An early warning system for earthquakes is expanding to Oregon and Washington — thanks to a group of universities and government agencies.

California has had the “ShakeAlert” system for a couple of years. And depending on where an earthquake hits, it can give nearby cities a warning of up to a minute or two. That’s enough for a train to stop, a lift to open, or for people to get out of a building.

University of Oregon professor Doug Toomey said a small network of sensors is now installed in Oregon and Washington, so an earthquake can be distinguished from, for example, a passing truck.

Toomey said a full network would cost about $38 million.

“It’s being rolled out slowly because we don’t have that amount of funds yet,” he said. “We’ve been lobbying at the federal and state levels over the past several years to increase the funding for ShakeAlert.”

The hope is that in the future, there will be enough sensors to justify a phone app so the general public can get earthquake warnings.

Some public utilities like EWEB in Eugene have bought their own sensors — so they can switch off dams and generators during a big shake.

HERMISTON, Ore. — New name. New building. Same familiar faces.

Following the dissolution of Pendleton Grain Growers last year, fellow agricultural co-op Mid Columbia Producers has arrived in Umatilla County to carry on the former PGG fuel division, setting up shop at a new location in Hermiston.

Based in Moro, Mid Columbia Producers was established in 1988 with the merger of two neighboring cooperatives. Mid Columbia purchased PGG Energy last December, which delivers gasoline and diesel to customers as well as bulk and packaged lubes.

The sale did not include PGG propane, which went instead to Morrow County Grain Growers — effectively splitting PGG Energy into two companies.

All 16 PGG Energy employees did keep their jobs, including Bryan Bailey, who spent 27 years with PGG and oversaw the entire fuel operation. Bailey now heads up the eastern fuel division for Mid Columbia from their new satellite office in Hermiston.

“It has been a very smooth transition,” Bailey said. “Customer retention has been very high.”

For years, PGG Energy was located on Southwest Dorion Avenue in Pendleton next to the main co-op offices and retail store. But that building was never included as part of the sale, which left Mid Columbia looking for a new venue.

“Initially we wanted to stay in Pendleton,” Bailey said. “But we could not find a building that suited what we needed.”

After searching around Pendleton for several weeks, Bailey said they found the perfect spot at 345 N. First Place in Hermiston, which used to house Stoneway Electric Supply. Bailey said the space is plenty big, which will allow them to expand their selection and volume.

For one thing, Bailey said Mid Columbia will introduce a multitude of new fuel suppliers, and a larger supply chain means more competitive prices.

“The fuel business is a business of pennies,” he said. “Any advantage you can get with pricing really helps with your success.”

Mid Columbia is also part of the Pacific Pride and CFN networks, providing additional options for commercial fueling.

More than anything, Bailey said the retention of employees has allowed Mid Columbia to retain PGG customers. A lot of trust goes into building those relationships, and he said farmers are pleased to see the same truck drivers making their deliveries.

“It was very comforting to our customers that the faces they saw out there are the same,” Bailey said.

Jeff Kaser, Mid Columbia manager, said the co-op has steadily built its fuel business since 2011. Mid Columbia made a big splash in 2012, purchasing Bend Oil, and Kaser said PGG Energy was another good fit.

“We want to be in markets where farmers can benefit from doing business with us,” Kaser said.

As a fellow farmer-owned co-op, Kaser said Mid Columbia also shares the same values as PGG in terms of service and community involvement.

“If we can do that, we’ll be successful,” he said.

Nobody wanted to see PGG dissolve, Bailey said, but he is pleased with the direction of the business going forward.

“(PGG) put these businesses in the hands of people who can run them and continue to grow them,” Bailey said. “To me, that’s a success story.”

A state ag department campaign to kill destructive Japanese beetles begins April 17 when contractors will apply a granular insecticide to lawns on 2,500 private properties in the Cedar Mill area of Washington County, just west of Portland.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture says the action, which could extend to annual treatments for up to five years, is crucial to knock out an infestation of the beetles that was confirmed last summer.

The project could become an uncomfortable legal problem for the ag department, however. The effort’s success hinges on the cooperation of all property owners, and a handful — 16 of the 2,500 as of April 6 — have said they won’t allow insecticide applied on their lawns. Several hundred others have not responded despite five direct mailings, 46 community presentations, social media postings and 500 hours of door-to-door canvassing.

If necessary, the department is prepared to ask a judge for an order allowing it to go on private property and complete the treatment, said Bruce Pokarney, the department spokesman. The department believes it has legal authority to take the action, he said.

“If we don’t have to do that, it would be great,” Pokarney said.

If it goes that far, the issue could involve balancing private property rights against the potential economic harm to businesses and property owners outside the area.

Ag officials say Japanese beetles are capable of causing heavy damage to commercial nurseries, vineyards, orchards, and crops ranging from cannabis to cane berries. A department analysis estimated that an infestation could cost Oregon agriculture an estimated $43 million a year in damaged plants, lost crop value, export restrictions and increased spraying and other production costs.

Clint Burfitt, the ag department’s insect pest program manager, said the property owners who have said they won’t allow insecticide applications are scattered throughout the 1,000-acre treatment area.

