NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, March 21, 2020
CORONAVIRUS
Farmers keep fl exible in face of coronavirus impacts
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SALEM — Growers,
co-ops and agencies are
fi guring out ways to keep
farms running amid a wave
of coronavirus concerns.
Several farmers and
agency
representatives
spoke during a Washington
Young Farmers Coalition
web seminar on farm resil-
ience in response to coro-
navirus impacts that range
from restaurant closures to a
shortage of supplies.
In Spokane, Washington,
the LINC Foods cooperative
primarily sells to restaurants
and institutions. The major-
ity of those customers are
now closed, said co-founder
Beth Robinette, who is
also a rancher in Cheney,
Washington.
The co-op is shifting
to its vegetable Commu-
nity Supported Agricul-
ture (CSA) subscription pro-
gram as quickly as possible.
The program usually begins
in June, but LINC is fi gur-
ing out ways customers can
order online sooner, Robi-
nette said.
“It’s defi nitely pretty
challenging times,” she said.
“We’re just trying to play
out as many scenarios as
Capital Press Photo/Matthew Weaver
Farmer Dan Sproule, left, of Medical Lake, Wash., with LINC Foods co-founder Beth Rob-
inette. Robinette said during a webinar the co-op is shifting to its Community Supported
Agriculture program because many of the restaurants it supplies are closed because of the
coronavirus outbreak.
possible and be prepared for
whatever happens.”
Many people are stock-
ing up on meat, which ben-
efi ts Robinette’s custom beef
operation that primarily sells
directly to consumers. She
may explore selling more
beef by the cut, she said.
“Our family ranch was
really founded in the midst
of the Depression, and we’ve
basically operated with a
Depression-era mentality
for the last 80-some years,”
she said. “In a lot of ways, I
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
think we have been prepar-
ing for this moment for a
long time.”
The ranch is set up to be
minimal-input, she said.
“We have just been so
averse to having any kind
of debt on our ranch, which
Partly sunny
62° 35°
63° 41°
Cooler; a shower in
the p.m.
Some sun, a
shower in the p.m.
Cool with some
sun
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
55° 33°
51° 33°
54° 34°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
68° 33°
67° 44°
60° 34°
57° 37°
59° 37°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
53/36
56/30
66/31
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
61/38
Lewiston
60/34
68/33
Astoria
52/36
Pullman
Yakima 66/33
59/32
61/36
Portland
Hermiston
62/38
The Dalles 68/33
Salem
Corvallis
62/33
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
58/29
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
63/34
61/28
58/31
Ontario
65/32
Caldwell
Burns
63°
29°
59°
35°
76° (1947) 19° (1943)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
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Albany
62/32
0.00"
0.12"
0.61"
0.48"
3.49"
2.88"
WINDS (in mph)
62/32
58/24
0.00"
0.61"
0.87"
4.67"
5.24"
3.42"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 55/26
62/35
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
62/35
67/35
62°
33°
56°
36°
75° (1911) 18° (1913)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
58/32
Aberdeen
57/31
62/35
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
57/39
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
68/36
Sun.
NW 3-6
WNW 6-12
SSW 4-8
SSW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
55/24
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
BOISE, Idaho — The
Idaho House ended its legis-
lative session on Friday after
balancing fears of spreading
the coronavirus with poten-
tial vetoes of several bills
representatives will now be
powerless to override.
The House voted 32-28
to end the session a day after
the Senate went home. They
would have needed to stay
fi ve more days to wait out a
veto decision by Republican
Gov. Brad Little.
“Under ordinary circum-
stance, we’d have stayed and
let, and I believe the Sen-
ate would have stayed, and
let the fi ve days toll,” said
Republican House Speaker
Scott Bedke. The coronavi-
rus “caused enough concern
that has made people wonder
about the wisdom of going
home and coming back on
Monday.”
One bill that could be
vetoed bans transgender peo-
ple from changing the sex
listed on their birth certifi -
6:56 a.m.
7:09 p.m.
6:18 a.m.
