2018 Ag Journal - Winter

Ag Journal Daily Record Winter 2018

Family farm near Thorp ■ Calving season underway ■

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Table of contents

Ag Journal Editor Joanna Markell Publisher Heather Hernandez Advertising Contact us: Ag Journal 401 N. Main Street Ellensburg, WA 98926 509-925-1414 The Ag Journal is published three times a year by Kittitas County Publishing LLC. Contents copyrighted 2015 unless otherwise noted.

On the cover: Foothills Farm photo

Cows and their calves are moved carefully at Foothills Farm Forage and Livestock near Thorp.

Family farm and business near Thorp Page 4

Calving season underway Page 10

Water-use dispute settled

USDA Organic standards

Page 16

Page 18

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Family works together on Thorp-area ranch

A diversified operation

Foothills Farm photo

Ethan George puts new, clean straw on and around a newborn calf to keep the young one warm and dry during calving season.

4 | 2018 Ag Journal - Winter

T

By MIKE JOHNSTON Special to the DAILY RECORD

horp-area rancher and farmer Craig George and his son, Ethan George, say it’s easier to look back than ahead when it comes to raising livestock.

For example, it’s hard to say what income they might receive this fall on the Angus calves that will be born in their pastures starting around mid-February this year.

They raise them from birth for more than seven months.

“We’re watching the beef market closely and we have a general idea where the prices might be going,” Craig said, “but we don’t really know exactly what we’ll receive until our calves are actually sold, by our negotiations or at auction. What ranchers get from feeding companies for their new crop of new calves constantly goes up and down based on a whole lot of factors mostly all out of our control. These calves are our very important products, but if our costs go up to produce them we can’t just immediately pass that on to the buyers. We hope we can cover all costs and then some, but that’s kinda rare.”

Welcome to the uncertainties of cow-calf production ranching.

Craig said cattle are only one part of Foothills Farm Forage and Livestock operation northwest of Ellensburg, an operation that requires diversified farming to pay all the bills and takes the entire family — Craig, his wife, Melanie, and son and daughter Ethan George and Rachel George — to keep it going. Ethan manages all livestock operations on the fifthgeneration farm and ranch.

Bit of good news

The good news is Foothills calves brought in somewhat more this fall than in 2016, Craig said. Each calf is about 600 pounds.

“Every bit helps when we can get more, but, really, what’s put into that calf, and in raising and maintaining

each calf and that mother cow in a humane and healthy way, well, what we got back is still a long way from paying for all our production costs, the inputs, that are always rising.”

“Inputs” like feed, pasture fertilizer, vaccinations and other medications, irrigation costs, hours on horseback moving animals to different pastures, electric fencing, insurance, occasional veterinarian bills, fuel and the list goes on.

Craig said the heavier-thannormal snowfall in winter 201617 made for colder and more wet pasture conditions, and Ethan later had to treat significantly more cases of pink-eye infection than usually shows up in the herd. This required more time and effort to carefully round up the affected animals, humanely secure them and then apply the purchased medication.

“You can’t budget for that; it just happens and you have to respond to the need,” Craig said. “You can’t delay. You’ve got to get out there and get treatment going.”

The improved fall 2017 price for calves seemed to be due to increased nationwide demand for beef products domestically and for export. That increased the demand on feedlot businesses to supply beef processing businesses, according to some national market reports, and that, in turn, spiked the need for replacement calves for feedlots.

This came at a time when regional and national calf prices had declined steadily from a high in 2014. Some forecasters see prices paid to cattle ranchers to lower in the near future because of a larger overall supply of meat protein products.

Craig said his family raises calves

Foothills Farm photo

Ethan George hefts a new calf at Foothills Farm Forage and Livestock. on their own pasture and on leased ground. He is the current president of the Kittitas County Cattlemen’s Association and said he stepped forward to serve because, in a way, after his family’s many years in ranching “it was my turn.”

The cattle ranching side of the operation, Craig is quick to say, is all up to his son, Ethan.

Ethan says the livestock business includes raising the Boer and Kiko breed of meat goats to supply a growing market in California and

5 | 2018 Ag Journal - Winter

southwest United States.

Ethan said he’s raised goats for 17 years, and now is applying that knowledge to meet an expanding demand.

The family also raises commercial quantities of high-quality timothy hay and alfalfa for export, for domestic sales and their own use. In addition, they have a long-running operation of growing and producing certified oat seed and also raise orchard grass and oat hay.

