As agricultural operations grow larger and more consolidated, the Wilco farmers’ cooperative is aiming to keep pace.

The company recently merged with another cooperative, Hazelnut Growers of Oregon, and has broken ground on a new processing and distribution facility.

Meanwhile, Wilco has expanded its reach as a farm supplier through a new joint venture agreement with other agronomy companies.

“We gain size and scale,” said Doug Hoffman, the cooperative’s CEO. “Size dictates pricing, sharing of technologies, efficiencies in administration and attracting employees.”

The new facility in Donald, Ore., which will be completed in 2018, marks an expansion for both Wilco and HGO.

The hazelnut company’s current facility in Cornelius, Ore., is roughly 55,000 square feet, with separate buildings for storage and processing.

In the new building, HGO will occupy nearly 120,000 square feet and bring storage and processing under the same roof, reducing material handling and improving productivity.

With the new location, the cooperative will also be more centrally located — roughly 70 percent of its members will be within a 100-mile radius of the plant, said Jeff Fox, executive vice president of the hazelnut division.

“For us, it’s about production efficiency and being close to our grower base,” Fox said.

For Wilco, the new facility means an increase in size from 50,000 square feet at its current agronomy products distribution facility in Mt. Angel, Ore., to about 119,000 square feet.

Because Donald is much closer to Interstate 5, the cooperative expects to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in trucking costs, said Hoffman.

The building is being constructed by a real estate developer who’s shouldering the costs of its exterior, while Wilco and HGO will lease the facility and pay for interior structures, said Fox.

Some hazelnut processing equipment will simply be moved from the Cornelius facility, which will be shut down and sold, he said. “A lot of that equipment is coming with us.”

Wilco offers agronomy services and farm supplies through a joint venture with Winfield Solutions, called Wilco-Winfield, which operates in Western Washington and Western Oregon.

That joint venture is now merging with Valley Agronomics, an agronomy company operating in Southern Idaho and portions of Utah and Wyoming that’s a joint venture between Winfield Solutions and the Valley Wide Cooperative.

The deal reflects a pattern of consolidation throughout the agricultural industry, such as the proposed merger between Monsanto and Bayer, said Hoffman.

“What’s really driving all this is that our farmers are getting larger,” he said.

Though the merger between Winco-Winfield and Valley Agronomics will create some redundancies at the administrative level, Hoffman said he doesn’t expect any lay-offs because employees will be shifted into new positions.

“We’re going to grow the workforce, grow the business,” he said.

Wilco is also opening new farm retail stores in Salem, Ore., and Puyallup, Wash., and is planning a 19th outlet at an undisclosed location.

Last year, the cooperative earned $230 million in total revenues and this year it expects to earn $280 million due to the merger with HGO, Hoffman said,

Wilco typically earns profits of about 3 percent of sales, with the retail division earning the strongest net income, he said. “It’s a good model, it does well.”

It’s the rainy season in Oregon, which means there’s plenty of work for Oregon State University’s new slug expert, Rory McDonnell.

With slugs emerging from their underground hibernation, McDonnell has found that Oregon’s reputation as a haven for the slimy pests is well deserved.

“The populations are very large,” he said.

The number and size of slugs is greater in Oregon compared to McDonnell’s previous post as a research specialist at the University of California-Riverside.

“Sometimes, in California, I felt like I was trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” he said.

McDonnell assumed his new position as an assistant professor at OSU in mid-July, but autumn is when his research began in earnest.

During the dry season, he got his laboratory equipped and met with farmers afflicted by the prodigious mollusks.

The wet weather has now allowed him to study the slug’s life cycle with the aim of developing efficient ways to eliminate the pests.

Slug activity peaks in fall and spring, so McDonnell is out in the field, checking traps to see which species are most problematic in certain locations.

European brown garden snails are the worst offenders in nurseries, while gray field slugs are the primary culprits in field crops, he said.

Indeed, the gray slug is likely the most prominent slug pest worldwide due to its ability to adapt to a variety of environments and food sources, McDonnell said.

“It can be successful under a wide range of conditions,” he said.

