A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2021
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BRIEFING
Onion season
wrapping up
Onion packer-shippers
in southeastern Oregon
and southwestern Idaho
are wrapping up a 2020-
21 marketing season that
saw continued impacts
from COVID-19. The re-
gion, home to more than
two dozen fresh-pack
sheds, produces 40-45%
of U.S. onions consumed
from September through
March.
The U.S. Department
of Agriculture on Monday
reported a 50-pound sack
of jumbo yellow onions
from the Idaho-Oregon
region sold for $6 to $7.50,
mostly $6. Year-earlier
prices were $5 to $6.
Shipments to date
totaled 28,219, up from
24,572.
Kay Riley, general man-
ager at said Snake River
Produce, said the busi-
ness’s shipment volume
increased slightly from a
year ago, when the crop
was smaller and demand
plunged in the second
half of March as coronavi-
rus disruptions shut down
many restaurants.
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State unemployment drops to 6 %
Oregon added 20,000
jobs last month
BY MIKE ROGOWAY
The Oregonian
Oregon’s jobless rate dropped
slightly in March, according
to new data released Tuesday
from the Oregon Employment
Department, falling a tenth of a
percentage point to 6.0%.
Oregon added 20,000 jobs
last month. Most of the gains
were in the leisure and hospi-
tality sector as bars and restau-
rants steadily reopened after
a broad wintertime shutdown
that accompanied a spike in
COVID-19 cases.
The state has now regained
54% of the jobs lost in the early
days of the pandemic, 153,100
altogether. Oregon’s jobless
rate is less than half its peak 11
months ago, 13.2%, but it’s still
well above the historic lows
around 3.5% in the months be-
fore the pandemic hit.
Oregon’s unemployment
rate in March matched the
national figure. But the state’s
unemployment rate has barely
budged since December.
And more than 9,000 Or-
egonians filed new jobless
claims in each of the past two
weeks, the fastest pace of new
filings since January.
Permanent layoffs make up
a rising share of all job cuts,
indicating that Oregonians los-
ing their jobs now don’t expect
their employers will ever call
them back to work. That could
slow the pace of recovery in the
months ahead.
Meanwhile, many workers
have exhausted their eligibility
under prior jobless programs
after a year of unemployment.
That doesn’t necessarily mean
the end of benefits payments,
but it does require that unem-
ployed workers make a compli-
cated shift to extend their aid.
That’s produced a flood of
phone calls to the employment
department, more than at any
point since the early days of
Oregon’s “stay home” order
a year ago. The department’s
phone lines remain jammed, as
they have been for most of the
past year, and the agency says it
expects to take until the end of
the year to unclog them.
So for now, the department
recommends people with
questions about their claims
use its online Contact Us form
to make inquiries about their
benefits.
The form spares laid-off
workers the anxiety and frus-
tration of trying to get through
the department’s exasperating
phone system, but 80% of in-
quiries submitted online take
more than a week to resolve.
Organic farm near Portland
Something for everyone
Consumer prices
increase 0.6%
U.S. consumer prices
increased 0.6% in March,
the biggest uptick since
2012, while inflation over
the past year jumped
2.6%. The big gains had
been anticipated and are
largely expected to be
a temporary blip rather
than a reawakening of
long dormant inflation.
The increase in the
Labor Department’s con-
sumer price index Tuesday
followed a 0.4% increase
in February .
The year-over-year
increase was far greater
than the 1.7% increase for
the 12-month change the
previous month and while
it easily exceeded the Fed-
eral Reserve’s 2% target
for inflation, the 2.6% in-
crease in March was more
of a snapshot of a period
of time last year when
prices tumbled as much of
the world went into a pan-
demic lockdown.
For March, energy
prices increased 5%, led
by a 9.1% jump in gaso-
line prices. The gasoline
surge accounted for nearly
half of the monthly price
gain. Food prices edged
up 0.1% in March and are
3.5% higher than a year
ago.
U.S. investigates
GM air bags
The U.S. government’s
highway safety agency is
investigating complaints
that the air bags may not
inflate in a crash on thou-
sands of General Motors
vehicles.
The National Highway
Traffic Safety Administra-
tion said the probe covers
nearly 750,000 Chevrolet,
Cadillac and GMC vehi-
cles from the 2020 and
2021 model years. Most
are full-size pickup trucks
and SUVs.
The agency says in doc-
uments posted Tuesday
on its website that it has
15 complaints of air bag
malfunctions, including
six crashes with eight re-
ported injuries.
In a statement, GM
contradicted NHTSA’s
complaints, saying it’s not
aware of air bags failing to
inflate on roadways due to
the problem.
The probe covers Chev-
rolet Silverado and GMC
Sierra pickups as well as
Chevy Tahoe and Subur-
ban SUVs.
Also included are GMC
Yukon and Cadillac Esca-
lade SUVs, and the Cadil-
lac CT4 and CT5 sedans
and XT4 SUVs.
