*As appetite for electricity soars, the world keeps turning to coal
*When gas becomes cheaper, people buy more expensive gas
*State Scorecard Rank – Energy Efficiency Policy & Programs
*UEC lands $43M federal loan
*Whiplash: Shift in federal coal policies stokes fear in rural areas
*Survey, design phase begin on five wind farms
*Wave power: Company hopes to harness the motion of the ocean at Camp Rilea
*Please, PUC, don’t cast a cloud over the solar boom – Opinion
*Idaho residents seek answers as gas drillers fine-tune process
*The blueprint for harvesting the sun – Opinion
Environment
*Floods, fires, slides: Experts at Seattle summit bracing for disasters
*If you think New Yorker’s earthquake story is scary, better read this
*New technology is keeping the air we breathe under an unprecedented level of scrutiny
*DEQ water, human health studies deserve criticism (ID) – Guest Opinion
*Forecast confirms warm winter awaits Washington
*Big Data Environmentalism
*Columbia Sportswear new recycling program hopes to lower landfill waste
*2015 Likely to Be Hottest Year Ever Recorded
*Racial Equity, Poverty and the Promise of Clean Power
*Contaminated Soil Lingers Where Apples Once Grew
*NOVA scientist: Seattle is more naturally dangerous than San Francisco
*Scientists report a surprising link between indoor carbon dioxide levels and cognitive function
Fire
*Gov. Brown’s link between climate change and wildfires is unsupported, fire experts say (CA)
*When the smoke clears, the same forest fire problem lingers
*McMorris Rodgers, Cantwell told to prepare for next year’s wildfire season
*Wildfires threaten water supply, study finds
*FEMA denies funds for private wildfire losses in Washington
*States Confront a New Era of Crazy Wildfires – Blog
*Fire districts losing tax votes point finger at state fee (CA)
*Public lands chief wants more money to beef up state’s firefighting crews (WA)
*Drought, other factors contribute to larger Texas wildfires
*Impact of summer wildfires still being gauged by forest experts
*McClellan aiming to be Western hub for firefighting aircraft (CA)
*2015 Columbia fall chinook run sets more records – Blog
*Salmon spawn interest
*WDFW seeks panel to review wolf-caused losses
*California drought’s unexpected benefit: lifeline for monarch butterflies
*Washington governor bags increased cougar hunts
*Idaho agency finds historic footage of parachuting beavers
*Feds eye refuges for cold-water species in 5 states
*To help salmon, fixing culverts is key – but state must find them all first (WA)
*As large animals disappear, the loss of their poop hurts the planet
*Wild Horse Advocates Challenge BLM Roundup Plan
*Wild horse advocates say government agency fails herds
*Efforts to block sage grouse protection could backfire
*Chinook salmon spawning season looks like a disaster for second year in a row (CA)
*Feds: Winter salmon run nearly extinguished in California drought
*What it will take to put dam breaching back on the table
*With radio collar out, scientists use howls to track wolf
*Elk lead to golf course damage
*Scientists Slam Oregon’s ‘Fundamentally Flawed’ Proposal to Remove Wolf Protections – Press Release
Forestry
*Umatilla Forest to hold meeting in Elgin
*Blue Mountains Forest Revision Plan meetings continue
*Enviros with chainsaws: Lomakatsi has been helping communities and forests find new balance for 20 years
Water Resources
*Devastating Chart Shows Why El Niño Won’t Fix the Drought
*A Culture of Nagging Helps California Save Water
*Tribe’s water use could cut into Owyhee District
*Water desalination is here. But is it sustainable? – Opinion
*Idaho leader suggests new recharge funding method
*Feds must disclose some California water well info
*California releasing latest water figures, discussing penalties
*Another study suggests flooding farmland to recharge aquifers
*Latest drought summer deadly for California salmon
*Rain won’t change plans for Detroit Dam
Agriculture
*Farm groups flood Department of Ecology with comments on manure lagoon regs
*Pendleton Grain Growers will detach its grain division
*Budget deal would cut popular crop insurance program
*State’s fruit growers hoping Trans-Pacific Partnership leads to fewer tariffs on exports (WA)
*Hydroponics should count as organic – Opinion
*Full disclosure best policy – Opinion
*Ag groups relieved by rail deadline extension
*Bread Is Broken
*Can SMART biotechnology serve sustainable agriculture?