See Operation, Page 6

Foothills Farm photo

Ethan George, left, and his father, Craig George, early in the year discuss plans for specific fields.

Operation Continued from Page 5 And something new: they’re growing and selling low-carb Teff grass, an up-and-coming crop for what looks like an increasing market among horse owners who want to keep their recreational horses slim and healthy. This niche market can result in a premium price for what the George family produces.

Fitting it together

Craig and Ethan said the beef operation doesn’t stand alone and really can’t on the limited acreage available to the family in the Kittitas Valley where farm ground, in some locations, is being lost to rural

homesites.

Ethan said the beef cattle business has to dovetail into taking care of and replenishing the farm’s natural resources. It has to fit in with their pasture management, crop rotations for feed and forage and to meet the exacting standards for producing oat seed that has to be free of stray seeds and plants.

“It’s all got to fit together and balance out or it just doesn’t work,” Ethan said, as his father nods in agreement. “We’re taking a holistic approach to all this, the bigger picture, and we’re trying to work in new crops to improve all the parts to the bigger picture. … We have to always find the means to maximize the use and production capacity of the land in a way that still keeps it healthy.”

They aren’t alone. More beef

ranchers in the Kittitas Valley are taking a big-picture approach to improve their stewardship of the land and to sustain and protect the natural resources in and around their operations.

Craig and Ethan agree it takes a family and a supportive community to meet the challenging goals they’ve set for their farm and ranch and to keep their business going into the future.

Team George

The heritage of the George operation, Foothills Farm Forage and Livestock, can be seen in a weathered sign on the side of what appears to be a very old, but sturdy barn across from the farm’s shop on East Taneum Road. The sign reads: “B.F. George and Sons.”

6 | 2018 Ag Journal - Winter

That somewhat historic sign could more accurately read “Team George.”

Craig, 55, will quickly tell you that the farm and ranch involves an entire family, and sometimes friends and relatives. It includes Craig’s wife, Melanie, who is the full-time administrator, accountant and bookkeeper of the business, daily involved in budgeting, spending, and required record-keeping for finances and crop and livestock management.

She’s also part of daily informal conversations between Ethan and Craig looking at what needs to be done and who does it.

“Really, she does all the paperwork, all the bookkeeping, everything,” Craig said. “I come in and say our old four-wheeler (ATV) needs to be replaced with something new

Foothills Farm photo

Craig George, left, and his son, Ethan, do a little roping on the ranch side of things at the family’s Foothills Farm and Forage operation near Thorp. Roping was needed to round up calves for branding and vaccinations. and if she says ‘nope, no can do,’ well that’s it. She knows where we’re really at.”

Family business

Ethan, 24, grew up working on the family farm and ranch and has a closeup knowledge of the operation and the land. He decided to come back full-time to the family operation after he graduated in 2014 from Casper College in Wyoming with degrees in animal science and range management.

Craig said some of the new practices that Ethan has applied to the family operation might be ideas that Craig has thought about, “but I just didn’t have the energy and time, basically I didn’t have the manpower to try on my own.”

Ethan, he said with a laugh, sup-

plies that energy, knowledge and research abilities that he, Craig, may not have to make a farm improvement a reality. Like more intensive grazing on smaller pasture areas by rotating herds often and replenishing the grass growth of each area.

Craig said this has required more gates, more electric fencing and nearly daily herding on horseback or on a four-wheeler that Ethan does.

Also pitching in is Craig and Melanie’s daughter, Rachel George, who grew up working nearly every aspect of the farm and was active in 4-H. She now helps whenever she can outside of her work on staff as Central Washington University’s STEM Teaching Program adviser and recruiter.

See Operation, Page 8

Foothills Farm photo

A young calf negotiates the snow still on the ground at calving time at Foothills Farm Forage and Livestock near Thorp.

7 | 2018 Ag Journal - Winter

Operation Continued from Page 7 Rachel, 27, before taking that position in November 2016 worked as the 4-H program coordinator with Washington State University in Clark and Skamania counties.

She rents a home just down the road from the George’s home place and has sometimes worked long hours on weekends and in evenings when needed for hay and livestock operations.

“Growing up and working on a farm and ranch has made a huge, positive impact on my life, and it’s great being able to still be a part of a family operation,” Rachel said. “I’ve never lost my enjoyment of working with livestock.”

