July 2000

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Latin American Buyers Conference Spurs Sales Reprinted from OWGL's Newsletter The biannual Latin American Wheat Buyer's Conference, hosted by USW in San Diego, California, drew 132 industry leaders. One of those leaders, a major Mexican wheat importer, announced that they purchased 20,000 MT of HRW from Kansas via direct rail shipment as a result of attending this conference. Oregon Wheat Commission Administrator Mark Hodges represented Oregon at this conference. Focusing on topics that will help wheat buyers formulate a purchasing strategy using current supply and demand information on the wheat crop and projected price relationships, the conference also provided a forum for Latin American wheat buyers to meet face to face with the U.S. grain companies. In addition to the larger multinational companies, many smaller country elevators from Kansas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota attended the conference in order to form direct business relationships with the wheat buyers. "This conference is a grain trader's dream," one grain merchandiser said, "because in one place we can meet directly and do business with all of the major wheat buyers of Latin America." Ag Library Honors Abraham Lincoln In ceremonines held June 14, 2000, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman named the building housing the National Agricultural Library as the Abraham Lincoln Building in honor of the president who established the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln and Congress established the Department of Agriculture with a mandate to conduct experiments, gather seeds and plants, and collect information pertaining to agriculture," said Glickman. "Today, the National Agriculture Library is the public's direct link to the world's largest collection of agriculture information." Lincoln proposed and signed into law an act of Congress establishing "at the seat of Government of the United States a Department of Agriculture." Lincoln also signed the Homestead Act, granting Western lands for settlement and agriculture; the Morrill Land Grant College Act, donating public land to the States to establish colleges of agriculture and the mechanical arts; and an act granting Western lands and making payments for construction of railroads, opening up new areas of the West to settlement. The National Agricultural Library manages one of the largest and most accessible collections of information and databases about agriculture in the world. The library has more than 3.3 million items on 48 miles of shelves. Technology-based services provide immediate digital access to scientific literature, printed text, and images. The's library's collection and its leadership role in information services and technology applications combine to make it the country's primary source for agricultural information. For more information visit the library's website at www.nal.usda.gov Growing Organic Foods Industry Prompts Resource Guide By Linda Waring, WASDA Booming interest in organic farming has prompted the Washington state Department of Agriculture to produce an 85-page resource manual that answers a variety of questions about organic farming and principles of sustainable agriculture. The Organic Resource Manual is a guide for farmers, students, support agency personnel, and virtually everyone interested in the nuts and bolts of the organic industry. The manual contains information on the regulation of organic products, as well as the basic standards for production of organic foods in six states, including Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Montana. Included are chapters on the basic principles behind organic crop and livestock production; marketing strategies and trends in the organic industry; the development of national organic food standards; and an extensive collection of resource organizations, businesses, marketing resources, and publications covering the growing organic industry. To receive a copy of the Organic Resource Manual, contact Susan Shillander, Organic Food Program, P.O. Box 42560, Olympia, WA 98504, (360) 902-1877. Cost is $10. The Organic Resource Manual was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program and the Washington state Department of Agriculture's Organic Food Program. The manual was edited by the state agency's Small Farm and Direct Marketing Program. This Food Safety and Animal Health Division program focuses on promoting small Washington state farms. "The Organic Resource Manual supports this effort by increasing awareness of organic agriculture as a viable marketing strategy in addition to promoting environmentally sound practices," said Leslie Zenz, sustainable agriculture coordinator, Olympia. "The manual was intended to serve agricultural support agencies, but we've seen that it serves a much broader application with its extensive resources." To learn more about Washington's Small Farm and Direct Marketing Program, call Zenz at (360) 902-1884. Farmers Will Like New Incentives For CRP Continuous Sign-up A new package of financial incentives for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) continuous sign-up became effective April 6th for eligible farmers and ranchers. The new incentives include signing bonuses and more money for installing and maintaining conservation practices. "These higher payments should help out many of the producers who are facing difficult economic times;" said Dick Rush, state director for USDA's Farm Services Agency in Idaho. "Participation in the program can put more cash in their pockets." The new incentives include: * An up-front signing bonus of $10 per acre for every year that a contract covers. This amounts to $100 to $150 per acre at the start of the contract to help defray up-front installation cost for conservation buffer practices that include filter strips, riparian buffers, grassed waterways, field windbreaks, shelter belts, and living snow fences. * An incentive payment equal to 40 percent of the practice installation