*Changing face of Oregon ag presents challenges, opportunities
*At Home: Farm Interns
As appetite for electricity soars, the world keeps turning to coal(Washington Post)
Despite growing attention to cleaner energy, two-thirds of the world’s electricity is still produced by burning fossil fuels, mostly coal — a proportion that hasn’t budged for 35 years. Emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants have more than doubled since 1980
as the world’s demand for electricity keeps rising.
When gas becomes cheaper, people buy more expensive gas (Bend Bulletin)
When gas prices fall, Americans reliably do two things that don’t make much sense.
They spend more of the windfall on gasoline than they would if the money came from somewhere else.
And they don’t just buy more gasoline. They switch from regular gas to high-octane.
State Scorecard Rank – Energy Efficiency Policy & Programs (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy)
Every year, ACEEE ranks states on their energy efficiency policy and program efforts and provides recommendations for ways that states can improve their performance in a variety of policy areas.
Ed. Note – Oregon ranks #4
UEC lands $43M federal loan(East Oregonian)
-The Umatilla Electric Cooperative received a $43 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for system upgrades.-
The Umatilla Electric Cooperative plans to use a $43 million federal loan to rebuild aging power lines and substations, some of which are now more than 40 years old.
Whiplash: Shift in federal coal policies stokes fear in rural areas(Washington Post)
When the Arab embargoes of the 1970s threatened the country’s oil supply, the U.S. government issued an edict to the nation’s electricity producers: Start burning coal. So the local utility managers in rural Putnam County, Fla., did just that.
Survey, design phase begin on five wind farms(Ontario Argus Observer)
Preliminary work has started ahead of the construction of five wind farms in the Huntington area.
Crews are in the hills around the community doing survey and design work on the projects as Oregon Windfarms LLC works on finalizing the permitting process, Robert Guertin, one of three partners in the company said.
Wave power: Company hopes to harness the motion of the ocean at Camp Rilea(Daily Astorian)
-Camp Rilea may become the proving ground for a new wave-energy technology.-
A wave-energy company from Boston, hopes to harness the waves off the coast of Camp Rilea for electricity and desalinized water.
Please, PUC, don’t cast a cloud over the solar boom – Opinion (Los Angeles Times)
Southern California, the land of sunny days and houses as far as the eye can see, is particularly suited to take advantage of rooftop solar.
And though solar was slow to take off, it is sizzling now, thanks to government incentives and subsidies to offset the steep installation costs. Almost 400,000 California homes have solar panels on their roofs, turning the rays of the sun into kilowatts to run toasters and TVs.
Idaho residents seek answers as gas drillers fine-tune process(Idaho Statesman)
When an Alta Mesa Idaho agent came seeking to lease the mineral rights on Luke and Brynna Smith’s land earlier this year, they asked where in the neighborhood the company would drill the natural gas well.
“You might as well sign,” Brynna Smith recalls being told, “ because it’s going to be behind your house.”
The blueprint for harvesting the sun– Opinion (Sacramento Bee)
Though it has been under the radar for most Californians, a major land-use decision is fast approaching, with implications throughout the state.
The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan has gotten less attention here than in Southern California, largely because the 22.5 million acres it will eventually cover are in southern desert counties. But the plan is intensely important to California’s ambitious effort to get half of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030.
Floods, fires, slides: Experts at Seattle summit bracing for disasters (Seattle Times)
U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell traveled to Washington Thursday to discuss heightened risk of natural disasters because of climate change.
