Wheat,
including teams from Viet-
nam and Japan, which vis-
ited last week.
“Group sizes are defi-
nitely larger than the norm,
given pent-up demand from
a few years inability to travel
for these visits,” she said.
The Washington Grain
Commission is hosting
10 trade teams from June
through September, said
Mary Palmer Sullivan, com-
mission vice president. Cus-
tomers learn about wheat
variety development and
breeding at Washington State
JEWETT
Lori Maricle/Washington Grain Commission
USDA Agricultural Research Service club wheat breeder Kim Campbell tours wheat
variety trials at Washington State University’s Spillman Farm with the Japan club
wheat exchange team July 12 in Pullman, Wash. From left are Campbell; Bungo Hira-
no, assistant manager of the quality control and assurance group in the production
division at Nisshin Flour Milling Inc.; Hajime Akashi, director and head of laboratory,
Flour Millers Association; Hiroyuki Kawakami, manager of the wheat research team
at the innovation center central laboratory at NIPPN Corp.; and Kazunori “Rick” Na-
kano, Japan Country Director for U.S. Wheat Associates.
and asked a ton of questions.
That makes it really fun, when
they’re really interactive and
feel relaxed to ask the ques-
tions they want.”
Idaho has hosted two trade
teams so far this summer. They
included customers the Middle
East, North Africa, Ecuador
and Peru, said Casey Chum-
rau, executive director of the
Idaho Wheat Commission.
The wheat organizations
provide updates on crop qual-
ity and harvest progress, as
well as the production process,
from variety development to
the farm and through the sup-
ply chain to their countries,
Chumrau said.
University, grain elevators
and by talking with farmers.
“A lot of these folks have
never been to a wheat field
or talked to a farmer,” Sulli-
van said. “They learned a lot
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“The personal interaction
with our customers overseas
is so vital, and really broadens
the perspectives of these cus-
tomers,” she said. “The con-
nections they make with the
farmers and other agribusiness
partners are really important to
the growth and development
of these professionals, and
help with the commitment to
purchasing U.S. wheat.”
“It’s been a long time,” said
Darren Padget, a Grass Valley,
Ore., farmer, past chairman
of U.S. Wheat Associates and
board member of the Oregon
Wheat Commission. “Every-
body, both on the U.S. side and
the foreign side, are pleased to
see this start to happen. Noth-
ing beats face-to-face.”
U.S. Wheat, the overseas
marketing arm for the indus-
try, has 12 trade teams on the
schedule, making stops in sev-
eral states.
“There are fewer teams
this year, compared to the typ-
ical number of teams before
the pandemic, but everyone
is very happy to be traveling
again and experience the 2022
crop,” said Steve Wirsching,
director of U.S. Wheat’s West
Coast office in Portland.
Wirsching said U.S.
Wheat’s focus is on bringing
the next generation of flour
millers and buyers to experi-
ence the U.S. wheat industry
first-hand.
“The same generational
turnover that is happening on
our farms is also happening
with overseas flour milling
companies,” he said.
In-person trade teams
and virtual meetings prove
that the U.S. wheat market
“remains open and transpar-
ent,” Wirsching said.
“Trade teams demonstrate
that our wheat and the people
who supply it are dependable,
that there is nothing hidden
about our wheat quality nor
our market system, and that
our farmers are economically
resilient and concerned about
producing wheat sustainably,”
he said.
The grain commission has
to be flexible in its schedul-
ing, Sullivan said. Some coun-
tries require different forms of
proof of testing negative for
COVID in order for travelers
to return and in one instance,
half of a trade team arrived
later than its other members
due to flight delays.
When the industry pivoted
to Zoom online meetings, it
opened up the ability to com-
municate to larger groups of
people, Sullivan said.
“As a result, some of the
meetings or opportunities that
otherwise would have been
maybe focused on four or five
people are now opening up
to sometimes 50 to 100 peo-
ple that want to know about
the crop,” she said. “A lot of
people are willing to jump on
a call or webinar and hear first
hand about the crop.”
That will continue, to a cer-
tain extent, she said. “We’re
not limiting ourselves.”
“We know for sure that,
seen in person, the iconic
‘amber waves of grain’ are
very impressive to our cus-
tomers,” Wirsching said.
“There is no better way to
demonstrate the value that
comes from the cooperation
between farmers, the grain
handlers, our state wheat
commission members, and
the transportation system to
produce safe and wholesome
wheat. We hope that the cus-
tomers who visit also feel like
they have a stake in that coop-
erative effort.”
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The National Cattlemen’s
Beef Association is condemn-
ing as flawed the Food Com-
pass study funded in part by
alternative meat promoter Bill
Gates.
The Food Compass nutri-
ent profiling system scores
foods from best to worst on
a scale of 0 to 100, ranking
products like peanut M&Ms,
Coco Puffs and potato chips
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as more healthful than beef.
“The idea that M&Ms,
potato chips and cereal are
somehow healthier than nat-
ural beef ignores scientific
evidence and frankly doesn’t
measure up to logic,” said
Colin Woodall, NCBA CEO.
“These snack foods are
high in sugar, carbohydrates
and fats, while beef is a nutri-
ent-rich food that provides
essential protein, iron, zinc
and numerous B vitamins,”
he said.
No one sits down to a plate
of candy and chips expecting
a healthy meal, but a lean cut
of beef accompanied by veg-
etables or fruits and whole
grains is a healthy choice
every time, he said.
“To suggest otherwise is
irresponsible, and it confuses
consumers at a time when we
should be working to meet
their nutritional needs, rather
than confounding them with
agenda-driven faux science,”
he said.”
The nutrient profiling sys-
tem was developed by Dar-
iush Mozaffarian, a cardi-
ologist and dean of Tufts
University Friedman School
of Nutrition Science and
Policy.
His resume on Tufts’ web-
site lists at least $6.2 million
in research funding from the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foun-
dation between 2012 and
2021.
Earlier this year, NCBA
called out Bill Gates for sug-
gesting consumers in wealthy
nations should switch from
real beef — whose production
only accounts for 2% of total
U.S. greenhouse gas emis-
sions — to synthetic beef as
a solution to climate change.
Instead of focusing on
reducing emissions from the
energy or transportation sec-
tors, Gates chooses to focus
on beef because he is heav-
ily invested in the same fake
meat companies he is promot-
ing, Woodall said at the time.
NCBA continuously high-
lights beef’s role in a healthy
diet as an authentic source
of high-quality protein and
essential nutrients.
Animal proteins such as
beef are among the most
nutrient-dense, complete pro-
tein sources available, and
cattle farmers and ranchers
are committed to producing
high-quality protein in the
most sustainable way possi-
ble, NCBA said.
NCBA is a tireless advo-
cate for America’s beef farm-
ers and ranchers and will
continue highlighting the
nutritional,
environmental
and economic benefits of real
beef, it said.
The Food Compass study
was published in October
2021.