“We’re trying to communicate with them about what their concerns are,” he said. “Some are concerned about pesticides in general. It doesn’t matter what pesticide it is, it’s a word that sparks fear. Others don’t want the government on their property.”

He said nurseries would be hardest hit initially, followed by small farms, berry crops, orchard fruit and nut crops and “definitely grape production.” In the Great Lakes region, some vineyards have to spray three times a summer to control adult Japanese beetles, he said.

If the department does nothing, it could result in thousands of people trying to control the beetles on their own, using much more pesticide, Burfitt said. Traps and biological controls aren’t enough to control them, he said.

“In order for Japanese beetle eradication to work, we need to treat the irrigated turf grass in this area — people’s lawns,” Burfitt said.

The treatment is a granular form of Acelepryn, an insecticide commonly used to control grubs on golf courses. The treatment does not involve a liquid spray or aerial applications. Burfitt said Acelepryn is not hazardous to humans, pets or wildlife. “Safety is the most important aspect of this entire project,” he said.

The department would apply the insecticide in April or May, when Japanese Beetles are in their grub, or larvae, form. The treatment would be done once a year for up to five years. The department is contracting with a professional pest control company to do the applications.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Strong winds knocked out power to more than 100,000 homes and businesses in western Oregon.

Pacific Power says outages were reported Friday morning in cities from the Willamette Valley down toward the California state line, including Albany, Bandon, Grants Pass, North Bend, Roseburg and many other communities.

The lights were also going out closer to Portland, as gusty winds tossed debris across downtown streets and forced construction workers to hold on to their hard hats.

Portland General Electric reports 30,000 customers were without power at 8 a.m. in the three-county metro area. Another 10,000 customers were without power in the county that includes Salem.

HOOD RIVER, Ore. — Veteran horticulturist Steve Castagnoli is the new director of Oregon State University’s Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Hood River.

Castagnoli has worked at the center since 2000, and is well known among the area’s pear and sweet cherry growers. His appointment comes after a tumultuous couple years in which three key people resigned, including the previous superintendent. Tree fruit growers hope the center will stabilize and resume research projects that were interrupted when the people conducting them left.

“I’m very supportive of Steve’s appointment,” said Mike Omeg, a cherry grower in The Dalles who also sits on the Capital Press board of directors. “He understands the tree fruit industry in the Mid-Columbia real well.”

But Omeg warned that Castagnoli has stiff challenges ahead of him, including “staff and funding issues that are profound.”

The center has seen significant turnover. Horticulturist Todd Einhorn, who was doing what growers consider important dwarf root stock research on pears, left to work on apples at Michigan State University. Entomologist Peter Shearer, who had been the research center superintendent, resigned in 2016; he was among the Pacific Northwest’s key researchers on Spotted Wing Drosophila and Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs, two damaging pests. Preston Brown, who managed the center’s 55-acre experimental farm, also quit. And Brian Tuck, whom Castagnoli replaced, rotated back to his post as regional administrator of Extension in Hood River and Wasco counties.

Castagnoli said his first focus will be to rebuild the station’s staffing by filling the vacant horticulture and entomology research positions. He said growers also favor having plant pathology and soil science expertise on staff, but funding is uncertain.

“The budget challenges are pretty severe right now,” he said. The College of Agricultural Sciences supports rebuilding the center’s staffing, “But they have to balance our needs with the needs of the other 11 branch experiment stations and 14 academic departments on campus,” he said.

The Legislature’s budget decisions will determine what happens, he said.

The Mid-Columbia center’s territory envelopes Hood River and Wasco counties and includes markedly diverse agricultural regions. The counties border along the north-south line where Oregon’s climate transitions from wet west to dry east, and orchards in the Hood River Valley grow along a 2,000 foot elevation gain. Pears and sweet cherries are the predominant crops, but there is still some apple production, blueberries and a recent uptick in wine grape acreage. Castagnoli said growers have cooperated with off-station research projects, including some across the Columbia River in Washington’s Klickitat and Skamania counties.

He said the center’s research focus will remain on pears and sweet cherries. The growth in wine grapes doesn’t yet justify allocating research money and time to it, but OSU Extension can help growers, he said. Castagnoli said he has a viticulture background and has worked with some growers in the past.

Castagnoli is optimistic about stabilizing the center’s operations.

“I think I’ve always had real good support from the industry,” he said. “Despite the interruption in research programs, they’re maintaining that support.”

SALEM — Multiple bills aim to relax restrictions on building homes and businesses in Oregon’s rural areas, but they face short lives unless lawmakers soon take action.

Exemptions to Oregon’s statewide land use planning system would give local governments more flexibility under the five bills, which received a hearing April 6 from the Senate Environment Committee.

• Senate Bill 432 would allow local governments to create land use plans without complying with statewide goals as long as they’re in counties with fewer than 50,000 people and haven’t grown since the previous federal census.

• Senate Bill 602 would allow local governments to waive land use requirements to create a five-year supply of “shovel ready employment sites.”

• Senate Bill 608 would allow local governments to expedite the growth of urban growth boundaries if they meet certain criteria for population growth.

• Senate Bill 612 would allow local governments experiencing unemployment and poverty to take an exception from a land use goal if it creates at least five jobs paying four times the federal poverty rate.

