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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2016)
A6 Agriculture Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Where uncertainty grows Farmers worry who will control escaped genetically engineered bentgrass By Sean Ellis EO Media Group Eastern Oregon farmer Jer- ry Erstrom scouts for patches of genetically engineered creeping bentgrass on the banks of an irrigation ditch June 14. It doesn’t take him long to ind one. And then another, and another. The bentgrass was geneti- cally engineered to withstand applications of glyphosate herbicide, which makes it dif- icult to kill. Farmers such as Erstrom worry it will ultimately take over the countryside, clog irrigation ditches and affect shipments of crops to nations that don’t accept traces of ge- netically modiied organisms, or GMOs. “I’ve been doing weeds for 25 years and I promise you in ive years this (county) will be inundated with it,” said Er- strom, chairman of the Mal- heur County Weed Board. The bentgrass was meant for golf courses. Instead, after escaping from ield trials 13 years ago, it has taken root in Malheur and Jefferson coun- ties and ignited a debate about who should be responsible for controlling it in the future. Scotts Miracle-Gro Co., which was developing the grass for use mainly on golf course greens, said it is com- mitted to collaboratively working with growers and irrigation districts to control and eradicate the grass where possible. But some farmers believe a 10-year agreement Scotts EO Media Group/Sean Ellis Malheur County farmer Jerry Erstrom points out a genetically engineered creeping bentgrass plant June 14 on an irrigation ditch bank near Ontario. The grass, which was genetically modified by Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. to resist the Roundup weed killer, escaped from field trials in 2003 and has taken root in Malheur and Jefferson counties in Oregon and part of Canyon County in Idaho. recently reached with US- DA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow the company in a few years to essentially walk away from any responsibility for con- trolling the plant. “I think Scotts should be li- able for what they did but they are pretty much walking away from it,” said Malheur County farmer Rod Frahm. “Person- ally, I think since they created the problem, they should take care of it.” Scotts ‘committed’ Molly Jennings, director of public affairs for Scotts, told Capital Press in an email that claims the company is walking away from its responsibility are unfounded. “We are commit- ted, and have been, to a collab- orative, long-term management plan with local landowners, ir- rigation managers and others.” In an email response, USDA Public Affairs Specialist An- dre Bell also rejected the no- tion that the agreement allows Scotts to walk away from the problem. Scotts, in conjunction with Monsanto Corp., was devel- oping the genetically modiied creeping bentgrass to be resis- tant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, Mon- santo’s popular weed killer. But the grass escaped from ield trials in 2003 due to what USDA describes as a “wind event” and took root in Mal- heur and Jefferson counties in Oregon. According to Jennings, two wind storms resulted in seed heads scattering from the ield trial control area in August 2003. The plants were identiied outside the control area in 2004. Scotts has been surveying for and controlling the plant for several years. According to Scotts, the company identiied 424 plants in Malheur County and 441 plants in Jefferson County during spring spraying this year. A small number of the plants were found in Canyon County, Idaho, which is adja- cent to Malheur County. 10-year agreement During a March meeting with a top USDA oficial and Scotts representatives, some local farmers and irrigation dis- trict representatives challenged the terms of the agreement, reached in September. The agreement requires Scotts to continue to survey for and try to eradicate the bent- grass in 2016. In years 2 and 3, the company must provide technical assistance to affected farmers and irrigation districts and provide incentives for the adoption of best management practices to control the grass. The company will also con- duct outreach and education programs. In years 4 through 10, Scotts will pull back a little while con- tinuing to analyze the situation, educate growers and provide technical assistance, Sid Abel, assistant deputy director of USDA’s Biotechnology Regu- latory Services, said during the March meeting. Sales igures could make pot Oregon’s most valuable crop By Eric Mortenson Capital Bureau Sales and tax igures col- lected by state agencies may inally solve one of Oregon’s long-running farm crop ques- tions: whether marijuana is indeed the state’s most valuable crop, as cannabis advocates have always main- tained. Tight controls and report- ing requirements by the Ore- gon Department of Revenue and Oregon Liquor Control Commission should result in accurate information about pot, said Bruce Pokarney, spokesman for the state De- partment of Agriculture. The department compiles an an- nual list of the state’s most valuable crops. The temporary sale of rec- reational marijuana by med- ical marijuana dispensaries became legal in Oregon last October. Dispensaries charge a 25 percent tax on sales. When licensed recreational retailers begin operating in January the state tax will be 17 percent. The information, however, poses another head-scratcher. Most agricul- tural statistics published by the ag department come from the USDA’s National Agri- cultural Statistics Service, or NASS. Although it’s now le- gal in several states, the feds still classify marijuana as an illegal drug. Dave Losh, Oregon state statistician for NASS, said the agency won’t include marijuana in its annu- al crop statistics due to feder- al policy. For the same reason, peo- ple can’t use water from fed- eral projects to irrigate mari- juana, he said, and such things as Natural Resources Conser- vation Service programs can’t be applied to pot crops. Pokarney, of ODA, joked the department might have to put an asterisk beside the pot crop value in its annual report. “We will have sales numbers, but I don’t know how we would report it,” he said. Oregon crop statistics from 2014 list cattle and calves as the state’s top agri- cultural product, at $922 mil- lion value. Greenhouse and nursery plants was second at $829 million, and hay was third, at $703 million. Seth Crawford, an Ore- gon State University sociol- ogy professor who teaches a pot policy class, estimated in 2015 that Oregon’s marijuana crop had an annual value ap- proaching $1 billion. Meanwhile, the OLCC continues to process license applications as entrepreneurs seek opportunities in the state’s recreational cannabis market. As of June 21, there were 723 applications to grow pot in Oregon. Of those, 122 were in Jackson County and 91 were in neighboring Josephine County. Southern Oregon has long been the state’s cannabis production hotbed, legal or il- legal. The tri-county Portland area, including Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties, accounted for 250 of the license applications. Of processing facilities, 25 of the 82 license applications were from Multnomah Coun- ty, as were 69 of 193 retail outlet applications. Church Services In Grant County Cornerstone Christian Fellowship 139 N.E. D AYTON S TREET , J OHN D AY 541-575-2180 Sunday Worship Service 10 am Pastor Levi Manitsas cornerstonejohnday@gmail.com CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE Sunday School..............................9:30 am Sunday Worship Service .............. 10:45 am Sunday Evening Service................6:00 pm Children & Teen Activities SMALL GROUPS CALL FOR MORE INFO Weekdays: Sonshine Christian School 521 E. Main • John Day • 541-575-1895 wwww.johndaynazarene.com