In March 2015, OSU organized a “slug summit” in Salem, Ore., where growers complained that damage from slugs has intensified in recent years.

That complaint prompted the university to seek additional funding from Oregon lawmakers to hire a slug researcher. The Legislature provided an addition $14 million to OSU later that year, allowing the university to fill this slug position and several others.

McDonnell is exploring strategies to fight the pests.

For example, farmers could use extracts from food or slug pheromones to attract them to a certain area of a field that’s treated with a hefty dose of molluscicide. This approach may kill the slugs more effectively than spreading a lesser concentration of molluscicide across an entire field.

McDonnell and other researchers have identified slug attractants that work in the laboratory, and they plan to see if the substance also works outdoors.

“What happens in the lab isn’t necessarily what happens in the field,” he said.

Another technique would involve parasitic nematodes that kill slugs, which are used for biocontrol in Europe.

If such nematodes were found in Oregon, researchers would have to prove to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that the parasites don’t affect native species.

“We only want to use tools that are safe and specific to the pest species,” McDonnell said.

KENNEWICK, Wash. — The state’s largest farm labor association, WAFLA, has hired a new chief operating officer and opened a new office and training center in Kennewick.

Both moves are intended to help the former Washington Farm Labor Association with its exponential growth as the largest H-2A visa guestworker provider on the West Coast.

George Zanatta left his position as CEO of Atkinson Staffing, an agricultural and industrial labor contractor in Washington and Oregon, to become COO of WAFLA on Nov. 1. He continues to live in Kennewick and operates WAFLA’s new office and training center at 3180 W. Clearwater Ave.

“George has previous COO experience as well as he is a very experienced bilingual trainer, among many other traits that are important to WAFLA in our mission for growth and serving members’ needs,” said Kimberly Bresler, a WAFLA spokeswoman.

“We are excited to have him on board with us,” she said.

WAFLA will host an open house at the new center from 3 to 6 p.m. Dec. 1. The 2,200-square-foot facility includes audio-visual equipment, a video studio and space to train groups of 50 or more workers and growers.

The facility is closer to the majority of WAFLA’s more than 800 members and 160 client contracts, Zanatta said. It can be used by members for their own training, he said.

WAFLA hired about 10,000 H-2A workers in 2016 for growers mostly in Washington but also in Oregon and Idaho.

“We plan to bring in 12,000 in 2017 and our goal is 25,000 — maybe 50,000 as we grow into other states,” Zanatta said.

“My job is to lay the foundation for a system strong enough to accommodate that,” he said.

A new pilot program next year is complete worker management for a couple of small growers, he said. WAFLA will handle applications, recruitment, transportation, housing, payroll and in-field supervision, he said.

Zanatta, 58, was born and raised in Mexico, obtained a degree in business administration from the University of Mexico in 1978 and said he came to the U.S. illegally for business opportunities in the 1980s. He gained legal status through the Simpson-Mazzoli Act of 1986 and spent years in manufacturing, import-export and advertising, he said. He has done business consulting and coaching through his firm, Results Oriented Strategies, in Las Vegas and later Kennewick.

Zanatta was a motivational speaker at WAFLA’s annual labor conference in Ellensburg, Wash., last February. Any consulting or coaching he does now will be from his position with WAFLA, he said.

Dan Fazio will continue as WAFLA CEO from the association’s headquarters near Olympia. Zanatta will help Fazio with the processing and tracking of H-2A applications with state and federal agencies and coordinating recruitment, transportation and orientation of workers, most of whom come from Mexico. He will help with training and mock compliance audits.

Heri Chapula, WAFLA field services director, also will work in the new Kennewick center. He previously managed WAFLA’s 96-bed Ringold Seasonal Farmworker Housing southwest of Basin City. Greg Vazquez, member relations manager, is in WAFLA’s Yakima, Wash., office.

Sundays

With the federal government seeking public comment on the Columbia-Snake river system, the Washington Association of Wheat Growers reaffirmed their opposition to breaching dams on the Snake River.

“It would be devastating to the industry,” said executive director Michelle Hennings.

Removing the dams would mean the river would not be useful for transporting wheat, Hennings said.