• Senate Bill 618 would allow local governments to waive a land use goal in the event of a “land use emergency.”

Under rules adopted for the 2017 legislative session, these bills will die by the end of April 7 unless they’re scheduled a work session, during which committees generally vote on legislation.

Much of the testimony during the recent hearing centered on SB 432, which would effectively only apply to eight Oregon counties: Baker, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Malheur, Sherman, Wallowa and Wheeler.

These counties have lost significant numbers of people, which threatens the viability of schools, hospitals and law enforcement agencies, said Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, the bill’s chief sponsor.

“The social infrastructure is really what’s unraveled in these communities,” he said.

Washington has exempted 10 rural counties from its land use system and they’re performing better economically than comparable counties in Oregon, which have struggled for decades, Ferrioli said.

“It worked there, it can probably work here. We just need the courage to give it a try,” he said.

Any development in Oregon’s most rural counties would still be constrained by available water, power and soils suitable for septic tanks, said Gary Thompson, county judge for Sherman County.

“That will eliminate 90 percent of the land available in the county,” he said.

Proponents of the bill argued that rural counties in Eastern Oregon face a completely different situation than those where expansion of urban growth boundaries can’t keep up with housing demand.

It’s unlikely that counties with low or negative population growth will succumb to urban sprawl, but existing rules prevent the possibility of new development, according to supporters.

The economic stagnation in these areas is self-reinforcing, since local governments cannot expand urban growth boundaries unless they can forecast population growth, said Erin Doyle, lobbyist for the League of Oregon Cities.

“Tell me what you’re supposed to do. You can’t say you need more housing because you’re not having more people coming in,” she said.

Opponents of SB 432 and the other four bills claim that a lack of land isn’t really what’s hindering development, which is actually stymied by a lack of transportation and other infrastructure.

It’s true that land within urban growth boundaries is more expensive, said Peggy Lynch, natural resources coordinator for the League of Women Voters of Oregon.

“The reason is there are services inside,” she said.

The five bills propose a “false promise” of easily spurring economic development, but lawmakers would be better off investing in adding value to Oregon’s agriculture industry, said Mary Kyle McCurdy, deputy director of 1,000 Friends of Oregon, a nonprofit that supports land preservation.

Morrow County, for example, has a strong food processing sector that provides local jobs, she said.

Agriculture has kept growing in Oregon through economic recessions, sometimes at a pace faster than the state’s high-tech industry, she said.

“It’s not just vacant land,” McCurdy said.

The Oregon Farm Bureau is concerned about the economic health of Oregon’s rural communities, where its members generally reside, while wanting to preserve productive farmland, said Mary Anne Nash, the group’s general counsel for public policy.

However, the Farm Bureau is in discussions with Ferrioli to examine whether SB 432 might be revised to strike a balance between those two goals, she said.

If that’s possible, the organization would be neutral on the bill, Nash said.

Oregon Farm Bureau is also in negotiations over House Bill 2937, which would ease the construction of “accessory dwelling units” near existing homes.

That bill is being considered by the House Agriculture Committee and isn’t at risk of dying after April 7 because it’s already been moved out of the House Human Services and Housing Committee.

A recent amendment to HB 2937 would restrict accessory dwelling units to rural residential zones and prohibit them within exclusive farm use zones.

That change has pushed the Farm Bureau closer to being neutral on the bill, since its priority is preserving productive farmland, said Nash.

Imperial Stock Ranch, a small Oregon wool producer that has carved out a niche in high-profile markets, is the first U.S. farm to gain the Textile Exchange’s Responsible Wool Standard certification.

The certification is overseen by the Minnesota-based NSF International, which describes itself as a global public health organization. Certification means the ranch “practices the highest levels of animal welfare and land management, and that the wool is fully traceable throughout its supply chain.”

According to NSF International, the Responsible Wool Standard means sheep are treated under a “Five Freedoms” concept. That includes freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury or disease; freedom to express normal behavior; and freedom from fear and distress.

The standard also requires farms or ranches to follow land management practices that protect soil health, biodiversity and native species. The certification process required audits throughout the supply chain, from the ranch to the manufacturers.

On her ranch blog, Imperial co-owner Jeanne Carver said meeting certification standards is not new to the business, but the latest may be the most comprehensive. Auditors were at the ranch over the course of three months, checking the operation, she said.

“It requires a little more record keeping, and the willingness to open our books, records and operation to inspections, but it is one of the best tools I know to share a true and positive story of agriculture,” Carver wrote.

The Oregon wool producer has sought out new markets among high-fashion companies, and in 2014 provided material for the U.S. team’s Winter Olympics uniform sweaters. Yarn made from Imperial Stock Ranch wool has also been picked up by companies such as Ralph Lauren and Patagonia.

Last year, conservationists made a big push to convince President Obama to create a national monument in a vast area in Southeast Oregon known as the Owyhee.

It’s a vast, rugged sagebrush steppe landscape with red rock canyons and unusual geology. But the proposal faced fierce resistance from ranchers and other locals in Malheur County. At the end of his term, the Owyhee was left off of Obama’s list of new and expanded monuments.