In Oso, Snohomish County, slammed by a mudslide that claimed 43 lives last year, Jewell and U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Medina, watched an earthquake- preparedness drill and walked the disaster site.
If you think New Yorker’s earthquake story is scary, better read this (Seattle Times)
Although a terrifying read, the New Yorker piece shouldn’t surprise Seattle Times readers. Science reporter Sandi Doughton wrote the book on the “really big one.” Literally.
New technology is keeping the air we breathe under an unprecedented level of scrutiny (Los Angeles Times)
Measure twice, cut once, they say. Unless you are trying to save the planet.
In that case, measure and cut constantly.
Rising calls to create cleaner air and limit climate change are driving a surge in new technology for measuring air emissions and other pollutants — a data revolution that is opening new windows into the micro-mechanics of environmental damage.
DEQ water, human health studies deserve criticism (ID) – Guest Opinion (Idaho Statesmen)
Over the last three years, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has been undergoing the process of updating Idaho’s human health water quality criteria (WQC) for the protection of human health. DEQ’s previous attempts to update WQC were disapproved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as the proposed standards were deemed inadequately protective.
Forecast confirms warm winter awaits Washington(Capital Press)
-Washington has a strong chance of having another warm winter, according to federal forecasters.-
The U.S. Climate Prediction Center reinforced Thursday that Washington can expect a winter similar to last year’s, which led to one of the state’s worse droughts on record.
Big Data Environmentalism(Oregon Public Broadcasting)
This summer, one of the many-faceted cameras that produce Google Maps Street View took on a new challenge. The camera was mounted on a raft and rowed down a river in Northern California.
Columbia Sportswear new recycling program hopes to lower landfill waste (KPTV)
Columbia Sportswear launched a new recycling program on Wednesday that can give you a discount on some new gear.
The program is called the ReThreads program and it’s already getting a good response.
2015 Likely to Be Hottest Year Ever Recorded(New York Times)
Global temperatures are running far above last year’s record-setting level, all but guaranteeing that 2015 will be the hottest year in the historical record — and undermining political claims that global warming had somehow stopped.
Racial Equity, Poverty and the Promise of Clean Power(Governing)
-A new federal initiative could go a long way toward improving the health of poor and segregated communities, but they need to have
a voice in it.-
Very influential people are starting to connect the dots among climate change, racial equity and poverty. The United Nations’ new sustainable-development goals explicitly link these issues, and in his historic address to Congress last month Pope Francis called for an “integrated approach” to the climate, requiring inclusive dialogue and a focus on fighting poverty.
Contaminated Soil Lingers Where Apples Once Grew (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
At homes and day care centers throughout Central Washington, children play in yards contaminated with lead and arsenic.
The state’s Department of Ecology knows about this, and has for decades.
OPB Think Out Loud story: http://www.opb.org/radio/programs/thinkoutloud/segment/the-toxic-problem-in-many-of-washingtons-former-orchards/
NOVA scientist: Seattle is more naturally dangerous than San Francisco(Seattle PI)
Maybe it’s a dubious distinction, but it is rather exciting to know we live in one of the most naturally dangerous places in the world (and a more dangerous place than our sister tech city in California: San Francisco!).
Scientists report a surprising link between indoor carbon dioxide levels and cognitive function(Washington Post)
In a development likely to sharpen debate about indoor environment conditions in office buildings, a study published Monday reports that workers showed significantly lowered cognitive functioning after spending a day in a simulated office environment featuring high
concentrations of carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds.
Gov. Brown’s link between climate change and wildfires is unsupported, fire experts say – (CA) (Los Angeles Times)
The ash of the Rocky fire was still hot when Gov. Jerry Brown strode to a bank of television cameras beside a blackened ridge and, flanked by firefighters, delivered a battle cry against climate change.
The wilderness fire was “a real wake-up call” to reduce the carbon pollution “that is in many respects driving all of this,” he said.
When the smoke clears, the same forest fire problem lingers(Idaho Statesman)
Smoke has filled the Treasure Valley again this week, making the air unhealthy and reminding us that wildfire seasons just keep getting longer.