“It is vital that we keep our transportation system intact,” she said.

According to WAWG, the river system is the top wheat export gateway in the United States and the third-largest grain export gateway in the world.

To move the same amount of wheat by road or rail would require 137,00 semi-trucks or 23,900 railcars, increasing fuel consumption, emissions and wear-and-tear on roads and railways.

“Do we really want to put more trucks on the road?” Hennings said. “We don’t want to do that. This is one way to alleviate, if we want to have clean air.”

Roughly $3 billion of commercial cargo moves on the system, giving growers in the Midwest access to international markets.

Barging is one of the lowest cost, most environmentally friendly modes of transportation available, according to WAWG. A typical four-barge tow moves the same amount of cargo as 140 railcars or 538 trucks, and uses less fuel.

WAWG members are attending various scoping meetings put on by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration. The deadline to comment is Jan. 17.

Some environmental groups claim breaching the dams would “save the environment,” Hennings said.

WAWG is monitoring the situation closely, and hopes to offer insight during hearings about the river system, Hennings said.

“It is very important ag tells their story to the ones who don’t necessarily understand the situation,” she said.

SATURDAY, NOV. 19

Five legislators have been named “Friends of Nurseries” by the Oregon Association of Nurseries, the trade group representing the growers, retailers, landscapers and suppliers who work in the state’s ornamental horticulture industry.

As described in an association news release, honors went to:

Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos Bay, who spoke up for agriculture as the Legislature considered increasing the minimum wage. McKeown also supported the state’s “right to farm” rules and favors improving transportation systems to help move products to market.

Sen. John Lively, D-Springfield, who enjoys a good relationship with nursery producers. He met with industry leaders at a local nursery to discuss the minimum wage issue and other labor problems, and voted against the wage hike.

Rep. Mark Johnson, R-Hood River, known for his bi-partisan approach. He led the effort to create a conditional driver’s license card for residents who are not eligible for a full license and has cast tough votes for the nursery association.

Rep. Brian Clem, D-Salem, considered well-versed in the details of agriculture. He was chief sponsor of a 2007 Estate Tax bill favored by ag, supported the urban and rural reserves land-use process to protect farmland and worked with House Speaker Tina Kotek to make the minimum wage bill less harmful.

Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stayton, a veteran legislator known as a strong supporter of the nursery and greenhouse industry and a respected voice on both sides of the aisle. He takes into consideration how bills would affect agriculture if they became law.

Oregon’s nursery industry is annually the first- or second- most valuable commodity in the state. Sales hit $895 million in 2015. An estimated 75 percent of the nursery plants grown in the state are shipped out of Oregon.

A USDA official, Alexis Taylor, has been nominated to head the Oregon Department of Agriculture, replacing former director Katy Coba.

Taylor is currently the USDA’s Deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agriculture Services and will begin serving as ODA director on Jan. 23, once confirmed by the Oregon Senate.

Lisa Hanson, ODA’s deputy director, was a finalist for the position and has served as the agency’s chief since Coba left in October to lead the state’s Department of Administrative Services.

In her position at USDA, Taylor was charged with advocating for international trade policies that benefit U.S. agriculture and led the agency’s Women in Agriculture Initiative, which supports female farmers.

Prior to the USDA, she negotiated provisions that ended up in the 2008 and 2014 farm bills as a legislative advisor to congressional committees.

A graduate of Iowa State University, Taylor was raised on an Iowa farm and served in the U.S. Army Reserve for eight years, including a tour in Iraq.

When Coba announced she was leaving ODA, eight of Oregon’s agriculture industry groups wrote a letter to Gov. Kate Brown, urging her to install Hanson as the permanent agency chief.

However, the Oregon Farm Bureau has welcomed the news of Taylor’s appointment, citing her “track record of success” at the USDA.

“We believe Ms. Taylor’s experience at a high level in Washington, D.C. gives here the background she needs to be successful in helping the industry recognize and overcome its challenges in Oregon,” OFB said in a statement.

LONG CREEK, Ore. — It rained last night, and Sharon Livingston couldn’t be happier about it.