But the specter of a monument designation may trigger groups on opposite sides to get together and start a collaborative plan for the Owyhee. Tim Davis, with the grassroots conservation group called Friends of the Owyhee, said he believes it’s possible to work with groups that opposed the monument.

“If it was a collaborative effort I think they’d be would be willing to sit down at the table and work it out,” he said. “There are areas that both sides can agree on for protection. Jordan Craters, for example. It’s a big lava field. Why not start there?” 

This wouldn’t be the first time that a potential presidential designation has spurred monument opponents to come to the table. On the Idaho side of the Owyhee, the possibility of a national monument designation by President Bill Clinton kick-started a decades-long collaborative process between conservationists, off-road vehicle groups, ranchers and the government. The effort led to new wilderness and wild and scenic river designations in 2009.

A similar process led to the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Area in southeast Oregon in 2000. And more recently, the possibility of an Obama designation in Central Idaho led to the hastening of a Republican-championed wilderness area for the Boulder White Clouds mountains. 

But there’s no exact formula for getting diverse groups together in the wake of such proposals.

“Each place is unique,” said Brent Fenty, executive director of the Oregon Natural Desert Association. ONDA has been talking about wilderness designations for the Owyhee for more than a decade, and Fenty said his group plans to hold town hall meetings across the state to further the conversation.

“That’s what we’re focused on — continuing that dialogue to ensure that the people who know and love this place have their voices heard,” Fenty said.

Although there’s no official collaborative process in the works yet, groups that opposed the monument have hinted that they’d be willing to have such conversations.

“We’re still kind of in awe that we made it past the national monument designation,” said Malheur County rancher Elias Eiguren, a spokesman for the Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition. But with the threat of a monument behind them, he and other ranchers have been busy with calving season.

“Spring work is hitting us in the face,” Eiguren said. “We’re trying to just hold together at this point and really decide where we need to go from here.” 

Eiguren said he’s yet to see a federal designation that improved a landscape. He’d like to focus on what he sees as the biggest threats to the Owyhee: invasive weeds and major wildfires. But he wouldn’t necessarily try to block a wilderness designation, depending on the circumstances. He said that any collaborative process would need to start with assurances from environmental groups that litigation is off the table.

“I don’t know that a wilderness designation wouldn’t necessarily change what is out there already so I wouldn’t necessarily understand the purpose of that,” he said. “But if somebody had to have that, there’s always that possibility.”

SALEM — A bill directing $5.6 million to Oregon’s farm-to-school food program has won unanimous approval from the House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Now, House Bill 2038 must compete against other spending bills in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, which is prioritizing requests for funding in the next biennium amid a projected state budget deficit of $1.6 billion.

The bill would provide nearly $4.6 million for grants to help school districts buy foods grown and processed in Oregon and more than $900,000 for food-, garden- and agriculture-based education.

The committee’s chairman, Brian Clem, D-Salem, noted that existing farm-to-school funding would be eliminated under the 2017-2019 budget recommended by Gov. Kate Brown and halved under the proposal by the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

Lawmakers have been advised to be selective in their requests for funding to the Ways and Means Committee, given budget constraints, he said.

If farm-to-school funding is significantly reduced from the amount requested in HB 2039, Clem recommended that the program revert to a competitive grant system.

Currently, all school districts receive non-competitive grants to buy Oregon food products, but this approach wouldn’t provide enough incentive if each received only a small amount of money, he said.

“No one school district will find that worth doing,” he said.

The history of Oregon’s farm-to-school program goes back a decade, when lawmakers created the position of a farm-to-school coordinator in 2007.

A competitive grant pilot program armed with $200,000 was created in 2011, with funding expanded to $1.2 million in 2013. During the 2015 legislative session, another $3.3 million was added to the program and grants for food purchases were made non-competitive.

Aside from voting to approve HB 2038 during its April 4 meeting, the House Agriculture Committee also considered another bill that would increase tax credits for farmers who donate crops to food banks and similar institutions.

Under House Bill 3041, the tax credit would increase from 15 percent to 25 percent of the value of crops donated.

Jenny Dresler, state public policy director for the Oregon Farm Bureau, said the organization understands Oregon’s tight budget situation.

If resources are available, though, lawmakers should support the bill because it would help farmers overcome financial barriers to donating crops, Dresler said.

Tax Fairness Oregon, a group that opposes tax breaks to preserve state revenues, doesn’t believe the tax credit increase is justified, said Jody Wiser, its founder.

“Why are we doing it? We don’t have any statistical analysis to show the need is there,” she said.

Restaurants and grocery stores also donate food, but must content themselves with a deduction to their taxable income, rather than a tax credit, Wiser said.

“It’s hard to explain why farmers should be treated so differently than other food donators,” she said.

SALEM — Solar power facilities on high-value farmland in Oregon would have to clear a new hurdle under a bill being considered by state lawmakers.

Commercial developers would first have to demonstrate that alternative sites aren’t available under House Bill 3050, a requirement that currently applies to solar facilities larger than 12 acres.

Proponents of the bill, including the Oregon Farm Bureau and the 1,000 Friends of Oregon conservation group, say the new test would discourage conversion of the state’s most productive land.