Rachel, in her CWU job, works to engage with high school and college students to encourage them to consider becoming a teacher in a STEM (science, technology, engineering

and mathematics) area, positions much needed across the nation. In addition to her family’s agriculture operation, she continues to be an adult 4-H leader.

On her family’s farm and ranch, Rachel also uses her media skills to maintain the operation’s website and Facebook marketing to those seeking to buy Teff grass, orchard and other hays by the ton or by the bale.

“It’s been a real blessing to me to be able to work and connect with students and also stay involved with our family farm and ranch,” Rachel said.

Everyone, Craig said, works long and hard on different tasks during the nearly continuous hay cutting and baling season spring through early fall, with Rachel and some friends and relatives helping in evenings and on weekends. When it’s time to vaccinate and brand calves, it’s all hands on deck again.

Although Ethan manages the livestock, when there’s a big need

for help during calving time and if calves and mother cows need inthe-pasture doctoring, Craig is there to assist.

Newer efforts

Some of the newer efforts aided

by Ethan’s energy, Craig said, has included planting soybeans to bring more nitrogen into the soil and grow feed for cattle. The soybeans fix nitrogen and allow stray grasses to be removed, which gets fields ready for new timothy grass seedings.

Craig said the practice has yielded high-quality new timothy growth.

They’re also experimenting with growing triticale, a wheat-rye cross that doesn’t die out in winter. It has the potential to provide top-quality feed for beef herds in early spring and fall. Spraying the triticale for stray grasses gets the fields ready for Teff grass plantings after triticale is harvested.

Teff, Ethan said, likes warmer weather, grows quickly and is harvested in August. It supplies an

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increasing niche market in which horse owners are willing to pay more than for the usual hays to maintain the weight and health of their horses.

“We can’t put all our eggs in one basket with what we grow and raise,” Ethan said. “We have to diversify to get the most out of the land and animals we have, reduce our costs and be able to navigate through the changing markets and the new markets to keep financially afloat.”

Coming back

Craig said rotation crops for feed or for new hay products and timothy have to pay, not just break even and not be an added expense without a return.

Ethan said with the Kittitas Valley’s relatively small amount of agricultural land that is seeing higher taxes, coupled with the high cost of new rural land, every owned acre has to efficiently bring in revenue. He added it’s a fulfilling challenge for

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Family operation Names: Melanie and Craig George, Rachel George, Ethan George Operation: Foothills Farm Forage and Livestock Home place: Taneum Road, Thorp Contact: 509-964-2515, foothillsfarm@fairpoint.net Focus: Timothy hay, alfalfa, oat seed, beef cattle and calves, Boer and Kiko breed meat goats.

Foothills Farm photo

Ethan George carefully approaches a wary mother cow that needs to be gently moved in order to assist her in the delivery of her calf.

Bucking a trend

Craig acknowledged that Ethan coming back to the farm and ranch as manager of livestock, and Rachel’s continuing help, bucks a national trend where offspring of agricultural families are not returning to their family operations, and the number of family farms shrink.

Rachel said there has been an uptick in recent years in the number of younger adults seeking to establish farms or livestock operations, sometimes in response to expanding niche markets. There’s also been

an increase in their involvement in food science, safety and nutrition, plant and animal genetics, and food security.

The number of farmers age 25 to 34 grew 2.2 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to the 2014 USDA census, a period when other groups of farmers — save the oldest — shrunk by double digits. In some states, such as California, Nebraska and South Dakota, the number of beginning farmers has grown by 20 percent or more, according to the USDA. When the 2017 federal census of agriculture figures start to come out in 2018, it’s expected that trend will continue involving young adult farmers and livestock operators.

Craig says he’s thankful he can continue to work with his family.

“Our work always has to be done cooperatively, we have to be together with everyone on the same page everyday,” Craig said. “I can’t do it myself, I wouldn’t want to do it myself the way the operation fits together.

“So, Ethan and I, and with Melanie and Rachel, we have to do this together, as a family, as a team.”

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him to keep on top of agricultural technology and try to apply practices that are somewhat new to the valley.

Ethan said he had several possible opportunities to engage in fulfilling work in the agricultural production field after he graduated from college.

“I decided to come back to my home operation,” Ethan said. “I thought why should I work for someone else to better their future when I could help both my future and the future of my family right here.”

Calving season a critical time

Chelse Forman

Calves rest in a pasture at Trinity Farms. Calving season runs from January through March in the Kittitas Valley.