cost, in addition to the 50% cost share paid by USDA for establishing certain approved practices. * Increases in maintenance rate incentives for certain practices involving tree planting, fencing, or water development. Between $2 and $5 per acre may be added to existing maintenance rate incentives. * Updated rental rates for marginal pastureland rental rates to better reflect the market value of these lands. This translates to increased rental rates in many cases. * 20% rental rate increase for windbreaks, grass waterways, filter strips, or riparian buffer practices. Rich Sims, state conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Idaho, said the new enhancements to the CRP continuous sign-up have the potential to help farmers and ranchers meet TMDL requirements and accomplish water quality improvements. "Buffers can be used in every region of the state, on both dry and irrigated land to reduce erosion, slow water runoff, and trap sediment and nutrients ," he said. Marginal pasturelands enrolled as riparian buffers will receive new rental rates. These rates more accurately reflect the values of lands used for livestock production along streams. Two rates have been set for each county&emdash;one for lands along permanent waters and a second for lands along seasonal waters. Unlike the regular Conservation Reserve Program, the continuous sign-up program allows producers to enroll eligible highly environmentally sensitive land at any time, without waiting for a sign-up period or competing against other offers. Producers can learn more about program details and offer acreage for enrollment at their local FSA or NRCS office. How To Make Flower Bouquets Last Longer By Carol Savonen, Oregon State University Spring is prime time for bouquets. If you like flowers inside the house as well as outside, Barb Fick, home horticulturist with the Oregon State University Extension Service, has some hints to keep flowers looking fresh longer. Pick flowers early in the morning. Take along a small bucket of warm water and some sharp shears. After cutting, remove any leaves from the lower part of the stem. If leaves are under water in the bouquet, they'll rot. With roses, rub or clip off some of the thorns on the lower stem, too&emdash;they just make arranging difficult. After removing foliage, put each flower stem into the bucket of warm water. Cut about an inch off the bottom of the stems while they are still under water to prevent "air-locking," the tiny bubbles that clog the stem's water-conducting passageways. Use a clean vase. Leftover scum from previous bouquets interferes with water uptake. Add some citric acid or commercial flower preservative to some water and then fill your clean vase. Add your cut flowers. Citric acid lowers the pH (increases the acidity) of the water, letting the stems take up water more easily. Some people say that adding some non-cola, soft drink or other product containing citric acid may also do the trick to keep blooms beautiful over time. Humor! What do fish say when they hit a concrete wall? &emdash;Dam! What do eskimos get from sitting on the ice too long? &emdash;Polaroids. What do you call a boomerang that doesn't work? &emdash;A stick.

Blight May Rise Again To Threaten Chickpea Crop By Bill Loftus, University of Idaho University of Idaho nematologist Saad Hafez cautions potato growers that this year's mild winter, followed by an early warm spring, left perfect conditions for crop-damaging nematodes. The life-cycles, feeding and multiplication rates of these soil-borne pests are highly influenced by temperature. Deep frost and low winter temperatures reduce their populations and therefore their potential to damage the succeeding potato crop. According to Hafez, this year's unusual weather favors speedy reproduction and numerous generations of several species of nematodes, especially the rootknot nematode. Rootknot nematodes leave potato skins bumpy and discolor the tissue immediately beneath the skin. While soil tests can determine the initial population of nematodes in a potato field prior to planting, Hafez says there's no accurate way to determine how many nematodes are present during the growing season. But he says growers whose fields have a history of rootknot nematode infestations may benefit from harvesting their potatoes early and not storing them. Nematodes continue to lay eggs in storage. North Korea Wheat Donation Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture will donate 50,000 metric tons of wheat to the World Food Program's emergency feeding operations in North Korea. "Given the severe food shortages that continue in North Korea, the United States is responding to the World Food Program's latest appeal for emergency humanitarian assistance," Glickman said. "The surplus U.S. wheat will be used to help feed tens of thousands of undernourished children, new mothers, and other people in need." This donation, valued at an estimated $12.8 million, will be provided under USDA's Section 416(b) program. Noodles and other food products made from the donated wheat will be distributed to children, pregnant and lactating mothers, hospital patients, and other vulnerable groups. Earlier this year, USDA donated 10,000 metric tons of wheat for distribution in North Korea. Under fiscal 1999 food aid programs, USDA provided more than 550,000 metric tons of wheat, flour, corn, and nonfat dry milk as part of U.S. food assistance to support World Food Program feeding operations in North Korea. State Lays Out Objections To Skagit Buffer Ordinance By Dean Boyer, Director of Public Relations, Washington Farm Bureau The state Department of Fish and Wildlife argued its case against a Skagit County ordinance that establishes 50-foot buffers to protect salmon before the Western Washington Growth Management Board last month. The board is not expected to rule for several weeks. In a brief filed with the hearings board, the department acknowledged that state and federal agencies don't necessarily agree how big streamside buffers need to be, but they do agree that 