An uptick in commercial solar power proposals in Oregon’s Willamette Valley has raised concerns that clusters of developments will change the agricultural character of affected areas, supporters say.

Such close groupings of solar facilities effectively undermine the current 12-acre exemption to the alternative analysis, according to proponents.

The growing popularity of long-term leases of farmland for commercial solar projects has prompted the Oregon Board of Agriculture to ask for a review of land use regulations for such sites.

Supporters of HB 3050 say that solar developments drive up rent prices for farmland even while long-term leases for solar panels may permanently take land out of agriculture.

The Oregon Farm Bureau was alerted to the problem by “mass mailings” from solar companies to farmers, said Mary Anne Nash, public policy counsel for the group.

Developers should first look for other options before seeking to lease high-value farmland, she said.

Wind turbine projects are already subject to the alternatives analysis requirement, so it should also apply to commercial solar facilities, said Meriel Darzen of 1,000 Friends of Oregon.

Critics of the bill countered that the new requirement is overly broad and ignores existing rules that protect farmland.

Marty Dozler, a farmer near Aumsville, Ore., said some of his property is considered high-value farmland even though the soils aren’t of the highest quality.

It’s tough to break even financially on this land, so solar development provides a new revenue source that makes the farm viable for the next generation, he said.

“We believe every farmer should be allowed to place solar facilities if they choose, regardless of where they live in the state,” Dozler said.

Dozler said he’s installed solar panels in the corners of fields and other areas that don’t interfere with farming practices.

“It’s a steady income with very little impact to our land,” he said.

Large power utilities are required by Oregon law to buy 8 percent of their electricity from small-scale renewable producers within 10 years, which HB 3050 will impede, said Damien Hall, attorney for Cypress Creek Renewables, a solar firm.

Clusters of solar projects greater than 48 acres in a one mile radius must already prove they don’t disrupt land use patterns, and current proposals would only build facilities on a tiny fraction of Oregon’s high-value farmland, he said.

“The impacts identified by supporters of this bill are hypothetical at this point,” Hall said.

SALEM — A proposed fund dedicated to protecting farmland from development in Oregon has come under fire from critics who say the state government can’t afford it.

The Oregon Agricultural Heritage Fund would buy easements from farmers that limit their ability to develop property, thus preserving the land for agricultural production.

Organizations that “hold” easements by enforcing such constraints, such as land trusts, would also receive money and technical assistance from the fund, as would farmers who need help with succession planning.

Investment decisions would be made by a 12-person commission under House Bill 3249, which creates the fund without directing a specific amount of state dollars to it.

Kelley Beamer, executive director of the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts, said the new fund is needed because roughly two-thirds of Oregon’s farmland is expected to change ownership in the next decade, but about 80 percent of the landowners don’t have a plan for the transition.

“We do see conversion and fragmentation as a real threat to those values we have as a state,” she said during an April 4 legislative hearing.

However, critics argue that Oregon’s projected $1.6 billion budget deficit in the 2017-2019 biennium precludes a new program aimed at helping agriculture, which already receives much government support.

Farmers already benefit from property tax breaks, inheritance tax exemptions and other programs that will add up to about $550 million in the next biennium, said Gerritt Rosenthal of Tax Fairness Oregon, a group that seeks to preserve government revenues from tax breaks.

“In this time of budget shortfall, it’s not the time to create new programs that may cost significant amounts of money,” he said.

The fund would primarily serve farming interests by spending public dollars, even though Oregon’s protections for agricultural water quality are insufficient, said Jim Myron, a natural resources consultant testifying on behalf of several environmental groups.

“While there may be positive aspects to the bill, it isn’t ready for prime time yet,” Myron said.

Proponents of HB 3249 claim the fund is a wise investment because state dollars will be matched by contributions from the federal government, conservation groups and the farmers themselves.

It’s likely that as much private money would be used to buy easements as public money, said Doug Krahmer, a farmer from St. Paul, Ore., who helped devise the program.

“This particular proposal is part of a piece of a puzzle,” he said.

Farmland would be preserved in perpetuity while the state would pay for only a fraction of its appraised value, said Woody Wolfe, a Wallowa County farmer and rancher who sold an easement on his property.

Conservation groups would be more willing to invest in further restoration efforts if they know the land is permanently protected from development, he said.

“I would ask what the cost would be if those lands become concrete or developed,” Wolfe said.

A limited amount of funds dedicated to the program would be awarded to easements and other projects after careful deliberation by the commission, he said.

“You’re concentrating your efforts on the most valuable property,” Wolfe said.

A large-scale Northwest farmer claims in a new lawsuit to have bought out full ownership of a Washington processing facility from his partner, the J.R. Simplot Co.

Simplot, however, characterizes the transaction as “nothing more than a sham” that’s part of a deliberate scheme of mismanagement by farmer Frank Tiegs.

The allegations are part of a legal battle between Tiegs and Simplot over the operations of Gem State Processing in Heyburn, Idaho, and Pasco Processing in Pasco, Wash., both of which they own jointly.

Simplot filed a lawsuit last year accusing Tiegs of running the processing facilities into the ground financially to benefit his own farming affiliates.

The complaint claimed that Tiegs’ farm companies sold excessive amounts of inferior-quality crops to the processing plants at above-market prices, resulting in millions of dollars in losses.