Calving means late nights, early mornings for ranchers

By MIKE JOHNSTON Special to the DAILY RECORD Ask beef cattle ranchers about the annual calving season that’s now coming down fast upon Kittitas County’s rural lands and you’ll get a range of comments and stories.

They say it can be physically exhausting and demanding. It’s a crucial time for the future success of their business; and it also can be a

good time, too, of sorts. Some see it as a wonderful time.

From roughly January through March, mother cows give birth to calves in pastures throughout the county no matter the time of day or what the weather or ground conditions are. The mother cows were impregnated by bulls or through careful artificial insemination.

If all goes well, nine months after conception a baby calf is born, with

the rancher hoping there’s no birthing complications, there’s little or no snow on the ground, the temperature isn’t sub-zero, pastures aren’t overly muddy and the wind is gentle.

That’s the hope, anyhow. Usually it requires late nights and dark, cold mornings walking soggy pastures to check cows who’ve been showing signs that labor is close at hand. If there’s a birth, it requires getting as close as possible to check the condi-

10 | 2018 Ag Journal - Winter

tion of that little calf without unduly upsetting the momma cow.

The calves are destined to be raised for seven months or so and sold to feeding companies that, in turn, supply cattle to beef processing firms. Some of the heifers might be held onto by the rancher to become new mother cows to keep the calves coming.

Or they’re bull calves raised and sold for their reproductive potential

to produce more robust calves.

They’re the all-important annual crop that’s raised humanely and as healthy as possible to bring the rancher revenue that keeps their operation in business and pay the bills.

There’s a whole lot riding on those calves coming safely into the world.

Plenty of pasture walks

Sarah Ryan, executive vicepresident of the Washington State Cattlemen’s Association, grew up on a cattle ranch and wheat farm in the Palouse region of Eastern Washington and knows about calving season.

Although Ryan’s association office is in Ellensburg, she tries to help out on her family’s ranch when she can.

“Calving, well, it’s to me when all of your hard work is coming to fruition; it’s the fruit of all you’ve done in trying your best in raising healthy mother cows and encouraging the best genetics for the best outcome in your calves,” Ryan said recently.

“There’s a tremendous investment that’s been made with each cow and even more investments will be made in the life of those calves. It’s the future livelihood of their families that ranchers see in those little calves.”

Mother cows are checked regularly during their pregnancy, and some get special nutrition in different trimesters. Another reason for good pasture management, she said, is to make sure there’s adequate winter-

time drainage for better conditions for cows and calves.

Ryan’s learned the hard way, after living and working on a cattle ranch, that winter isn’t an easy time for calving for the animals or humans, but it’s the optimal time in the Pacific Northwest to start raising what ends up being a more than 600-pound calf seven months later.

“Yeah, growing up I had plenty of getting up in the middle of frozen, winter nights to check our herd and hope there were no problems,” Ryan said. “If there were problems, well, it’s time to wake up Dad or others in the family to come help.”

Longtime Kittitas Valley rancher John Eaton, 70, says he can’t remember a time when calving wasn’t an annual part of the Eaton family work. He was 3 years old when the Eaton family made their home in the valley and in the Yakima River Canyon.

“You’ve got to do all you can to give that little calf the best possible start in life, a real chance to survive and thrive,” said Eaton.

One clue that a birth’s coming is when a pregnant cow starts to move away from other cows and appears to be looking for a somewhat secluded spot, he said.

“They’re looking for some place a bit drier and cleaner and somewhere that seems safer to them, away from predators,” Eaton said. “That usually means a calf is on its way.”

See Calving, Page 12 Chelse Forman

Calves are weighed at Trinity Farms. Mother cows are checked regularly during their pregnancy, and some get special nutrition in different trimesters.

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Calving

Kittitas County cattle

Continued from Page 11 Many of his mother cows, through the years, have given birth closer to the dawn, just as it starts to get light.

“It’s likely that’s when they’re energy starts to rise, and they know feeding time is coming,” Eaton said.

“Thank the Lord, he made most of them to usually give birth on their own, not like humans.”

Time for action

Ranch families sometimes swing into action to help a cow whose calf isn’t coming out in a timely way, creating a danger for mom and calf.

They secure and immobilize the cow and use leveraging tools to gently pull the calf.

If a mom cow doesn’t seem to be bonding to her calf they may put both in a closed pen; if a mom cow

1954: 59,100 head 2007: 28,447 cattle and calves 2012: 21,126 — County livestock reporting bulletin, federal census of agriculture

doesn’t assist in feeding her calf or the calf isn’t connecting with momma, sometimes calves are brought into warm, enclosed areas to be bottle fed.