4:34 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
Mar 24
Apr 1
Apr 7
Apr 14
utive director of the Seat-
tle Neighborhood Farmers
Market, said her organiza-
tion is surveying members
to gauge immediate impacts
and needs. Priorities are
working with government to
safely reopen permitted and
regulated farmers markets
and organizing emergency
relief funding and fundrais-
ing a stop-gap for farms that
cannot pivot to new delivery
methods, she said.
Farmers who think their
businesses could experi-
ence economic impacts due
to the virus are encour-
aged to apply for the U.S.
Small Business Administra-
tion’s disaster and economic
injury loans, said Laura
Raymond, manager of the
state Department of Agri-
culture’s regional markets
program.
“State, local and fed-
eral agencies right now are
in fast emergency response
mode,” Raymond said.
“There are a lot of people
out there who are ready to
help, and they’re trying to
fi gure out how. We’re all in it
together, and there is a lot of
action happening.”
The seminar drew 300 to
400 people.Two-thirds were
producers and one-third
were service providers.
Idaho House ends legislative session
By KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press
Sunshine
I recognize is way easier
when you rented and bought
land in the 1930s and 1950s
than now,” she said, not-
ing the operation relies on
older vehicles and equip-
ment. “We just really try to
be extremely conservative in
our fi nancial planning.”
Puyallup, Washington,
farmer Amy Moreno-Sills
said “everything is so new
that we’re not making any
hard-and-fast decisions right
now. Everything is business
as usual as far as what day-
to-day work looks like.”
Moreno-Sills raises veg-
etables for the wholesale
market on 30 acres and has
6 acres of U-pick blueber-
ries. Her biggest concern is
procuring supplies, such as
packaging, she said.
“We’ve been getting our-
selves into a bit of debt to
pre-purchase those products
we need right now so we’ll
have them on hand when
things become harvestable,”
Moreno-Sills said.
Labor is up in the air, she
said.
“Maybe we’ll have a lot
of folks looking for work
or maybe we won’t have
(any) at all,” she said. “We
just have to be fl exible, like
every farmer is every year.”
Jennifer Antos, exec-
cates despite a federal court
ruling a previous Idaho ban
was unconstitutional, and
that the Idaho attorney gen-
eral’s offi ce says could end
up costing the state $1 mil-
lion if it goes to court again.
The other bill bans trans-
gender women from com-
peting in women’s sports
despite also getting warn-
ings that such a law is
unconstitutional.
Both bills had over-
whelming support among
Republicans in the House
and Senate in numbers great
enough to override a veto.
The governor has until
next week to make a deci-
sion. Little hasn’t indicated
his intentions. A handful of
large Idaho businesses have
asked him to veto the bills
because they make the state
look intolerant. Little on Fri-
day was traveling to health
districts around the state to
shore up defenses against the
coronavirus as new cases are
being reported almost daily.
And if Little vetoes any
bills?
“We will complain from
home, I guess, because
there’s no ability to call our-
selves back into session,”
said Bedke, noting the cur-
rent system could ultimately
be changed because it puts
the legislative branch at a
disadvantage.
Republican Rep. Barbara
Ehardt sponsored the bill
banning transgender women
from competing in women’s
sports that would apply to all
sports teams sponsored by
public schools, colleges and
universities. She has consis-
tently argued that allowing
the practice would negate
Title IX, the 1972 law barring
sex discrimination in edu-
cation and is credited with
opening up athletic competi-
tion for girls and women.
On Friday she voted to
keep the House in session.
She said she personally felt
safe from the virus, but
understood the votes of oth-
ers to go home.
“I support everyone in
how they personally felt they
needed to vote and what
they needed to do,” she said.
“These are unusual times.”
PUBLIC NOTICE
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 90° in Immokalee, Fla. Low -15° in Garrison, N.D.
OUTREACH FOOD PANTRY
Outreach Food Pantry located at 440 SW Emigrant Ave is
changing hours and procedures due to the Coronavirus.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
We are doing this for the safety of
our clients as well as our staff.
We are reducing hours of food distribution to
Mon - Thurs from 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM.
We will still distributing a standard
food box at those times.
It would be very helpful for existing clients to
bring the Link2Feed cards.
All clients need to call in the mornings
Mon - Thurs from 10:00 Am- 12:30 PM to
arrange pick up of food boxes in the afternoons.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
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