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