When a mother looks and sounds like she’s in distress it could be time to call out the veterinarian.

If a pasture is overly wet, cold and muddy, dry straw will be brought in to give calves a better place to stay somewhat dry and warmer.

“A lot of times they find what’s left

of the daily feed hay on the ground and settle down in the middle of that or find a kind of bushy area,” Eaton said with a chuckle. “You see their little heads and ears sticking up.”

Craig George and his son, Ethan George, said last winter they put out many loads of straw to combat the deep, chilling snow at calving time.

They have a cow-calf operation that part of their Foothills Farm Forage and Livestock at Thorp.

“If you have some significant snow in your pastures like last winter gets pretty hard to deal with calving,” Craig, 55, said. “It’s hard to move around and it’s hard to reach cows needing attention. We had to pull a couple of calves in the snow last winter. I mean 25 degrees out and the ground’s all covered or wet.

Whether it’s 8 a.m. or midnight or 3 a.m. you got to go out. Those cows and calves don’t get a second chance. Those calves need the best beginning you can give them.”

Euphoria

Ryan said when ranchers get a breather in between calves there may be time to watch small, curious calves do their little hop and skip as they explore their world.

“There can be a little euphoria watching this go on, seeing young life come into the world for the first time,” Ryan said.

“There’s a feeling you get sometimes, that you helped mother nature bring into the world something valuable and special, you can get an emotional tie to this new life.”

Eaton said he never tires of watching new life come to his family ranch’s pastures.

“I really get a sense that we’re gleaning a living from God’s creatures, these live animals, not just trading money back and forth,” Eaton said. “We’re working with God to help produce a live product that’s renewed each year; it’s new life that’s God-created.”

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Calving runs around the clock at Trinity Farms

I

By MIKE JOHNSTON Special to the DAILY RECORD

t’s likely that Trinity Farms, about eight miles east of Ellensburg, has the most intensive calving time of any cattle operation in Kittitas County.

By mid-January this winter the ranch’s Angus, Simmental and SimAngus cattle were beginning to reach a peak of having 20 to 30 births a day from a herd of 300 mother cows.

The longtime Forman family business, now operating with three generations, is nationally and internationally known for raising and selling high-quality specialty bulls for beef cattle production and for its annual bull sale on the first Saturday of March.

The timing of artificial insemination is such that the calves are mostly born in January and into February, said Robb Forman, a family partner in the business. Forman said he’s taken part in at least 35 calving seasons on the ranch.

“Most of our customers turn out bulls with their cows in late spring, so we breed our cows to calve during JanuaryFebruary to ensure the bulls will be old enough to do their job successfully,” Forman said.

The intensive birthing rate keeps family members and staff working hard around the clock, he said, in bad winter weather or in mild.

“This is a crucial time because we are responsible for the health and wellbeing of these cattle, especially with these newborns,” Forman said. “They can’t just put a coat on when it’s cold or call a doctor if they are sick, it’s our job to care for these cattle to the best of our ability and make sure all their needs are met.”

There’s no getting around the physical challenge of monitoring and-or attending to so many births happening so quickly one after another.

“So many cows can be calving at the same time,” Forman said. “You may be assisting one cow and three others go into labor during that time frame, which may or may not be in need of assistance themselves. Dealing with adverse weather can also be a challenge.”

Forman said despite the hardships, working so close with family yields strengthened relationships.

“We feel blessed to do what we love with the people we love,” Forman said. “It’s a privilege to work towards our goals alongside our family each and every day.”

Chelse Forman

Newborn calves are tagged at Trinity Farms.

13 | 2018 Ag Journal - Winter

International beef demand growing

By TIPTON HUDSON Special to the DAILY RECORD

better than fall calf prices in 2016 and higher than many predicted.

Historic cattle prices have folLocal and national calf prices lowed a relatively predictable cycle, have declined from a surprising high driven largely by inventory (national in 2014 but remain fairly “herd” size). As prices go up, strong as of mid-January cow-calf producers retain 2018. heifers, their female cattle, to Domestic demand for increase herd size, decrease the beef and other national facage of their herd, and produce tors have always been a key more calves to capitalize on the factor in what price cow-calf favorable prices. producers receive, but the This drives overall invenoutlook increasingly points tory up and, as everyone who Tip Hudson to the growing demand has taken an Economics 101 from international markets class knows, as supply goes up, as taking over the economic prices tend to go down. As pricdriver’s seat in the U.S. beef es go down, farmers sell more industry. animals to generate enough revenue Washington livestock markets to pay the bills, which drives invenaveraged $145/cwt (per hundred tory down. pounds) in October-November of For the last 15 years the relation2017, down somewhat from the ship between national beef cattle 2011-15 average but significantly herd inventory and price has been

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less direct, with international demand playing a more significant role.