The 5,440-acre Walker Fire, started last weekend by someone in the Grimes Creek drainage, burned four structures and thousands of acres of private timber before heading north into the Boise National Forest. I can’t remember a fire in Southern Idaho that started this late, burned so much and caused the problems the Walker Fire has.
McMorris Rodgers, Cantwell told to prepare for next year’s wildfire season (Spokane Spokesman Review)
After one of the state’s most catastrophic wildfire seasons in history, the federal government needs to start preparing now for next year, a contingent of Inland Northwest officials told a congressional delegation in Spokane on Wednesday.
Wildfires threaten water supply, study finds(Salem Statesman Journal)
The risk of severe wildfires in the West also threatens the region’s increasingly scarce water supply, a new study finds.
The study, being released Wednesday by the American Forest Foundation, highlights that wildfires are not just a public lands issue. Private and family lands also are at high risk, the study found, and much of that land is in critical watersheds.
FEMA denies funds for private wildfire losses in Washington (Capital Press)
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied assistance to residents in three Eastern Washington counties who suffered uninsured losses in wildfires this year.
States Confront a New Era of Crazy Wildfires – Blog (Stateline – Pew)
The 2003 Wedge Canyon fire missed Molly Shepherd’s property by a quarter mile. From her cabin deck, she watched flames lick down the mountainside through acres of pine and larch forest toward her home. The fire burned for more than two agonizing months, consuming seven homes and over 53,000 acres.
Fire districts losing tax votes point finger at state fee (CA) (Sacramento Bee)
Frank Treanor doesn’t have exit polling to help explain why almost 38 percent of voters in the fire district he leads north of San Francisco voted against a November 2012 ballot measure to increase what property owners pay the district annually.
Public lands chief wants more money to beef up state’s firefighting crews(WA) (Eugene Register Guard)
On the heels of the state’s worst wildfire season, Washington’s public lands chief said Wednesday he is asking the Legislature for more money to beef up the state’s firefighting crews.
Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark wants more than $24 million next year to add firefighters, equipment and training next year. The money would help local fire districts, modernize fire communications, add aircraft and train teams of local, state and contracted
firefighters to work together, he said.
Drought, other factors contribute to larger Texas wildfires (Capital Press)
-The forest service responded to just one wildfire of at least 5,000 acres from 1985 to 2000, but in the last 15 years there have been fires of that size nearly every year.-
Larger, more threatening wildfires are occurring at greater rates as Texas faces lingering drought, consistent development — driven by millions of new residents and the spread of outlying suburbs — and changes in how the state’s land is used.
Impact of summer wildfires still being gauged by forest experts (Idaho Statesman)
Blackened trees scattered showers of bronze needles across a charred landscape.
In the aftermath of one of the Northwest’s worst fire seasons, nature is working to repair itself.
McClellan aiming to be Western hub for firefighting aircraft(CA) (Sacramento Bee)
Sacramento’s massive McClellan Park, a former Air Force base turned business park, is in the running to become the hub for aircraft fighting fires in the Western states.
Already home to a Cal Fire aviation management unit and a Coast Guard air station, the business park in North Highlands recently was chosen as temporary home base for a fleet of five or more U.S. Forest Service HC-130H aircraft.
2015 Columbia fall chinook run sets more records – Blog (Spokane Spokesman Review)
The 2015 fall chinook run of the Columbia River is on a pace to possibly top 2013 as the biggest stampede of upstream adult chinooks since fish counts began at the newly built Bonneville Dam in 1939.
Salmon spawn interest(Portland Tribune)
Oxbow Regional Park salmon homecoming celebration. It’s a tale as old as time: They meet, they spawn, and they die.
Salmon, that is.
WDFW seeks panel to review wolf-caused losses(Capital Press)
-The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will form a board to review claims for indirect losses caused by wolves.-
Washington wildlife officials are recruiting livestock experts and conservationists to advise the state on compensating ranchers for lost production caused by wolves.
