KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
THURSDAy, MAy 5, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
OT law
will prompt
changes in
Oregon ag
O
regon Gov. Kate Brown has
signed legislation that will grant
farmworkers overtime pay after
40 hours of work beginning in 2027.
Under the law, farmworkers will be
owed time-and-a-half wages after 55
weekly hours of work in 2023, after 48
hours of work in 2025-26 and after 40
hours per week beginning in 2027.
The legislation changes a farm
pay formula that has stood for 84
years, and will lead to big changes
for both employers and employees.
The Fair Labor Standards Act, passed
by Congress in 1938, established a federal
minimum wage and provided for over-
time pay for work beyond 40 hours.
The act also provided 19 job classifi-
cations, including farmworkers, that
are exempt from the overtime rule.
Critics argue the exemption was the
product of racism and pandering to the
needs of special interests — big, “corpo-
rate” farming concerns. Farmers of every
scale note that farm work is distinct from
factory production. The nature of most
farm work makes it difficult to schedule in
eight-hour days and 40-hour work weeks.
The economics of agriculture have
not changed since 1938. Farmers still
are price takers, not price makers, who
cannot simply pass along higher labor
costs to consumers the way retail-
ers and manufacturers, though limited
by the impacts of competition, do.
Gov. Brown acknowledged the bill
she signed is not perfect. She points out
the bill allows for a phase-in for over-
time pay, a provision she says will give
farm interests time to negotiate changes
and improvements to the legislation.
No doubt farm interests will try
to get the law changed. But, it seems
unlikely there will be significant changes
made. It is more likely that farm-
ers and processors will use the grace
period to find ways they can change
their operations to reduce labor costs.
Mary Anne Cooper, vice president
of government affairs at the Oregon
Farm Bureau, said farm employ-
ees also will lose out when employ-
ers can’t afford to hire more workers
or must offer workers fewer hours.
“We think this legislation will have
devastating consequences for our
family farms and their employees, will
likely result in significantly reduced
farm employment in Oregon and is
really going to change the landscape
of Oregon agriculture,” Cooper said.
Innovators are busy designing machines
that can do intricate and delicate work
such as picking fruit and pruning trees.
Higher labor costs will hasten that effort.
Farmers who produce labor-intensive
crops also are weighing the profit potential
of growing crops that require less labor.
Those crops generally are not as valuable
as the labor-intensive crops, but for smaller
producers the potential reductions in costs
could make those crops more viable.
Inevitably, some farmers will decide
they can’t afford higher labor costs,
increased automation or changes in
their cropping plans. They will sell
out to a larger operation that can.
We think everyone performing
farm work should be paid as much
as business conditions allow. But
we know that mandating overtime
won’t change the basic economics.
The changing climate and elk
BILL
ANEY
THIS LAND IS OUR LAND
C
limate change is real, and it is
affecting our Blue Mountains.
There are local signs of global
climate change all around us. Hotter
and earlier summers, lower snow-
pack that melts off earlier, more severe
spring flooding and very low midsum-
mer stream flows are becoming the new
normal.
And don’t get me started about the
length and severity of our summer fire
season.
Now we are starting to see scientific
evidence of how these climate changes
are affecting the plants and wildlife of
the Blues. This research points out how
significant, and how complicated, the
effects of a warming climate are on those
creatures that share the earth with us.
I recently heard a presentation that
explained the effects of changing spring
and summer weather patterns on our
native bee species. Research at three
sites in Northeastern Oregon found that
unusually warm temperatures early in
the summer have a dramatic negative
impact on bumblebees, which evolved
in cooler climates. These warmer early
season temperatures also cause some
flowering plants to bloom, die back and
dry out earlier, providing less food for
our bees during the peak of the summer.
We can’t afford to try to live without
bees; 75% of our flowering plants rely
on bees for pollination. Maybe you can
live without wildflowers — but can you
live without blueberries? Or apples or
alfalfa?
OK, how about elk?
I heard another presentation this
winter that summarized research on
elk and climate change from the past 30
years at the Starkey Experimental Forest
between La Grande and Ukiah. Research
wildlife biologist Mike Wisdom shared
that the average temperature at Starkey
has increased about 2.5 degrees Fahren-
heit since the early 1990s, accompanied
by reduced snowpack and earlier melt.
This means less soil moisture in the late
summer and lower forage quality for
calves and nursing cow elk through the
summer.