The Livestock Marketing Information Center predicts national herd inventory will continue to increase through 2019, which does not bode well for prices for feeder cattle, or those calves raised for feedlot companies.

However, because of strong demand and declining beef imports into the United States, prices have been stronger than expected given the high inventory.

According to Darrell Peel, livestock economist with Oklahoma State University: “Domestic and international beef demand will continue to be critical factors affecting cattle and beef prices in 2018. The U.S. economy is currently strong with low unemployment and a stock market supported by lots of cash from earlier Federal

Reserve stimulus.”

Increased inventory and beef production, simultaneous with high beef demand, will be competing yet potentially stabilizing signals for calf prices.

Exports and the China factor

Peel again: “Domestic and international beef demand will determine cattle and beef price pressure relative to increasing beef production.

Modest price pressure is expected at this time, but any threat to demand would quickly result in additional price weakness. Beef exports increased year over year each month in 2017. For the year to date, beef exports are up 13 percent over one year ago.”

Of particular importance will be how rapidly China allows expanded beef import volumes from the U.S. The Chinese market opened in 2017,

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and monthly exports are steady but small. If China increases imports rapidly they could quickly be in our top five U.S. beef export countries, which would significantly affect the cattle market here; however, expansion is expected to be slow over the next 3-5 years.

Local ranchers producing calves no longer have prices driven by what a local or regional feeder company is offering at the local sale yard. There were always many larger-scale drivers behind pricing even when calves were purchased locally.

However, even national-scale drivers like the price of corn in Nebraska, which historically pushes prices around, have taken a back seat to international demand, at least for now.

Tipton Hudson is an associate professor of rangeland and livestock management with Washington State University Extension, and is the WSU-Kittitas County Extension office director; to contact Hudson call 509962-7507 or email hudsont@wsu.

More about cattle • Production of cattle and calves in Washington state had an estimated value of more than $858 million in 2015, a 6.5 percent increase over 2014, and ranked third in value of statewide agricultural products.

(National Agricultural Statistic Services) • The state’s entire beef cattle industry (cow-calf production, feedlots, packing firms) had a production value of nearly $3.64 billion in 2014, according to a WSU economic study • If related businesses and employment activities associated with beef production in the state are added to the above, the total economic contribution is estimated at $5.61 billion in 2014.

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Legislature settles water-use dispute

Ted S. Warren / AP

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, center, signs the capital budget Jan. 19 at the Capitol in Olympia. The signing came after the state Legislature approved more than $4 billion in construction projects across the state after reaching a deal on a contentious water issue that had stalled the capital budget for months. State Sen. Judy Warnick, who represents Kittitas, Grant and Lincoln counties is pictured on the far left.

Fix to Hirst court decision tied to state capital budget

By Alex Visser WNPA Olympia News Bureau One of the year’s most important legislative battles in Washington state came to a surprisingly quick conclusion in mid-January when a water-use bill passed both chambers and was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee.

In 2016, the state Supreme Court’s Hirst decision essentially halted development across the state when it determined that counties were not adequately examining impacts on stream

and river flow levels.

The decision weighed heavily on last year’s legislative session when Republicans refused to reach an agreement on a state capital budget until Democrats could devise an appropriate Hirst fix. The capital budget pays for state-funded development, and the stalemate put a delay to a number of projects across Washington, including efforts to improve schools.

Inslee and party leaders were vocal heading into this year’s session that solving the Hirst/capital

budget issue was a major priority, and House Minority Leader Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish, said on TVW’s “Inside Olympia” program that a fix was agreed upon Wednesday night when leaders from each chamber met with the governor.

“I appreciate that the complexity of this issue required several months of negotiations by many legislators,” Inslee said Thursday night in a press release. “While far from perfect, this bill helps protect water resources while providing water for families in rural

16 | 2018 Ag Journal - Winter

Washington.”

Sen. Judy Warnick, lead negotiator on the bill to fix the flawed Hirst court decision, believes the compromise deal will bring needed relief for rural families seeking to drill a small household well.