California drought’s unexpected benefit: lifeline for monarch butterflies(Portland Oregonian)
In California’s drought, the struggling monarch butterfly may have found a sprinkling of hope.
Suburban homeowners ripping out thirsty lawns are dotting their new drought-tolerant landscapes with milkweed native to California’s deserts and chaparral — plants that have the potential to help save water and monarchs at the same time, because the female monarch will only lay her eggs on milkweed.
Washington governor bags increased cougar hunts(Capital Press)
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has overturned a Fish and Wildlife Commission decision to increase cougar hunting to foster human tolerance of wolves, saying the panel was wrong to adopt higher quotas without a public hearing.
Idaho agency finds historic footage of parachuting beavers(Idaho Statesman)
More than half a century after a group of beavers parachuted into the Idaho backcountry, officials have uncovered footage of the quirky wildlife management moment.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game was struggling with an overpopulation of beavers in some regions in the 1940s when wildlife managers settled on a novel idea.
Feds eye refuges for cold-water species in 5 states (Idaho Statesman)
Federal scientists using new technologies have mapped what is being called a Cold Water Climate Shield, an area spanning five western states that could support viable populations of native species if the region continues its warming trend.
To help salmon, fixing culverts is key – but state must find them all first (WA) (The Olympian)
State officials were ordered more than two years ago to replace old culverts that block fish migration in the Puget Sound region.
While the state is appealing that decision, officials also are making preparations to comply. And they’re realizing all their work could be for naught if they don’t fix other fish barriers, too — even ones that aren’t covered by the 2013 court injunction.
As large animals disappear, the loss of their poop hurts the planet (Bend Bulletin)
It only takes a glance at a history book and a look out the window to know that our planet has lost many of its biggest creatures: The world that was once home to mammoths and towering dinosaurs can now barely maintain stable populations of rhinos and whales.
Wild Horse Advocates Challenge BLM Roundup Plan (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Wild horse advocates are challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s plan to round up mustangs and burros in Southeast Oregon
Wild horse advocates say government agency fails herds(Denver Post)
-Interior Department investigation finds BLM didn’t follow its own rules in selling horses to Colorado cattle hauler who sent them to slaughter houses.-
A report that found the Bureau of Land Management carelessly sold mustangs to a buyer who shipped them to slaughterhouses came as little surprise to advocates who believe the agency is incapable of handling the growing herds that roam federally protected land.
Efforts to block sage grouse protection could backfire(Capital Press)
Attempts by rural Nevada counties, mining companies and others to block new U.S. policies intended to protect the greater sage grouse could backfire on the critics and ultimately force reconsideration of a recent decision to keep the bird off the list of endangered species, federal land managers warn.
Chinook salmon spawning season looks like a disaster for second year in a row (CA) (Los Angeles Times)
This year’s spawning season for endangered winter-run Chinook salmon is looking like another disaster, placing one of California’s most prized native fish in an even more precarious position
Feds: Winter salmon run nearly extinguished in California drought (Sacramento Bee)
For the second straight year, huge numbers of juvenile winter-run Chinook salmon appear to have baked to death in the Sacramento River because of California’s drought-stretched water supplies, bringing the endangered species a step closer to extinction.
What it will take to put dam breaching back on the table(Idaho Statesman)
The science and economics supporting breaching the four lower Snake River dams has only gotten stronger. But anyone who says the politics has changed are wishing and hoping, not accurately reading the tea leaves.
With radio collar out, scientists use howls to track wolf(San Francisco Chronicle)
The most famous four-legged Oregon resident to ever tour California has gone off the grid, so to speak, but the authorities still have a foolproof way track him — by listening for howling wolves.
Elk lead to golf course damage (Bend Bulletin)
-Many local courses struggle with the destructive animal-
It’s their world, we golfers just live in it.
I am talking of course about the elk — large animals that call the Eastern slopes of the Cascades home.
