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2A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018 Small apple growers disappear as industry grows Costs, labor, regulations take their toll ‘It’s been said that yesterday’s 60-acre grower is today’s 600-acre grower and tomorrow’s 6,000-acre grower.’ By DAN WHEAT Capital Press GRANDVIEW, Wash. — Concord grapes, part of his family’s farm for 75 years, grow on one side of his drive- way, but on the other they’ve been replaced with a year-old planting of the new state apple, Cosmic Crisp, which Frank Lyall sees as an investment in the future. “The Concords go to Welch’s. They’re hardly a high value crop anymore. People are taking them out,” says Lyall, 60, who farms in the Lower Yakima Valley, where in 1915 his great grandfather began with prunes, hay and cattle. There was a time when the Lyalls’ operation, which now includes 450 acres near Grand- view and Mattawa, would have been considered large. Today, it’s small, and like so many other small growers in central Washington, Lyall looks at the mounting pressures that have knocked some of them out of business and wonders how long they will survive. There’s the shortage of labor and its increasing cost. The cost of mechanization. The growth of government regula- tions. Then there’s the cost of replanting with new apple vari- eties, usually around $30,000 per acre. Combined, they make the viability of small-scale tree fruit farms daunting. Frank Lyall, farmer in the Lower Yakima Valley Frank Lyall Like many growers, Frank Lyall is investing in the new state apple, hoping for good returns. to fruit from small independent growers like himself, would be just as happy if more small growers disappeared. Some people share that view. Others dispute it. “It’s been said that yester- day’s 60-acre grower is today’s 600-acre grower and tomor- row’s 6,000-acre grower,” Lyall said. Ever-thinning profit margins contribute to 4.3 percent fewer principal farm operators in the U.S. between the last two U.S. agricultural censuses of 2007 and 2012. The shrinkage was greater for Washington apple growers, whose ranks dropped 7 percent during that time. “It’s remarkable to me how many farmers have hundreds of acres or smaller and are going concerns but don’t seem to have anyone in their families who want to take over when they retire,” he said. He doesn’t plan to retire. His brother, Charles Lyall, runs the farm in Mat- tawa. His nephew, Jim Lyall, works with him in Grandview. Some 120 miles to the north in East Wenatchee, Susan Droz Rankin, 71, and her brother Paul Marker, 68, sold their small orchards, totaling about 16 acres, a few months ago because they wanted to retire, no one in their families wanted to farm and regulations, costs and a shortage of labor contin- ued to erode profits. Orchards shrink The numbers are equally daunting. In 1925, 46,240 Washington state farms grew apples. By 2012, only 2,839 remained, according to the U.S. Census of Agriculture. Lyall, who is president of the Yakima County Farm Bureau, believes some of the region’s large tree fruit com- panies, which grow, pack and sell their own fruit in addition “In 2005, we had people stopping in looking for work. In recent years, no one has. It’s been a real struggle to find people, and we even increased our wages to higher than H-2A (foreign guestworker) piece and hourly rates,” Rankin said. Food safety paperwork is “overwhelming” and mechani- zation and variety replacement is too costly, she said. New pes- ticides that are softer on the environment have to be applied more often, adding more costs, she said. “Farming used to be a lot of fun. The whole family got out and worked from dawn to dusk and enjoyed it, especially at harvest,” Rankin said. “Now all these issues have taken some of the fun out of it.” About 135 miles farther north, near the U.S.-Canadian border town of Oroville, Dave Taber, owner-operator of 275 acres of tree fruit, said he has been questioning his survival for years, largely due to less labor availability and higher costs. “Small growers have been in decline in most commod- ities. Lack of capital to mod- ernize and the burden of reg- ulations hits them hardest and discourages their children from taking over,” said Desmond O’Rourke, a retired Washing- ton State University agricul- tural economist. Pilot House Distilling fined for not verifying age The Daily Astorian Astoria’s Pilot House Dis- tilling was fined by the Ore- gon Liquor Control Commis- sion for failing to verify the age of a minor before allow- ing them to buy or be served an alcoholic beverage. Pilot House will pay a Feb. 22, 2018 JOHNSON, Marvin Leroy, 84, of Astoria, died in Wheeler. Caldwell’s Luce-Layton Mor- fine of $1,485 or serve a nine-day liquor license sus- pension. The distillery is licensed to Lawrence Cary and Todd Shelton. SUNDAY ALMANAC Chilly with periods of clouds and sunshine Tillamook 39/45 Chilly with periods of rain Last Salem 35/49 Newport 38/46 Mar 9 Coos Bay 39/47 First Mar 17 Source: Jim Todd, OMSI TOMORROW'S TIDES Astoria / Port Docks Time 1:02 a.m. 2:47 p.m. Low 3.2 ft. 0.8 ft. Astoria, died in Astoria. Cald- well’s Luce-Layton Mortuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Baker 19/36 Evans, the executive