A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2021
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BRIEFING
Female farmers
get a boost
Female farmers in Or-
egon and Washington
will receive training and
expertise in delivering
their products to market
as part of a new business
accelerator established by
the National Association
of State Departments of
Agriculture Foundation.
The Women’s Farm-
2Food Accelerator began
this month in partnership
with the Oregon De-
partment of Agriculture,
Washington State De-
partment of Agriculture,
Oregon State University
Food Innovation Center
and Union Kitchen, a D.C.-
based food and beverage
business incubator.
Twenty women — 10
from Oregon, 10 from
Washington — were ac-
cepted into the program.
Courses began March 3,
spanning four main ses-
sions including product
launch, marketing, lab
testing, and pricing and
pitching to buyers.
In its first year, the
accelerator is focused
on women who grow
specialty crops for val-
ue-added ingredients. It
is designed to support
small farms with less than
$500,000 in annual gross
sales and fewer than 20
employees.
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Oregon won’t say how much it
has lost to unemployment fraud
BY SARA CLINE
The Associated Press/Report for America
PORTLAND — Oregon officials
continue to refuse to publicly dis-
close how much money the state has
lost to unemployment insurance
fraud during the pandemic, despite
neighboring states Washington and
California reporting huge sums of
money wrongly paid after their sys-
tems were targeted by sophisticated
hackers.
The Oregon Employment De-
partment says it is not “comfortable”
disclosing the information because it
could provide criminals an opening
to exploit their systems further.
“Although some other states have
shared fraud-related data, the Ore-
gon Employment Department is not
sharing any dollar amounts — in-
cluding broad estimates — for how
much we have identified as fraud, or
breakdowns of other numbers,” said
Melanni Rosales, the communica-
tions director for the department.
“That information could shed light
on what types of things we find, and
when we find them, and could po-
tentially aid criminal schemers.”
Nationwide fraud has overwhelmed
state unemployment agencies and
antiquated benefit systems that are
easy targets for persistent criminals. It
has delayed legitimate payments and
turned thousands of Americans into
victims of identity theft.
California has been the biggest
target, having distributed an esti-
mated $11 billion in fraudulent pay-
ments and an additional $19 billion
in suspect accounts.
Washington state was among the
first hit with fraudulent unemploy-
ment claims . More than 122,000
fraudulent claims made in the state
siphoned $600 million. As of Janu-
ary, Washington was able to recover
$357 million.
Gov. Kate Brown agrees with the
decision not to release the informa-
tion, saying that the goal is to preserve
the integrity of the unemployment in-
surance system and trust fund.
However, lawmakers are divided
over the department’s refusal to say
how much it has lost.
An idea
sprouted
during a wedding
Stock gains reverse
across the board
Stocks closed broadly
lower Tuesday and gave
back nearly all of their
gains from a day earlier
as technology, industrial
and bank stocks fell.
The S&P 500 fell
30.07 points, or 0.8%,
to 3,910.52. Technology
stocks were the big-
gest drag on the market
and pushed the Nasdaq
149.85 points lower, or
1.1%, to 13,227.70. The
Dow Jones Industrial Av-
erage fell 308.05 points,
or 0.9% to 32,423.15.
Stocks of smaller com-
panies, which have far
outpaced the rest of the
market this year, fell even
more. The Russell 2000 in-
dex gave back 3.6%.
Industrial and health
care companies also ac-
counted for a good part of
the selling. Energy stocks
helped drag down the
market too as oil prices fell.
Investors continue to
be focused on the fu-
ture outlook for the U.S.
economy as millions of
Americans get vaccinated
every day. Investors are
wavering between opti-
mism that vaccines might
allow business and travel
to return to normal and
fears of higher inflation
after struggling econo-
mies were flooded with
credit and government
spending.
bendbulletin.com/business
Lily and Luke
Klimaszewski with their
son, Emmett, in one of
their plant propagation
greenhouses. The
Klimaszewskis have
been running Lil’
Starts, an urban farm
and plant nursery in
Portland, since 2013.
Aliya Hall/For the Capital Press
Oregon couple started a small community farm soon after
getting married and are thriving even amid a pandemic
BY ALIYA HALL • For the Capital Press
P
ORTLAND — Originally, Lil’ Starts
Urban Farm was strictly a plant
nursery. It wasn’t until Lily and
Luke Klimaszewski got engaged
and decided to grow all the food for their
wedding that they began growing produce.
“We way overplanted, and by June we
were swimming in produce,” Lily Kli-
maszewski said, adding that they were
already selling their plants at farmers
markets and were able to sell the excess
produce alongside them.
From there, the business blossomed.
Lil’ Starts first began in 2013. The farm
sells at farmers markets, through their
community supported agriculture pro-
gram and directly to restaurants. They
SILVER
$25.20 -.54
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EURO
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COVID-19 relief
Bill would offer some
breaks on payroll taxes
The Oregonian
A bipartisan group of Oregon lawmakers
has introduced a bill that would enable busi-
nesses that saw big payroll tax hikes due to
the COVID-19 pandemic to have a portion
of those bills forgiven.
Oregon employers pay higher unemploy-
ment insurance taxes when the state’s jobless
rate goes up. Those taxes help replenish Or-
egon’s unemployment insurance trust fund,
which is used to pay jobless claims.