50-foot buffers are "totally inadequate to protect fish and wildlife from impacts by adjacent agricultural activities." Fish and Wildlife said the county should have followed guidelines in the state's "Management Recommendations for Washington's Priority Habitats," which calls for buffers of 150 to 250 feet, depending on the type and size of the waterway, or the state's Wild Salmonid Policy, which calls for buffers of 100 to 150 feet. Instead, "Skagit County has consistently ignored (best available science) recommendations from Fish and Wildlife." In a clear indication of what the state expects in the way of riparian buffers on agricultural lands, Fish and Wildlife, with Gov. Locke's personal approval, is challenging the ordinance under the Growth Management Act, which requires counties to protect critical fish and wildlife habitat. Fish and Wildlife said it is "not totally opposed" to smaller "managed" buffers, as proposed in the ordinance, since the department "admits it would take a long time for natural unmanaged buffers to become fully effective." But Skagit County "should select something other than federally listed (salmon) to experiment on." The ordinance calls for a 25-foot riparian buffer, planted with native vegetation, and an additional 25-foot "agricultural management zone" planted in a cover crop and off-limits to livestock from Nov. 1 to March 31. The state also objected to other aspects of the ordinance, including its voluntary nature. Skagit wants 80 percent of the affected farmers to voluntarily lease land for riparian buffers to the county and comply with the "no livestock" provision during the winter. The county would require farmers to participate only if enough don't sign up voluntarily, and those farmers would not receive lease payments for their buffer lands. The state also objects to buffer exemptions for irrigation canals and non-salmon bearing waterways, and for farms operating under Natural Resources Conservation Service farm plans. Breaching Is A Big Biological Question Mark From the Oregon Wheat Growers League Only 3 of the 12 listed species in the Pacific Northwest might be helped by breaching the lower Snake Dams. Dam breaching will take 10 years to implement and another 10 years for sediments in the river to settle; that's 20 years of worse conditions for fish, and no guarantee they'll recover afterward. The "science" supporting breaching is all computer model simulations, based on assumptions&emdash;many of which are now coming under question. Scientific methods are supposed to be based on collection of data and testing of hypotheses, not building models based on assumptions. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) data show that survival of fish through each dam and reservoir is at least 93%. It is impossible to reach 100% survival through any reach of the river with or without dams. Annual Apple Maggot Survey Continues In Eastern Washington The state Department of Agriculture is continuing an important insect survey in Eastern Washington, which will include a special focus on Yakima, Ellensburg and Union Gap. There were no detections of apple maggots in Yakima last year, prompting reduced trapping there. An established population of apple maggot can result in a serious economic impact on the fruit industry. This year's survey will determine whether the apple maggot fly has established in Yakima, Ellensburg, Kennewick or elsewhere. Such surveys have been conducted for nearly 20 years. The 1996 survey yielded five apple maggot flies and prompted a more intensive survey and a control program conducted by the Yakima County Horticultural Pest and Disease Board in 1997-1999. The 1998 survey yielded two apple maggot flies in Yakima and two flies in Ellensburg. The 1998 catches prompted extra state Department of Agriculture survey efforts and local Pest Board control efforts in those communities. There was one catch in Ellensburg in 1999, so trapping will continue there at the same level. Fruit inspections at all Eastern Washington catch sites revealed no infested fruit. "Apple maggot larvae burrow throughout infested fruit turning it brown and mushy," said Mike Klaus, project entomologist at the Department of Agriculture's Yakima office. Western Washington, Klickitat and Spokane counties are quarantined to prevent the spread of the insect to the states' commercial apple-growing regions. Major apple producing districts of Washington remain free of apple maggot. Residents who have an apple, crabapple or Hawthorne trees may participate in this year's survey. Trappers use a special yellow panel sticky trap to detect apple maggot flies. The survey will take place immediately through August. Traps will be removed in September. Call Klaus at (509) 225-2609 for more information. Fisheries Agencies To Destroy Returning Salmon, Steelhead Reprinted from OWGL's Newsletter In the latest dazzling display of fishery management, both the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) announced plans to destroy surplus hatchery fish. These "surplus" fish have been reared as juveniles, lived their life cycle in the ocean, and returned home to spawn but will be prevented from doing so by the very agencies charged with ensuring their recovery. NMFS will destroy Chinook salmon retuming to the Methow Valley&emdash;where NMFS just finished negotiations with irrigators to put more water in the river for fish, and where NMFS has also served notice to the Methow Valley Irrigation District that it faces a $55,000 fine for killing fish when water was shut down at the end of the 1999 irrigation season. NMFS also has plans to destroy surplus Chinook at the Winthrop hatchery this year, while ODFW plans to destroy 1000 steel head returning to the Grande Ronde River. Donald Sampson, executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, described ODFW's strategy as "Nazi fish management." "Oregon's plan for restoring salmon and steelhead is to club them," Sampson said. "They don't know how to deal with success."

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