chef at Astoria Coffeehouse & Bis- tro, was runner-up in the 2017 Readers’ Choice Best Chef category. In Coast Weekend on Thursday, The Mouth of the Columbia — the food and restaurant critic — incorrectly wrote that none of the winners were women. Group omitted — The Sunset Empire Transporta- tion District voted to opt out of a $1.4 billion timber law- suit brought by Linn County against the state. A story on 7A Wednesday omitted the group. Name misspelled — Law- rence Cary runs Pilot House Distilling in Astoria. His last name was misspelled as Carry in a 1A story on Feb. 14. LOTTERIES Ontario 24/41 Burns 18/32 Klamath Falls 19/37 Thursday’s Lucky Lines: 01-06- 11-14-20-24-25-29 Estimated jackpot: $37,000 OREGON Thursday’s Pick 4: 1 p.m.: 4-7-1-5 4 p.m.: 2-9-9-1 7 p.m.: 7-9-3-7 10 p.m.: 6-2-6-6 Lakeview 14/33 Ashland 31/43 Affiliation incorrect — Kirk Wintermute, an Astoria attorney, is the president of the local chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. NAMI Oregon says Richard Elfering, who wrote a guest column that appeared on 4A on Wednesday, is not formally affiliated with the group. Woman chef — Alec MONDAY Clatsop Care Health District Board, noon, 646 16th St. Knappa School Board, 5:30 p.m., Knappa High School library, 41535 Old U.S. Highway 30. REGIONAL CITIES City Baker City Bend Brookings Eugene Ilwaco Klamath Falls Medford Newberg Newport North Bend Hi 32 34 48 43 45 36 42 40 43 47 Today Lo 19 26 38 34 40 19 30 37 38 39 W pc pc pc pc sh pc pc sn sn s Hi 36 37 48 47 47 37 45 48 46 48 Sat. Lo 21 28 40 37 41 19 31 40 39 41 W sn sn sh sn c sf c sn r sh City Olympia Pendleton Portland Roseburg Salem Seaside Spokane Springfi eld Vancouver Yakima Hi 37 36 40 44 43 45 28 43 39 39 Today Lo 32 28 36 35 35 40 23 36 36 25 W c pc sn s pc sn sn pc sn pc Hi 46 38 48 47 49 47 34 46 47 42 Sat. Lo 35 33 39 39 39 41 24 39 41 29 W c sn sn sh sn c sn sn sn c TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER NATIONAL CITIES Hi 78 41 48 30 35 52 67 22 81 57 40 52 60 68 83 76 82 44 40 46 52 33 56 38 52 tuary of Astoria is in charge of the arrangements. Feb. 18, 2018 LUPER, Kathy I., 64, of WASHINGTON Thursday’s Daily Game: 1-5-0 Thursday’s Keno: 05-06-16-17- 19-20-21-23-28-29-33-38-42- 56-57-60-69-73-75-77 Thursday’s Match 4: 03-09- 10-18 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018 Tonight's Sky: The First Quarter Moon (12:09 a.m.) will be prominent in the evening sky, setting around midnight. Today Lo 63 36 34 15 23 34 42 2 72 43 30 32 42 62 71 62 70 40 33 44 41 14 41 34 48 Will small survive? Will small apple growers someday be gone and a few large companies grow, pack and sell all the fruit? Lyall says it’s hard to know, and that it depends on what government and large buyers want, since they created the current economic model. Michael Butler, CEO of Cascadia Capital, a Seattle investment bank, believes most small growers will eventually die out and six to eight large companies will remain. A few small growers will survive if they have a niche product and link up with a large company that can distribute their fruit, he said. The best model, he said, is the large company growing, packing and selling mostly its own fruit with the remainder from small growers. “We find a lot of mid-sized companies filling 30 percent of their volume with their own fruit and 70 percent with fruit of small growers. These com- panies are in the danger zone,” Butler said. PUBLIC MEETINGS La Grande 24/35 Roseburg 35/47 Brookings 38/48 Mar 24 John Day 25/34 Bend 26/37 Medford 30/45 UNDER THE SKY High 8.8 ft. 6.6 ft. Prineville 25/39 Lebanon 36/47 Eugene 34/47 New Pendleton 28/38 The Dalles 29/45 Portland 36/48 Sunset tonight ........................... 5:53 p.m. Sunrise Saturday ........................ 7:04 a.m. Moonrise today ......................... 11:27 a.m. Moonset today ............................ 1:31 a.m. City Atlanta Boston Chicago Denver Des Moines Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Honolulu Indianapolis Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Memphis Miami Nashville New Orleans New York Oklahoma City Philadelphia St. Louis Salt Lake City San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC Breezy and chilly with rain 47 39 Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs. ASTORIA 37/48 SUN AND MOON Time 7:14 a.m. 9:14 p.m. TUESDAY 46 36 REGIONAL WEATHER Precipitation Thursday .......................................... 0.00" Month to date ................................... 4.70" Normal month to date ....................... 5.68" Year to date .................................... 16.06" Normal year to date ........................ 15.88" Mar 1 45 33 A bit of snow and rain in the a.m.; cloudy Astoria through Thursday. Temperatures High/low ....................................... 42°/27° Normal high/low ........................... 52°/37° Record high ............................ 67° in 1908 Record low ............................. 