Simplot has asked a federal judge to appoint a receiver to take over management of the processing companies while Tiegs has requested the case be thrown out.

Tiegs has now filed a lawsuit asking another federal judge to declare that he’s purchased Simplot’s half of Pasco Processing — including its National Frozen Foods subsidiary — as permitted under an operating agreement between the partners.

The complaint alleges the two companies reached a deadlock about whether to each infuse the processing plant with $3 million in capital to ensure it complied with loan covenants.

According to Tiegs, the deadlock triggered “buyout” provisions entitling him to purchase Pasco Processing for a pre-arranged price based on its financial performance.

Because that price was a “negative number,” Tiegs was “not required to tender cash or other available funds” for Simplot’s shares, the complaint said.

Simplot has alleged this an “attempted conversion” that’s “the latest act in a pattern of willful, reckless and grossly negligent misconduct.”

The deadlock was manufactured by Tiegs to take over Pasco Processing “at an artificially low price — resulting from a devaluation caused by defendants’ bad acts,” according to Simplot.

Simplot argues that Tiegs could not actually force the sale in this manner but has nonetheless claimed to be the sole owner of Pasco Processing to its employees and lender.

The company has asked a federal judge to either dismiss Tiegs’ lawsuit or merge it with the previous case.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Voters in Oregon’s most populous county might be voting on a soda tax this fall.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that the health advocates behind the proposal must gather 17,381 valid signatures from Multnomah County voters to get the item on the November ballot.

Voters would decide whether to add a tax of 1.5 cents per ounce on sugary drinks, including soda, energy drinks and sweetened teas. That means an 18-cent tax on a 12-ounce can of soda.

The proposal suggests using the tax revenue to help pay for early childhood education, and programs in schools to promote healthy food and lifestyle choices.

The American Heart Association has helped passed similar measures in several California cities as well as Philadelphia and Boulder, Colorado.

Shawn Campbell, a veteran of the food processing industry, is the new president and CEO of NORPAC, the venerable Willamette Valley farmers’ cooperative.

Campbell replaces George Smith, who retired after heading the co-op for more than a decade and working at the company 38 years.

Campbell was hired as NORPAC’s chief operating officer in 2016 as part of a strategic succession plan, and he’s not new to the workings of farmers’ cooperatives. He worked more than 10 years at Darigold, the dairy products co-op, where he was most recently the senior vice president of consumer products.

He also has food brokerage and business development experience in the U.S. and Canada, according to a NORPAC news release.

Campbell was not immediately available for comment on his appointment.

NORPAC was established as Stayton Canning Co. in 1924 and now operates processing and packaging facilities in Stayton, Salem, Brooks and Hermiston, Ore., and in Quincy, Wash.

The co-op was among the first processors to use quick-freezing units to produce what are known as Individually Quick Frozen, or IQF, products. NORPAC is best known for its FLAV-R-PAC brand frozen vegetables and fruit and for its Santiam brand canned products.

More than 200 farmers grow on contract with NORPAC, raising 27 different crops ranging from strawberries, broccoli and cauliflower to zucchini, corn, beans and peas.

According to the co-op website, NORPAC is Oregon’s largest vegetable and fruit processor and the largest unionized agricultural employer in the state. The co-op has about 1,000 full-time workers and employs up to 3,500 people during the peak harvest and processing season.

ONTARIO, Ore. — Owyhee Project patrons will pay $4 an acre more this year for their irrigation water, with the additional money being used to make repairs on the aging system that provides water to 1,800 farms.

The project, which is managed by the Owyhee Irrigation District, provides water from the Owyhee Reservoir to 118,000 irrigated acres in Eastern Oregon and Southwestern Idaho.

The annual assessment that irrigators pay to receive that water was raised from $58 to $62 an acre this year, a 6.9 percent increase. In the past 30 years, the assessment has risen by an average of 4 percent a year.

The OID’s total budget is $4 million and the additional $268,000 in funding from this year’s assessment increase will be used to continue to repair the Owyhee Project’s aging infrastructure, said OID Manager Jay Chamberlin.

The project, completed in 1932, includes hundreds of miles of canals and drains. The 71-mile-long system has six pumping stations that pump supplemental water from the Snake River.

When the project was built, it had a 100-year life expectancy; it is now 85 years old.

That doesn’t mean the system has 15 years left — “It certainly is going to last a lot longer than that,” Chamberlin said — but it is in need of some major repairs.

“The system is getting older faster than we can keep up with the repairs on it, honestly,” he said. “There is much more that needs to be done.”

This year’s assessment includes a $2.50 an acre increase in the regular operations and maintenance fee and a special $1.50 fee to help pay engineering costs for a project designed to fix the failing Malheur Siphon, work that will cost upward of $2 million.

Major repair work recently completed on the system includes a $450,000 project to repair the Ring Gate, an 80,000-pound spillway, and a $250,000 project to stabilize part of the Snively Siphon that was in danger of sliding down a mountain.

Close to eight miles of new pipeline was installed in the system this past year.

A ditch break costs about $30,000 to fix on average and the system has those every year, Chamberlin said.