Recently named Agriculturalist of the Year, the welfare of her ranch is never far from her mind.

Born and raised in Long Creek, Livingston, now 77, still works the ranch she grew up on. She leases her Angus and Angus-cross cattle to a local rancher, Jim Jacobs, and helps when she can.

Livingston works seven days a week and doesn’t take vacations outside of work. She’s deeply involved in Oregon agriculture and is the former president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and a member on both the Oregon Board of Agriculture and the Oregon Beef Council.

In recognition, Livingston has been named the 2016 Agriculturalist of the Year by Oregon Aglink. She will receive the award at the annual Denim & Diamonds Dinner and Auction in Portland, Nov. 18.

Livingston is one of only two women who have been president of the cattlemen’s association.

“I taught school for years with men, and if we went through the lunch line and they let me go in front, I would say, ‘Thank you.’ I’m appreciative,” she said. “However, if you choose not to, it’s OK. We’re all working here together.”

Grant County Commissioner Boyd Britton has known Livingston for roughly two decades and speaks highly of her.

“Sharon Livingston is one of the reasons Grant County will always be strong,” Britton said. “She loves the land, and she stands up for the rights of the agricultural community.”

The award is presented by Oregon Aglink, a marketing and public relations association for the agricultural industry founded in 1966. The organization’s goal is to educate urban Oregonians on where their food comes from and how farmers produce it, Aglink Executive Director Geoff Horning said.

Agriculturalist of the Year is “the most prestigious award” in the agriculture industry, he said.

“It’s something that has to really be a career achievement,” Horning said. “It’s really more of an award to present someone who has gone above and beyond over a long period of time.”

It’s for this dedication that Livingston is being honored.

“Sharon has been an extraordinary advocate for Oregon agriculture on so many fronts for her entire life,” Horning said. “She represents everything that is good about our industry and about her community. She’s very selfless, very outgoing and very willing to do whatever it takes to help her industry do better.”

Livingston is appreciative of the recognition, but gets her satisfaction from being a steward of the land, a provider for her community.

“I just try to pay my bills, be a good citizen, honor the Constitution and flag and vote,” she said.

Livingston, like many in the area, is conservative. She said many in the agricultural industry are excited about President-elect Donald Trump and the chance to have a Republican in the White House.

However, she is worried about Trump’s stance against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would help the industry export products.

She is committed to helping give agriculturalists a voice in state government in a time where she says they deal more and more with government regulations and oversight. Livingston cites the Agricultural Water Quality Management Act, also known as Senate Bill 1010, as a prime example.

The bill requires the Oregon Department of Agriculture to help reduce water pollution from agricultural sources to improve the health of watersheds throughout the state. Livingston has stayed involved with the board of agriculture to make sure they are able to use water to produce crops and sustain their industry.

“Land ain’t no good without water,” she said, quoting a line from her favorite book, “Half Broke Horses.”

Livingston said she will always be an advocate for taking care of water and using it in a sustainable way.

Livingston has watched the community she grew up in slowly dry out. She said the evidence is all around her: Smaller classes in schools, fewer open businesses and a lack of jobs are all proof Long Creek is hurting.

“It’s a whole different society, a different area, a different community,” she said.

However, Livingston believes the town has a future, which is something that drives her to advocate for the needs of local agriculturalists.

Livingston said she will continue to work in agriculture as long as she can but is uncertain to whom she will pass on the tradition. She lost her husband, Fred, in 1992 to cancer and her oldest son, Clayton, to a heart attack in 2013. Both had been involved in the ranch. She has two other children who have moved away but is hopeful a grandchild will show interest in the tradition.

Livingston said she never intended to get rich and plans to hang on to the ranch as long as she can.

“It’s my life, and it’s what I do,” she said. “I’ll do it as long as I can.”

Portland pot attorney Amy Margolis has joined a Florida firm that is expanding its cannabis law practice group across the U.S. as more states legalize production, sale and use of medical and recreational marijuana.

At least two other attorneys join Margolis in the new Portland office of Greenspoon Marder, which is based in Boca Raton, Fla., and has offices in Miami, New York, Denver, Las Vegas, San Diego and elsewhere. Attorneys Sara Bateman and Kristin Stanckiewicz will work in Portland with Margolis, who joins the law firm as a shareholder.