— Bulletin wire reports
Aliya Hall/For the Capital Press
Marketing Director Sofia Kondilis stands in front of the Bella Organic Farm Store and Winery Tasting Room. Kondilis’ family bought the farm in 2004.
BY ALIYA HALL
For the Capital Press
S
AUVIE ISLAND — Mar-
keting Director Sofia
Kondilis describes Bella
Organic as “the full pack-
age.” The 100-acre organic farm
offers everything from U-pick, hay
rides, events, food, and tastings of
its own beer to wine and cider.
“We’re slowly becoming known
for, not just being a farm or a win-
ery, we’re an experience,” Kondilis
said.
Kondilis’ parents bought the
farm in 2004 and intended to use
the land to build their house. In-
stead, they decided to run the
farm because it was already transi-
tioning from no-spray to organic.
The farm sells homemade Leb-
anese style gyros along with other
recipes from her mother in its
food pavilion. The sauces for sale
in the farm store are her recipes.
“We’ve done a lot of canning
and making sauces,” Kondilis ex-
plained. “It really helped with
planning for how much to plant.
We use our product for all differ-
ent things.”
For the winery, they grow some
of their grapes on land in Dundee
and buy from other farms. Kondi-
lis added that although they’re not
the winemakers, people on staff
produce the wine — but they are
learning how to create it.
“We don’t want to do it and not
understand it,” she said.
Going forward, Kondilis said
she’s looking forward to being
able to hold birthday parties, pic-
nics and holiday events like the
haunted corn maze and Easter
Business leaders urge Biden
to set ambitious climate goal
BY MATTHEW DALY
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — More
than 300 businesses and inves-
tors, including such giants as
Apple, Google, Microsoft and
Coca-Cola, are calling on the
Biden administration to set an
ambitious climate change goal
that would cut U.S. greenhouse
gas emissions by at least 50%
below 2005 levels by 2030.
The target would nearly
double the nation’s previous
commitment and require dra-
matic changes in the power,
transportation and other sec-
tors. President Joe Biden is
considering options for ex-
pected carbon reductions by
2030 ahead of a virtual climate
summit the United States is
hosting later this month.
The so-called Nationally
Determined Contribution is a
key milestone as Biden moves
toward his ultimate goal of net-
zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Biden has promised to reveal
the nonbinding but symboli-
cally important 2030 goal be-
fore the Earth Day summit
opens April 22.
“A bold 2030 target is needed
to catalyze a zero-emissions
future, spur a robust economic
recovery, create millions of
well-paying jobs and allow the
U.S. to ‘build back better’ from
the pandemic,’’ the businesses
and investors said in a letter to
Biden.
“New investment in clean
energy, energy efficiency and
clean transportation can build
a strong, more equitable and
more inclusive American econ-
omy,’’ they wrote. The letter
was organized by the We Mean
Business coalition, a group of
companies that support action
to accelerate the transition to a
carbon-free economy.
An ambitious 2030 target
would guide the federal gov-
ernment’s approach to sustain-
able and resilient infrastruc-
ture, as well as zero-emissions
vehicles and buildings, and
“would inspire other industrial-
ized nations to set bold targets
of their own,’’ the group wrote.
Besides the tech and con-
sumer products giants, compa-
nies with major energy hold-
ings, including Exelon, General
Electric, PG&E and Edison
International, also signed the
letter.
egg hunts. They also want to in-
clude more art at their farm in the
future, and are looking into how
best to incorporate it.
The most rewarding aspect for
Kondilis is the interaction with the
customers who tell her how much
Bella Organic means to them. She
said that a few years ago they were
considering selling the farm due
to the commute from their home,
but instead relocated their family
to be closer.
“We just need this space. It’s like
home,” she said.
Oregon employers mull
requiring vaccinations
The Associated Press
PORTLAND — A large
winery in Oregon has no-
tified its workers that they
must show proof they’ve re-
ceived the COVID-19 vac-
cine by May 20.
Many workplaces are
weighing similar require-
ments as pandemic restric-
tions loosen, Oregon Public
Broadcasting reported.
King Estate Winery is on
more than a thousand acres
outside Eugene. Chief Op-
erating Officer Brent Stone
said it’s like a small city, with
about 70 employees and
workers working close to-
gether on bottling lines. He
said concerns about work-
place safety and preventing a
virus outbreak are behind the
vaccine requirement.
“It’s coming from a really
good place, in our minds,”
Stone said. “It’s really in-
tended to be supportive and
not punitive by any means.”
Stone said King Estate has
offered on-site vaccination
clinics and an additional va-
cation day as incentive, with
paid sick time for vaccine re-
covery. During the pandemic,
weekly food boxes have been
available to workers and the
winery boosted its minimum
wage to $15 an hour.
University of Oregon Law
School Associate Professor
Liz Tippet said employers
can require their workers to
get the vaccine, with some
exemptions. But she expects
most won’t go that far. It’s also
in people’s interest to get the
vaccine, especially those who
interact a lot with others in
the workplace, she added.