The OID received some phone calls about the increase and OID board members regularly answer questions about the assessment, said Bruce Corn, a member of the board and a local farmer.

“If you don’t actually go out and see it and understand what’s going on, it’s hard to comprehend,” he said. “It’s an engineering marvel but it requires maintenance to keep it going and it’s very, very expensive.”

Corn said it is going to require a lot more work to keep the system in a reliable condition and that’s going to cost money.

“You have siphons, tunnels and all kinds of structures and they are aging,” he said. “In the foreseeable future, there is going to be one project after another and they are going to be fairly major.”

A federal judge has tacked on $785,000 in attorney fees and costs to a $1.2 million judgment against the H.J. Heinz Co. in a lawsuit over sweet potato processing.

The Bright Harvest Sweet Potato Co. filed a complaint in 2013 accusing Heinz of breaking a deal to buy sweet potato fries and instead producing them itself at a newly constructed facility in Ontario, Ore.

Heinz initially convinced a jury that it hadn’t violated the contract with Bright Harvest, but U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill ordered a new trial after overturning the first verdict for not being supported by the evidence.

The second jury found in favor of Bright Harvest, awarding the company $1.2 million in damages, which Winmill upheld last year.

The judge has now decided that under Idaho law, which governs the contract, Bright Harvest is entitled to more than $785,000 in attorney fees and costs because it’s clearly the “prevailing party” in the dispute.

Even though Bright Harvest didn’t recover the total amount sought in its lawsuit — the company asked for nearly $11 million during settlement talks — the $1.2 million judgment is “significant enough” to establish it as the prevailing party, Winmill said.

The judge also ruled the attorney fees sought by Bright Harvest were reasonable for the most part, though he refused to include nearly $11,000 in fees sought by one attorney who was a “possible fact witness” rather serving on the litigation team.

Capital Bureau

SALEM — State regulators on Friday approved a wastewater permit for a hotly-debated expansion of a large dairy farm in Boardman.

The Lost Valley Farm, on about 7,000 acres formerly belonging to the Boardman Tree Farm, is now due to start operating in the coming weeks. It’s a project of Greg te Velde, the owner of the nearby mega-dairy Willow Creek Farm, whose cows supply milk to local processors.

The proposed expansion drew criticism from environmental and animal-welfare groups, and state agencies say they have taken additional steps to address them.

Lost Valley Farm will be allowed to have up to 30,000 cows under a permit designated for confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

The permit issued Friday is intended to protect surface and groundwater from contamination, officials say.

Leah Feldon, deputy director of the Department of Environmental Quality, said Friday that the department had done “extensive review and work” on the permit over the past year.

The departments say Lost Valley Farm will also be required to closely monitor its groundwater, soil and leak detection in areas where animal waste is stored. There will be eleven groundwater monitoring wells on the site.

The state also says that the only nearby surface water is a canal at a higher elevation than the farm, which would make it “improbable” that the farm’s wastewater or stormwater would end up there. Further, they say, the entire property is in a depression.

Large dairies such as Lost Valley Farm are typically subject to inspection by the state Department of Agriculture three or four times a year.

Lost Valley Farm expects to start with 16,500 cattle in the first year and gradually build the herd over several years, according to ODA and DEQ.

Although state regulators say it was not a factor in the permit decision, the state also touts the expected economic value of the project, which the dairy estimates will provide more than 100 jobs.

The farm also says that they will recycle about 75 percent of the water they use. In a statement, te Velde said the farm agreed to all the requirements of the permit and remained “committed to protecting the quality and quantity of groundwater in the critical groundwater area.”

The proposed dairy is located in the Umatilla Groundwater Management Area, which has elevated levels of nitrate.

The state’s water resources department is currently processing the dairy’s water use applications; an appeal period ends April 7.

The dairy currently has a temporary permit until April 30, which allows 450 gallons per minute of water for construction.

Through a water rights transfer, the farm is requesting 1,037 acre feet of water per year.

State officials said Friday that the state received a protest filed by the Crag Law Center on behalf of a coalition of environmental groups, who oppose the transfer and called the operation a “major threat” to water and air quality.

The permit does not regulate air quality, which was a concern raised by environmental groups and by a group representing small and mid-sized farms.

The Lost Valley Farm plans to build and use a methane digester in two to three years, if it is “economically feasible.”

A bill currently before the Oregon Legislature would require the state’s Environmental Quality Commission to adopt a program regulating air contaminant emissions from confined animal feeding operations such as Lost Valley.

Ivan Maluski, of Friends of Family Farmers, called the decision by state regulators “disappointing but not unexpected.”

Maluski argues that large dairies like Lost Valley push small and midsize dairy farms out of business, and points to a 2013 report from the state’s employment department that shows that the number of small dairies in Oregon shrank between 2002 and 2007.

State Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, said in a statement that the project was a “win” for the region and the state, and demonstrated “we can welcome projects without compromising our high standards for protecting the environment.”

The Oregon Dairy Farmers’ Association could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon residents can celebrate more than the coming weekend today as Gov. Kate Brown has declared March 31 Cesar Chavez Day.

The Statesman Journal reports that Brown on Thursday signed a proclamation celebrating Chavez’s work in founding United Farm Workers, a farmworkers rights organization that advanced livable working conditions and fair pay for farmworkers in the 1960s.