“It has been an arduous and complex negotiation,” Warnick, R-Moses Lake, said in a news release. “I believe that the compromise we have reached meets the criteria that I stated at the end of last year, namely that any solution must not be a burden on rural

families who simply need water to build a home.”

Exempt from the legislation is Skagit County, at the request of tribes that are already working on new water rules in the area, according to Sen. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim. The Yakima and Dungeness watersheds also have other requirements not addressed in the bill.

Van De Wege, the author of the bill, said a December work session provided much of its framework. With other proposed Hirst fixes floating up from both parties in the House and Senate, Van De Wege said he never imagined his bill would be the one to bring the Hirst issue to a close.

The Hirst bill allows for limited drilling of new wells, each of which would require a $500 fee from landowners. Local work groups will work with the Department of Ecology to establish water-use guidelines for the next 20 years.

The bill also limits water withdrawals in new wells to 3,000 gallons per

day in less crowded areas compared, to 950 gallons per day in watersheds that are densely populated.

The bill passed in the Senate with a 35-14 vote, before immediately making its way to the House, who passed it 66-30. A capital budget bill also passed both houses, and the governor said he would soon sign both bills into law.

Opposition came from senators Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, and Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro Woolley, who urged no votes from the Senate because of the bill’s exclusion of Skagit County, which they both represent.

“We’re on a slippery slope,” Wagoner said. “I believe that supporters of property rights and property owners will regret this bill.”

“I wish there had been something done for Skagit so I could vote yes, because the rest of the work of this bill is good,” Bailey said. “But remember, you’ve got friends and neighbors that this bill does not help.”

Also in opposition were Sen. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, and Rep. Gerry Pol-

let, D-Seattle, who argued that the Hirst fix does nothing for many of Washington state’s tribes, who hold treaty-established senior water rights.

The tribes, McCoy said, “have tried to work with others to come to a reasonable solution… In my opinion they were ignored.”

“The right to take fish at usual and accustomed places is guaranteed to the tribes of Washington under the treaties of 1855,” Pollet said. “Unfortunately, the state will continue a long line of ignoring sovereign rights.”

Rep. David Taylor, R-Moxee, said that while he is not happy with every aspect of the bill, the cooperation that went into its passage is more important.

“We’re here to lead, so I’m asking for a yes vote,” he said. “Let’s get Washington working again.”

Inslee similarly acknowledged that to him the Hirst fix is not perfect, and he expressed concerns about future environmental factors.

“Despite this positive step, pres-

Water project funding The state’s capital budget contains $160 million for flood-control and water-supply projects, and well as $165 million for drinking-water loans and grants, $220 million for the Water Pollution Control Revolving Program and $35 million for the Centennial Clean Water Program. It also contains $300 million for Hirstrelated projects.

— Sen. Judy Warnick’s office sures on stream flows and salmon will continue to mount in the face of climate change and growing demand for water,” the governor said. “We must build upon this effort to meet those challenges far into the future and continue to work collaboratively to protect this valuable resource.

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Industry divided on USDA Organic standards

By Rick Barrett Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (TNS) A Trump administration decision aimed at scrapping higher animal welfare standards for organic poultry and meats, has created a rift in the farm community.

At issue, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has withdrawn its support for a rule that would have, among other things, required more outdoor space for hens on organic egg farms.

The rule would have closed a loophole in the current regulations that allows large poultry farms to use screened-in porches as outdoor access. It also would have prohibited some practices such as “tail docking” where a cow’s tail is partially removed.

The rule was adopted two days before former President Barack Obama left office, in January 2017, but Trump’s Agriculture Department called for further review, saying the

rule exceeded its statutory authority.

Last week, a public comment period ended with more than 47,000 comments received by the USDA, and all but a few favoring the changes that would require “USDA Certified Organic” meat and poultry producers to abide by stricter animal welfare standards.

Still, large farm groups said the proposed changes went too far in dictating how farmers must treat their livestock, and the Agriculture Department seemed to agree.

“With USDA’s wise decision to withdraw this rule, organic livestock and poultry producers can rest assured that they will not be forced out of business by another costly and burdensome regulation,” Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said in a statement.

“By withdrawing this rule, the Trump administration is again demonstrating its commitment to deregulate rural America,” Roberts said.

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Free range chickens eat at White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has withdrawn its support for a rule that would have, among other things, required more outdoor space for hens on organic egg farms.