Margolis is a significant figure in Oregon’s marijuana industry, and the Florida law firm’s expansion into Oregon is part of a noteworthy trend as well. Other Pacific Northwest law firms have agricultural practice lawyers who work with producers and processors on a wide range of business and environmental issues, and some of them have recently added or assigned cannabis work to their ag teams.

Tim Bernasek, head of the agricultural practice group at Portland’s Dunn Carney law firm, said the company’s leadership analyzed the issue thoroughly and decided to take on marijuana work. The decision is consistent with the approach many trade associations have taken, Bernasek said, including the Oregon Farm Bureau.

“The voters have spoken,” Bernasek said. “This is a legitimate agricultural crop and it’s important for people getting into the business to have good legal representation in dealing with, number one, understanding the agricultural regulatory environment that they are now formally a part of.”

It’s important that cannabis producers and entrepreneurs understand the risks of lending and other transactions, because marijuana remains illegal under federal law even though states have legalized it, he said. Some traditional farmers are diversifying into marijuana, and need solid advice.

“That’s the analysis our firm went through,” Bernasek said. “It isn’t a values judgment. If we serve an industry, this is part of that industry. The bigger thing as a legal community, particularly when it’s so tricky and difficult, is people need good legal counsel.”

Veteran attorney David Zehntbauer is Dunn Carney’s point person on cannabis issues.

Margolis, head of the new Greenspoon Marder branch in Portland, founded and was executive director of the Oregon Cannabis Association, a nonprofit professional organization representing growers, processors, dispensaries and other businesses. Margolis has testified and lobbied before the Oregon Legislature and other governing bodies on legalization issues.

Margolis previously worked at the Emerge Law Group, which drafted Measure 91. The measure legalized recreational cannabis use, possession and cultivation in Oregon. Voters approved it in 2014 and it took effect July 1, 2015. Emerge Law, based in downtown Portland, remains focused on cannabis business and regulatory compliance issues.

In a prepared statement issued by Greenspoon Marder, Margolis said she is “thrilled” to join the firm as it expands its national cannabis practice.

“Having represented clients in the cannabis movement and industry for more than fifteen years, I am excited to partner with a firm that has (a) deep bench of experience with heavily regulated industries coupled with a commitment to cannabis reform,” Margolis said in the statement. She did not immediately respond to an interview request.

Greenspoon Marder estimates the recreational and medicinal marijuana market at $5.4 billion annually. Counting results from the Nov. 8 election, 29 states and Washington, D.C. now allow adult pot use in some form, according to the law firm.

On its website, the firm said state votes are “creating an environment of rapid growth in the cannabis industry” even though the federal government still classifies it as illegal. The law firm said it helps businesses “navigate the complex and evolving laws and regulations governing the cannabis industry.”

Online

http://www.gmlaw.com

OLYMPIA — The minimum wage for H-2A visa foreign guestworkers in Washington and Oregon likely will rise 5.44 percent to $13.38 per hour in 2017, making it the highest in the nation, according to WAFLA, formerly the Washington Farm Labor Association.

The rate has been $12.69 for the past year and goes up every Jan. 1 based on government surveys of regional prevailing wages.

“It appears that the large percentage increases and higher wages for field and livestock workers are symptomatic of a dramatic labor shortage nationwide,” said Dan Fazio, WAFLA director.

“It’s good news for workers but very tough for farmers,” he said.

As it increases, it’s increasing farmers’ production costs, he said.

The mandatory minimum wage for H-2A workers, known as the Adverse Effect Wage Rate, is set by the U.S. Department of Labor based on surveys of prevailing wages of domestic workers by region. It is above state minimum wages and intended to prevent wages of domestic workers from being adversely affected by the importation of foreign workers.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service calculates the AEWR, adopted by DOL, from surveys of field and livestock workers conducted during one week each calendar quarter, Fazio said. On Nov. 17, NASS published the third- and fourth-quarter wage rates along with the entire year’s calculations, he said.