About 20% of Oregon employers — in-
cluding the restaurants, bars, gyms and other
businesses hardest hit by the pandemic — are
set to cover nearly all of the projected $183
million increase in unemployment taxes
during 2021 . However, House Bill 3389 aims
to ease the burden on those employers.
farm half an acre on their property and in
2018 expanded to 4.5 acres they lease at
the Headwaters Incubator Farm.
It wasn’t until this year that the income
from the farm completely supported them.
Despite the challenges with the pandemic,
Klimaszewski said that was proof that
small scale agriculture is sustainable.
“Last year people needed something
to do and wanted to get more connected
to anything, but also where their food is
coming from,” she said. “Part of it is that
with everything going on, people want
to feel good about what’s going on with
their money, and supporting a small farm
makes them feel good.”
When they first started their CSA, they
had 12 members. Now they have sold out
with 160 members.
Sustainability is an important aspect of
Lil’ Starts farm. They only use non-GMO
seeds and both their plants and produce
are free of pesticides and synthetic fertil-
izers. They make their own soil mix, and
their compost is locally sourced.
Along with it being better for the envi-
ronment, Klimaszewski said that it’s ac-
tually harder to run a small farm without
sustainability being a keystone. She said
they couldn’t even find GMO seeds and ar-
en’t big enough to get an account at a farm
supply store. Synthetic fertilizer was also
more expensive than organic, she added.
“It’s not a decision we make — it’s the
only decision to make,” she said before
adding that she doesn’t want to demean
conventional farmers because everyone
has reasons for the way they farm.
They have four employees plus a farm
manager and want to help support other
farmers who are starting out. Eventually,
they also want to give land back to the
tribe it originally belonged to.
The biggest challenge for Klimaszewski is
access to land. Before they moved to Head-
waters Incubator Farm they had to find
land in their neighborhood. Now their big-
gest goal is finding their “forever farm.”
What they expected to be a challenge
was selling the product, but that “hap-
pened organically,” Klimaszewski said. In
fact, it was that community that has been
the most rewarding part of what they do.
“Especially this past year, the CSA and
customers kept us in the community,” she
said.
— Bulletin wire reports
Regal Cinemas to start reopening its theaters in April
BY JAKE COYLE
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Regal Cinemas, the sec-
ond largest movie theater chain in the U.S.,
will reopen beginning April 2, its parent
company, Cineworld Group, announced
Tuesday.
Regal had been one of most notable
holdouts in the gradual reopening of cine-
mas nationwide. For nearly half a year, its
7,211 screens and 549 theaters in the U.S.
have been dark. Doors will open early next
month with attendance limited to 25% to
50% capacity in about 500 locations.
The company hasn’t specified which loca-
tions will reopen or in what sequence. It op-
erates 18 theaters in Oregon .
In Oregon, movie theaters in counties
designated by the state to be at high risk
of coronavirus spread are allowed to open
with 25% occupancy or with 50 people to-
tal, whichever is smaller. Movie theaters in
moderate-risk counties can open with 50%
occupancy or 100 people total, whichever
is smaller. Theaters in both risk categories
must close by 11 p.m. daily. Theaters must
remain closed in extreme-risk counties.
Cineworld also agreed to a new multi-
year deal with Warner Bros. Beginning next
year, the studio’s releases will have a 45-day
exclusive window at Regal cinemas, roughly
slicing in half the traditional period. That
doesn’t apply to Warner releases this year,
which are streaming simultaneously on
HBO Max when they open in theaters.
Regal’s April 2 reopening coincides with
the release of Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla vs.
Kong.”
The agreement is the latest in a reordering
of the theatrical marketplace — a sea change
accelerated by the pandemic but viewed
as long-in-coming by some analysts given
the rise in streaming services. About half of
North American theaters were open as of
last week, according to data firm Comscore.
The Oregonian contributed to this report.
Disney shifts ‘Black Widow,’ doubling
down on streaming vs. theaters
The Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday overhauled its upcom-
ing film release plans, postponing some of its biggest
films and shifting Marvel’s “Black Widow,” among other ti-
tles, to Disney+ the same time they arrive in theaters.
“Black Widow,” once planned to debut in May 2020,
had been set to kickoff the summer movie season on May
7. It will instead premiere July 9. And it will do so simulta-
neously on the company’s streaming platform for a $30
early-access fee.
For theaters, the announcement was a blow to hopes
of an imminent recovery. While bigger and bigger films
have turned to streaming and premium-on-demand
in recent months, Marvel movies are Hollywood’s most
bankable box-office behemoths.
Disney will instead launch its summer with “Cruella” on
its previously scheduled date, May 28. The “101 Dalmatians”
spinoff with Emma Stone will also premiere in both the-
aters and on Disney+ for $30 — the same hybrid approach
the studio took with the recent release of “Raya and the Last
Marvel Studios/Disney via AP
“Black Widow,” starring Scarlett Johansson and the
latest movie in Marvel’s lineup, will be released in
July in theaters — and on Disney+ for $30.
Dragon.” The Pixar film “Luca” will bypass theaters entirely.
On June 18, it will debut exclusively on Disney+.
Some studios have begun to move up, not postpone,
their biggest films. Paramount Pictures moved “A Quiet
Place Part II” from September to May 28.
— Associated Press