Yet some of the rule’s strongest supporters are in the $43 billion organic food industry, where Wisconsin is second only to California in production.

Consumers expect higher animal welfare standards from organic agriculture, said John Brunnquell, founder and president of Egg Innovations that has a farm in Cedar Grove, north of Port Washington.

“This is about consumer confidence,” Brunnquell said, adding that most people who buy organic eggs believe the chickens have access to the outdoors, fresh air, sunshine and a natural diet of things like bugs and worms.

“The withdraw of this rule is one of the most foolish things the USDA could do. It’s the classic reason why consumers don’t trust big agriculture,” he said.

Egg Innovations, a network of 65 farms in five states, says its chickens get a minimum of 22 square feet per bird access to the outdoors, much higher than the current minimum USDA standard that allows for small screened-in porches.

“We have more than a million birds doing this,” Brunnquell said.

About half of the organic eggs produced in the United States are from chickens that get outdoors and can

18 | 2018 Ag Journal - Winter

express their natural behaviors, such as scratching in the dirt for bugs and taking dust baths, according to Brunnquell.

“So we think it’s a fear-mongering statement that costs would explode, and that family farms would go out of business,” from a higher animal welfare standard, he said.

Much of the debate has been centered on organic poultry and eggs.

“People buy organic because they think these birds are living a better life, and that they’re not in a cage, but some of these aviary systems are nothing more than glorified cages,” said Mark Kastel, director of The Cornucopia Institute, which closely follows the organic industry.

“The USDA has never enforced language in its rules that says all organic livestock must have access to the outdoors,” Kastel said.

The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, based in Tucker, Ga., did not return Milwaukee Journal Sentinel calls asking about its position on the organic rule.

Other farm groups, however, said they worried that it would set a precedent for the livestock industry, reversing years of USDA policymaking that mostly separated animal welfare from the definition of certified organic products.

Tax law gives break to farmers who sell to co-ops MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Key senators and farm groups are trying to fix a provision in the federal tax overhaul that gave an unexpected tax break to farmers who sell their crops to cooperatives rather than regular companies.

Lawmakers say they didn’t intend to give a competitive advantage to co-ops. But it’s not clear they can rework the legislation given the partisan divide on Capitol Hill.

That means many companies — from local grain companies to agribusiness giants such as Cargill and ADM — could wind up paying more for crops than co-ops.

The provision from GOP Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and John Hoeven of North Dakota surfaced in the final days of the debate over the tax bill, which President Donald Trump signed last month. Thune and Hoeven wanted to replace a deduction that benefited co-ops in the old law,

which was being dropped, and they wanted to make sure farmers didn’t wind up with a tax increase.

But the final language went further than maintaining the status quo.

“I think at the end of the day what it boiled down to is the staff didn’t know what they were doing. ... They rushed this thing through,” said U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee.

Agricultural co-ops are typically owned by farmers, and they provide their members with help with marketing crops, purchasing supplies and various other services. They range from small and local co-ops to big, nationwide ones such as Land O’ Lakes and Sunkist Growers.

The new provision lets farmers deduct 20 percent of their gross sales to co-ops, but only 20 percent of their net income if they sell to other com-

panies. The difference is big enough that farmers who sell to co-ops could entirely eliminate their tax bills.

“If it stands the way it is, you’re going to see a dramatic change in who farmers sell their product to,” said Paul Neiffer, a partner with CliftonLarsonAllen, a national accounting firm with clients on both sides.

Farmers who do sell to regular companies may be able to command higher prices to help make up for the lower tax break.

Kristine Tidgren, assistant director of the Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation at Iowa State University, calculated that a farmer with $300,000 in income from grain sales to a regular company and $180,000 in expenses would have $86,400 in taxable income for the year. If that same producer sells to a co-op, she said, the farmer would have just $48,000 in taxable income.

“It’s a huge difference. ... We’ve tried

to tell everyone to hold on and see what happens before you make any major changes to your business,” she said.

Hoeven’s chief of staff, Ryan Bernstein, said the senators didn’t intend to give a competitive advantage to coops and their farmer-patrons. They’ve been working with the National Grain and Feed Association, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and other parties to find a quick solution, he said.

Greg Ibach, undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said the tax code shouldn’t “pick winners and losers” and the agency expects a correction.

The new tax break has at least one defender, the North Dakota Farmers Union. The group’s president, Mark Watne, said efforts to change it “may not be in the best interest of farmers or the viability of cooperatives.”

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