Wage surveys conducted by the Washington Employment Security Department are not considered by NASS or DOL but DOL encourages states to do their own surveys, he said.

These rates are not official until issued by DOL, but it looks like California’s AEWR will increase 5.72 percent from $11.89 to $12.57 per hour, Fazio said.

The rate for Idaho, Montana and Wyoming likely will decrease slightly from $11.75 to $11.66 per hour, he said. The rate in Colorado, Utah and Nevada probably will drop from $11.27 to $11 per hour and Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin likely will increase 5.74 percent from $12.02 to $12.75 per hour, he said.

The national average will probably go up 3.92 percent from $11.74 to $12.20, he said.

Washington growers hired 13,641 H-2A workers in 2016, mostly from Mexico, for pruning and picking tree fruit. Often those workers make more than the AEWR on piece rate, which is pay for the volume of fruit they pick.

But at a minimum, growers using H-2A workers must pay all their workers, foreign and domestic, the highest of the AEWR, the prevailing hourly wage, a collective bargaining wage, if applicable, or the state or federal minimum wage, Fazio said. “The AEWR becomes the de facto minimum wage for farmers who use H-2A and pay workers by the hour,” he said.

The H-2A program allows agricultural employers to hire foreign guestworkers on temporary work visas to fill seasonal jobs. Employers must show a shortage of U.S. workers in the area and provide housing, transportation and a minimum wage.

PORTLAND — In the wake of its defeat in passing a $3 billion corporate sales tax measure, A Better Oregon announced Thursday it plans to push for legislation next year to boost state revenue and increase corporate income transparency.

During a press conference Thursday at a Planned Parenthood in Northeast Portland, the union-backed coalition, which sponsored Measure 97, released no details about possible proposals.

Coalition leaders said the 10-to-15-percent cuts to state services that Gov. Kate Brown has said will be needed to balance the 2017-18 budget are unacceptable.

“The issue is our largest corporations are not paying their fair share,” said coalition leader Linda Roman, director of health policy and government relations for the Latino Health Coalition. “We cannot continue to tax working families and small businesses. That is just too large of a burden for Oregonians.”

Coalition leaders’ messages Thursday seemed to echo many of its campaign slogans. But coalition leader Andrea Paluso, executive director of Family Forward Oregon, said A Better Oregon is willing to negotiate with businesses and corporations that opposed the ballot measure on a potential revenue package.

Lawmakers have said they plan to consider a revenue package next year to help fill a nearly $1.4 billion revenue shortfall on maintaining existing services.

Coalition leaders said they plan to unveil A Better Oregon budget in coming weeks, revenue package proposals and legislation to disclose what corporations pay in taxes to the state. Some of the revenue proposals already exist, but A Better Oregon has not yet released them, Roman said. The coalition hopes to work with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on the legislation but was not prepared Thursday to name any sponsors.

The coalition has no existing plans to propose another ballot measure to raise revenue. Leaders are waiting to see what the Legislature will come up with next year.

Coalition leaders will be looking for “real attempts at and success in raising revenue that closes some of our budget shortfalls but also looks to the future,” Paluso said.

“It’s not enough anymore to just stop cutting,” she said. “We actually need to invest in the future.”

One of A Better Oregon’s proposals will aim at making public the amount of taxes corporations pay the state, Roman said.

“Time and time again in this debate as we were really asking corporations to pay their fair share for the common good, as they should, we came up against the fact that there really was a dearth of information about what they actually pay,” said coalition leader Brian Rudiger, deputy executive director for SEIU Local 503, “and we think as we move forward into this 2017 legislative cycle and beyond, that it is going to be critical for legislators and the general public to have more information.”

The coalition is working with lawyers to explore legal options for greater transparency, Paluso said.

“We feel confident there are ways we can require corporations to disclose more about their profits and tax rates,” she said.

Valerie Cunningham, a spokeswoman for the Portland Business Alliance, declined the comment on the proposal at this time. Ryan Deckert, president of the Oregon Business Association, was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

Voters soundly rejected Measure 97 by a 19-point margin. The measure would have levied a 2.5 percent tax on certain corporations’ Oregon sales exceeding $25 million.