Chavez is celebrated in Oregon with Chavez Elementary School in Salem, but Brown says that’s not enough. She encouraged workers to continue fighting for civil rights for farmworkers.

The Department of Agriculture estimates there are about 160,000 farmworkers in Oregon who contribute roughly $5.7 billion annually to the state’s agricultural economy.

SALEM — Utility companies that grow a potentially invasive biomass energy crop would be on the hook for its eradication costs under a bill proposed in Oregon.

Due to worries about the weediness of Arundo donax, or giant cane, Senate Bill 789 would require public utilities to post a surety bond of at least $1 million to cover removal efforts.

However, the only company currently affected by the proposal, Portland General Electric, argues the measure is unnecessary because it’s soon abandoning experiments with the crop.

PGE has been evaluating giant cane as an alternative feedstock for its power plant near Boardman, Ore., which must stop burning coal in 2020.

The Native Plant Society of Oregon wants Oregon lawmakers to pass SB 789 because giant cane poses an “existential threat to all streamside habitats” along the Columbia river, said Billy Don Robinson, legislative committee chairman for the group.

“It simply crowds out every other plant in these streamside habitats,” he said during a March 29 legislative hearing.

Under another proposal the group supports, Senate Bill 790, Oregon State University would be required to conduct a study of the risks associated with giant cane and potential safeguards for producing it.

Unlike previous research on the plant, the OSU study would examine the hazards associated with genetically enhanced varieties, said Judi Sanders, past president of the Native Plant Society of Oregon.

In California, eradication costs for the weed range from $4,700 to $64,000 per acre, which shouldn’t be borne by taxpayers if cultivated giant cane escapes fields in Oregon, she said.

“If there’s no mess, it’s not much of an issue,” she said.

Giant cane is already making its way north from California, but PGE’s experiments near Boardman have introduced a new point of risk, said Robinson.

There are also 48 patents pending that would make the crop more cold-hardy, drought-tolerant and salt-tolerant, he said. “It scares me.”

Right now, though, PGE is winding down its cultivation of giant cane, said Brendan McCarthy, the company’s state environmental policy manager.

The company grew nearly 100 acres of the crop at one point but is now down to about 30 acres, with the remaining plants to be eradicated after the 2017 growing season, he said.

Giant cane and other forms of biomass proved more than twice as expensive as needed to operate the power plant profitably, McCarthy said. “It really came down to cost.”

With less than four years before the company would have to convert the facility to biomass, PGE doesn’t have enough time to establish a biomass supply chain, McCarthy said.

PGE considered using beetle-damaged wood from national forests, but that wouldn’t be a sustainable feedstock, he said.

Juniper removed from Oregon’s rangelands is too dispersed to economically collect and transport, while other dedicated biomass crops have risks similar to giant cane, McCarthy said.

“Things that grow really well may very well be invasive,” he said.

While PGE is suspending its biomass research, representatives of the Native Plant Society of Oregon said they want SB 789 amended to impose the surety bond requirement on other potential giant cane growers, not just public utilities.

Aside from biomass, companies may want to produce the crop for building products, paper fiber and livestock feed, said Robinson.

PORTLAND — Speakers at the Oregon Mass Timber Summit acknowledged some hangups, but said they’re still optimistic using fabricated wooden panels in tall buildings can revitalize the state’s timber industry and restore jobs in rural areas.

Valerie Johnson, whose D.R. Johnson Lumber Co. in Riddle, Ore., was the first to make cross laminated timbers certified for tall construction, said the state is still having “intense” harvest management discussions. “But if there’s a way to create more jobs with the same log supply, why don’t we get on about that?” she said.

The March 27 summit in Portland focused on the Oregon industry and served as a prelude to the International Mass Timber Conference held in Portland later in the week.

In September 2015, D.R. Johnson became the first American company certified to make cross-laminated timber panels. Certification by the American Plywood Association and the American National Standards Institute assures the panels, called CLT, can be used in building construction.

Johnson said the company she and her sister, Jodi Westbrooks, co-own is working to supply multiple tall wood construction projects, including half a dozen schools in Washington. The city of Springfield, Ore., once home to major wood products companies, will build a parking garage made from wood.

Johnson said the estimated market opportunity for cross-laminated timber panels in U.S. construction is $1.5 billion to $4 billion. She said Oregon is a natural center for the industry.

“Well, why not here?” she said. “We’re as smart and hardworking as anybody.”

A four-story commercial building under construction in Portland, called Albina Yard, is the first project built with domestically produced CLT panels. Such products now are referred to generically as mass timber construction.

Meanwhile, Oregon State University’s College of Forestry and College of Engineering have formed a partnership with the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts. A new facility at OSU, called the TallWood Design Institute, will be the nation’s first research collaborative that focuses exclusively on the advancement of structural wood products.

Meanwhile, D.R. Johnson may soon have company, or competition, on the production side of things. In a March 16 opinion piece in the Capital Press, Tyler Freres of Oregon-based Freres Lumber said in 2017 the company intends to complete a production facility that can make “veneer-based” panels up to 12 feet wide, 48 feet long and 24 inches thick.