27° in 2018 Full MONDAY 48 39 Cloudy with a bit of snow and rain A different era “It used to be a farm fam- ily was a basic unit of labor or production in a tree fruit opera- tion. A man and wife and kids could run 30 to 60 acres and do most of the work themselves, hire help at harvest and make a living. It’s become increasingly difficult to do that,” Lyall said. “Towns, once prosperous middle class communities on tree fruit, are now less than that. They’re reliant on government assistance programs. There’s a general decline in the social health of communities as we see more crime and social dysfunc- tion. That’s been the tragedy of the whole thing,” he said. The shift has impacted whole communities, he said. “It use to be Wenatchee was the Apple Capital of the World and was a very attractive small city on the banks of the Columbia, a desirable place to live,” Lyall said. “I would say the apple capital now is Mat- tawa, but no one wants to move to Mattawa. It’s a town signifi- cantly below average income and socioeconomic levels.” Consolidation of retailers has forced the consolidation of the tree fruit industry and the new model is about a dozen large companies controlling around 80 percent of produc- tion and sales. Large compa- nies are better equipped to deal with labor, mechanization and replanting costs and govern- ment regulations, but “it’s com- ing at a large socio-economic CORRECTIONS SATURDAY 37 Apple history A closer look at Census of Agriculture numbers shows 27,150 Washington state farms producing apples in 1910, increasing to 35,535 in 1920 and 46,240 in 1925. The Great Depression hit them hard, and many growers went bankrupt. Federal loans eventually helped save the industry. USDA also recommended the formation of the Washing- ton Growers Clearing House Association, which started in Wenatchee in 1941 and tracked fruit prices, which helped growers and packers determine prices. But the biggest drop was from 35,571 farms in 1950 to 10,318 just four years later. “The U.S. economy was booming after World War II. It was the only world economic power. A lot of people got out of farming, not just apples, but all farming, to make more money in the cities. It was a huge soci- etal shift,” O’Rourke said. The 1989 Alar scare — a suspicion that the pre-har- vest growth regulator caused cancer — crashed apple sales and prices and caused another multi-year decline in the ranks of growers. So did poor returns in the late 1990s. “I don’t think small grow- ers ever recovered from the Alar panic. That really shifted the economic model. It ended the industry dominance of the small family farmer and the co-op (grower-owned pack- ing cooperative) model,” Lyall said. DEATHS FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA TONIGHT “There are specialized niches where small growers can shine if they can get the capital. They can’t make it on low-priced mainstream variet- ies,” he said. cost to the farming commu- nities of Central Washington and it’s a subject no one wants to touch with a 10-foot pole,” Lyall said. Regulations have always been the bane of small grow- ers because they take the focus away from growing fruit and reduce nimbleness, he said. Larger retailers favor food safety regulations but aren’t willing to pass increased costs on to consumers, he said. He credits President Donald Trump with rolling back regu- lations that, he says, grew the most under presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. It’s also ironic that big com- panies complain about outside investors driving up land prices even as they partner with them to buy more land and plant more trees to have enough fruit volume for new packing lines, making land unaffordable, causing overproduction and consolidation, he said. W c r r c pc r s sn sh r c pc pc r pc c sh r r r c sn pc sn c Hi 80 54 44 33 35 41 56 13 83 55 44 56 63 73 84 75 85 56 54 58 57 33 57 45 62 Sat. Lo 65 35 32 13 23 37 31 -1 71 39 23 39 45 46 73 58 68 44 24 46 37 23 41 37 53 Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. W c c r pc i r s pc sh r r s s t pc t pc r r r r pc pc c sh Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice. OBITUARY POLICY The Daily Astorian publishes paid obituaries. The obituary can include a small photo and, for veterans, a flag symbol at no charge. The deadline for all obituaries is 9 a.m. the business day prior. Obituaries may be edited for spelling, proper punctuation and style. Death notices and upcoming services will be published at no charge. Notices must be submitted by 9 a.m. the day of publication. Obituaries and notices may be submitted online at www.dailyastorian.com/forms/obits, by email at ewilson@dailyastorian.com, placed via the funeral home or in person at The Daily Astorian office, 949 Exchange St. in Astoria. For more information, call 503-325-3211, ext. 257. The Daily Astorian Established July 1, 1873 (USPS 035-000) Published daily, except Saturday and Sunday, by EO Media Group, 949 Exchange St., PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103 Telephone 503- 325-3211, 800-781-3211 or Fax 503-325-6573. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Daily Astorian, PO Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103-0210 www.dailyastorian.com MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press is entitled exclusively to the use for republication of all the local news printed in this newspaper. SUBSCRIBER TO THE NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE MEMBER CERTIFIED AUDIT OF CIRCULATIONS, INC. 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