The campaign against the measure emphasized that the tax applied only to one type of corporation, leaving out others with equal sales. The “No on Measure 97” campaign also drove home that lawmakers could spend the revenue in any way they chose, and that the tax could cost consumers hundreds of dollars more per year in the form of higher prices and slowed job growth.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Lawyers for a second set of defendants to be tried for the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon say they want a pool of 2,000 jurors to be summoned as soon as possible. But the prosecution wants a delay while it “evaluates its position” on the defendants.

The opposing stances were contained in a status report filed in federal court in Portland, three weeks after a jury acquitted seven other defendants — including two of the occupation leaders — of the same conspiracy charge: conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs.

Even though the government said it wanted to evaluate its position, attorneys on both sides agreed to file pretrial motions by Dec. 16 and for arguments over the motions to take place the week of Jan. 16. The trial is scheduled to start on Feb. 14.

Defense attorney Jesse Merrithew told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday that the larger jury pool is needed because the acquittals of seven other defendants will make it harder to seat an impartial jury.

“It will be more difficult to find jurors that have not heard of the case and come to some conclusion about what happened,” Merrithew said, adding that “the reaction of the public to the verdicts was extremely negative.”

However, some potential jurors in the upcoming trial might believe the previous jury was justified in acquitting the defendants, Merrithew acknowledged.

The armed group seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 2 and occupied it for 41 days to oppose prison sentences for two local ranchers convicted of setting fires and to protest federal control of public lands in the West. One occupier, LaVoy Finicum, was shot to death by state police at a roadblock as he and occupation leaders were driving to a meeting in an adjacent county.

Merrithew’s client is Jake Ryan, whom Merrithew described as “a very low-level guy” among the occupiers.

“The government has provided no information what he was doing in the refuge,” the attorney said. “I believe he operated a backhoe to dig a trench after LaVoy Finicum was shot.”

Besides Ryan, defendants in the second trial are Dylan Anderson, Sandra Anderson, Sean Anderson, Duane Ehmer, Jason Patrick and Darryl Thorn.

Andrew Kohlmetz, Patrick’s attorney, said he believes the prior acquittals — including of occupation leaders Ammon and Ryan Bundy — should be taken into account by prosecutors.

“As a matter of fairness, I don’t see how the federal government can say we respect that jury’s verdict and then turn around and try less culpable defendants,” Kohlmetz said in a telephone interview.

Wednesday’s status report said, regarding the jury pool, that “Defendants’ position is that the summonses have to go out as soon as possible, and they request 2000 summonses be issued.”

The prosecution’s response was that it “requests that the issuance of the summonses be delayed while the government evaluates its position regarding the February defendants.”

Kevin Sonoff, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, had no immediate comment when asked for clarification on what that meant.

In an earlier interview with AP, Tung Yin, a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland who has been closely following the case, said prosecutors might be more rigorous in jury selection, sweeten plea deals or even go for lesser charges instead of the felony conspiracy charge.

Eleven other defendants pleaded guilty under plea bargains before the acquittals in the first trial on Oct. 27.

Sundays

MOUNT HOOD, Ore. (AP) — Up to 4 inches of snow had fallen on Oregon’s Cascades by Wednesday morning.

The Oregonian reported that the National Weather Service said higher elevations had picked up even more with Mt. Hood Meadows reporting 9 inches of powder overnight.

The weather service added that temperatures were expected to rise briefly Thursday and storm clouds were likely to lessen.

Another wet system is expected to roll through this weekend.

BANDON -- MarLo Dance Studio’s celebrates 17 years with it’s production of "The Nutcracker," a holiday celebration to share! Dancing toys, mischievous mice, waltzing flowers and sparkling snowflakes dance to Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous score at the Sprague Theater in Bandon, 1202…

BANDON — MarLo Dance Studio’s celebrates 17 years with it’s production of "The Nutcracker," a holiday celebration to share! Dancing toys, mischievous mice, waltzing flowers and sparkling snowflakes dance to Tchaikovsky’s sumptuous score at the Sprague Theater in Bandon, 1202…

EUGENE, Ore. — A federal judge has refused to dismiss a former student’s allegation of unjust enrichment against his Oregon State University professor.