Elk living in this warmer climate
gain less fat in spring and early summer,
have less body fat in fall and have calves
that are born later and therefore smaller
going into their first winter. As with the
bees, the period of peak forage quality
and quantity is coming out of sync with
the time it is most needed by elk herds,
and the elk may not be able to adjust
easily.
Another recent and interesting piece
of research into climate change and
wildlife comes from the Midwest. This
research evaluated songbird nesting
dates from the past 143 years and found
that for 24 species of birds the average
date of nesting has advanced an aver-
age of 25 days. These birds are nesting
more than three weeks earlier than they
were prior to the widespread use of the
internal combustion engine.
The problem is when seasonal
happenings that have been synchro-
nized over time suddenly come undone.
Eons of evolution have brought wild-
life to time their life events with peak
availability of quality food, water and
shelter. Bees need plants to flower at the
right time. Birds need insects to provide
a source of protein during the nesting
season. Elk need quality forage to meet
the demands of nursing mothers and
rapidly growing calves.
Nature doesn’t use an appointment
calendar, but there are a variety of envi-
ronmental cues that synchronize seasons
when they work right. Day length,
temperature, rainfall, snowmelt; these
are all cues that plants and animals use
to time their lifecycles to maximize their
chances of survival. When things fall out
of sync, the system comes apart. Plants
don’t get pollinated, birds arrive on
their nesting area before the local hatch
of insects, elk calves don’t get enough
summer nutrition to survive the winter.
Global climate change isn’t just
happening in far-off places and is
more than melting glaciers and polar
ice caps or flooded low-lying Pacific
Island villages. It is impacting our Blues
in ways that we are just beginning to
understand, and without significant
changes in the ways we use fossil fuels
the future is going to be very different
for us and generations to follow.
———
Bill Aney is a forester and wildlife biol-
ogist living in Pendleton and loving the
Blue Mountains.
YOUR VIEWS
Morrow County
has a winner in
Commissioner Lindsay
I am writing to offer a strong endorse-
ment for Melissa Lindsay as a candidate
for reelection to the Morrow County
Board of Commissioners.
I first met Melissa during her 15-year
tenure as a vice president and manager
of the mortgage division of the Bank of
Eastern Oregon, before she stepped down
to become an integral part of a growing
family farming operation.
Counties do many things, but a keen
awareness of fiscal issues is vital in the
management of county budgets. She
brings a wealth of experience to the job
and that has not gone unnoticed. She is
now finishing a term as treasurer of the
Association of Oregon Counties, having
been selected by her peers. As president
of that organization, I work closely with
Commissioner Lindsay on a regular basis.
Umatilla and Morrow counties have
forged a strong partnership, and we
work together often on matters of mutual
interest. Commissioner Lindsay has
been a strong supporter of that effort that
has proven beneficial for both counties
as a way of developing a stronger voice
for our portion of Eastern Oregon.
She is energetic, has roots deep in
DEADLINE FOR ELECTION LETTERS
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with all the letters we receive and allow for responses before Election Day, if necessary.
We run local letters of endorsement on a first-come, first-served basis. Please submit
your endorsement letters to the editor by 5 p.m. on Monday, May 9. You can email
them to editor@eastoregonian.com, or mail them to East Oregonian, c/o Andrew Cut-
ler, 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR 97801.
We will publish our last letters on Saturday, May 14. Any letters received after the dead-
line will not run. Election Day is May 17.
Morrow County, and is a delight to work
with. From my vantage point, Morrow
County has a winner in commissioner
Lindsay and the voters would be wise to
return her to office.
George Murdock, Umatilla County
commissioner
Pendleton
Susan Bower ready
to represent, impact
Umatilla County
I have known and worked with Susan
Bower for the 16 years that she has lived
in Umatilla County. We worked together
on urban renewal projects and chamber
of commerce projects.
Susan has a gift of identifying root
causes of problems, developing a vision
and creating a plan. She then assists in
implementation of the plan to make a
difference. Susan has taken those expe-
riences and a track record of community
development to her personal businesses,
Eastern Oregon Business Source, started
in 2007.
She has focused on community devel-
opment, training and grant writing that
has benefited the entire county. She
believes in smart economic develop-
ment, through public private partner-
ships, to create jobs, fund infrastructure
and generate a broadened tax base for
Umatilla County.
Please join me in voting Susan
Bower for county commissioner. She
is ready to represent and impact our
countywide issues.
Jill Thorne
Pendleton