Earlier this year, former OSU professor Neil Forsberg accused his ex-student, Yongqian Wang, of stealing trade secrets from his company, Omnigen Research.

The Corvallis, Ore.-based company manufactures a feed additive that’s popular in the U.S. dairy industry and that it hoped to market in China.

According to Omnigen’s complaint, Wang was employed at the company while an OSU graduate student and had access to confidential information about research and ingredients that he used to file a “sham” patent for a similar feed additive in China.

Wang acknowledged starting two feed additive companies in China but denies he relied on Omnigen’s trade secrets.

He also filed a counterclaim against Omnigen, alleging that Forsberg had reneged on a promise to pay Wang a portion of the profits for his work on the feed additive.

Attorneys for Omnigen requested that U.S. District Court Michael McShane dismiss the counterclaim, arguing that the allegation of unjust enrichment was “pure fiction” and “not plausible.”

At a hearing in Eugene, Ore., McShane refused to dismiss the motion, saying the request was “frivolous” at this stage of litigation.

It would be too early to reject the argument before discovery of evidence had occurred in the lawsuit, he said.

McShane admonished the attorneys for Omnigen for “dog piling” on the defendant’s attorney with the request and awarded Wang attorney fees for having to fight this motion.

“This is litigation for the sake of litigation,” McShane said. “This isn’t the type of litigation that occurs in federal court.”

The judge then urged the parties to move on with the next stages of litigation.

Omnigen products are used to treat hemmorhagic bowel syndrome in dairy cows.

The company was launched by Forsberg in 2002 and was bought a decade later for $23 million by Phibro Animal Health Corp. of New York.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 16

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Rodents, insects and microscopic bacteria: All these hazards can exist in food and where it is stored, and it is up to the Oregon Department of Agriculture to ensure they’re not there.

But the department’s Food Safety Program, which is charged with carrying out inspections of dairies, grocery stores, food processors and other establishments, has a backlog that could cause an increase in dangerous and even fatal illnesses, Oregon’s secretary of state said in an audit published on Tuesday.

The Food Safety Program is responsible for regulating more than 12,000 food safety licenses in Oregon. The auditors found that, as of October, 2,841 licenses were overdue for an inspection by more than three months.

The 28-page report cites a scary scenario that was discovered during an inspection in one locale.

In June 2015, two food safety inspectors found hundreds of rodent droppings scattered throughout a grocery store in Portland, the report said.

“Seven dead mice were still locked in snap traps ... During a later visit, the inspectors found thousands of insects on glue traps and dead insects visible inside wrapped packages of lettuce. This time, the rodents spotted were alive; one stuck to a glue trap behind the bread display, another running near the front of the store,” said the audit from Secretary of State Jeanne P. Atkins office. The inspectors closed and condemned the store until the problems could be resolved.

The audit pointed out that not all violations are so obvious, and that health hazards could come from an establishment failing to properly sanitize a food preparation area or storing food at an improper temperature — which could allow bacteria to grow — or not labeling allergens like peanuts.

Each year, one in six Americans gets sick from contaminated foods or beverages, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The CDC estimates that of the roughly 48 million people who get sick from a foodborne illness each year, 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die.

The backlog of inspections in Oregon was “caused by an increase in the number of licensed businesses ... and an inspection staff busy with other duties,” said the audit, which is accessible via the secretary of state’s website. It recommended the agriculture department use stronger management practices, improve use of data and use its resources more strategically.

“Inspectors are also spending significant amounts of time on duties that are not related to inspections, such as attending training courses in specialized license types or answering customer questions on the phone,” the audit said.

It noted that the Food Safety Program has a contract with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to conduct some of its inspections in exchange for reimbursement. It recommended doing fewer FDA contract inspections.

Lisa Hanson, acting director of the state agriculture department, wrote in a response that the department will implement the report’s recommendations.

The audit stressed that adhering to food safety regulations is crucial to minimize the risk of contamination, and that it’s up to food safety inspectors to make sure those regulations are followed.