Scientists Slam Oregon’s ‘Fundamentally Flawed’ Proposal to Remove Wolf Protections – Press Release (eNews Park Forest)
-Top Researchers Determine Wolf Population Far From Recovered-
A group of leading independent scientists this week voiced their opposition to a plan to remove state protections from Oregon’s wolves, saying the estimated population of only 83 wolves cannot be considered recovered. The scientists identified significant flaws in a “population viability analysis” conducted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife that claims wolves are at low risk of extinction.
Center For Biological Diversity Press Release – http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/wolf-10-29-2015.html
Umatilla Forest to hold meeting in Elgin(East Oregonian)
A public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3 at the Elgin Community Center to discuss current and future work on the Walla Walla Ranger District of the Umatilla National Forest.
Blue Mountains Forest Revision Plan meetings continue(Wallowa County Chieftain)
-New meetings for Baker and Union County scheduled-
Discussions about the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision have been scheduled for other counties in the first two weeks of November.
Enviros with chainsaws: Lomakatsi has been helping communities and forests find new balance for 20 years(Medford Mail Tribune)
Marko Bey vividly remembers scaling more than 100 feet up fat Douglas fir trees in Northern California one day in 1991 to pick seed cones for the next generation of industrial tree farms that didn’t look or feel like a real forest to him.
“Then the next day, you’re in a tree in another unit and you’d see those trees from yesterday getting logged,” Bey says. “It was very strange.”
Devastating Chart Shows Why El Nino Won’t Fix the Drought (Wired)
This story originally appeared on Mother Jones and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
In California, news of a historically powerful El Niño oceanic warming event is stoking hopes that winter rains will ease the state’s brutal drought. But for farmers in the Central Valley, one of the globe’s most productive agricultural regions, water troubles go much
deeper—literally—than the current lack of precipitation.
A Culture of Nagging Helps California Save Water (New York Times)
Californians sharply cut water use this summer, prompting state officials to credit their new conservation policies and the sting of thousands of warnings and penalties that they had issued to people for overuse.
But the most effective enforcers may be closer to home: the domestic water police.
Tribe’s water use could cut into Owyhee District(Ontario Argus Observer)
The Owyhee Irrigation District wants another opinion on the possible impacts of the water settlement involving the Duck Valley Reservation and the Owyhee Basin.
The Shoshone Paiute Tribe and the Department of Interior reached an agreement on the tribe’s water rights about 12 years ago. The agreement was approved by Congress in 2013.
Water desalination is here. But is it sustainable? – Opinion (Los Angeles Times)
In a very dry state, turning to the sea as a source of water for drinking, bathing and irrigation has its attractions. Desalination is drought-proof — the ocean is one pond we can’t empty so quickly. It’s more expensive, but the cost is relatively stable, and as
technology makes the process more efficient, those costs have been trending downward.
Idaho leader suggests new recharge funding method(Idaho Statesman)
-Idaho state leaders may pursue a stable funding source in the future for managed aquifer recharge.-
New data by the Idaho Department of Water Resources shows implementation of a settlement between the Surface Water Coalition and junior groundwater users should also provide relief for the state’s other major water calls.
Feds must disclose some California water well info (Capital Press)
-Geological data about water wells in California cannot be turned over to an environmental group, but the names and addresses of owners must, a federal judge ruled.-
Federal authorities will not have to disclose the location, construction or depth of California water wells to an environmental group under a recent federal court ruling.
California releasing latest water figures, discussing penalties(Capital Press)
-Californians as a whole have cut back water consumption by more than 25 percent every month since Gov. Jerry Brown put that mandate into effect last June.-
State officials plan to tell Californians what penalties they are taking against communities that fail to meet a mandated 25 percent reduction in water use when they announce usage figures Friday, in the state’s battle against a widespread drought.
Another study suggests flooding farmland to recharge aquifers(Capital Press)
A study commissioned by the California Water Foundation suggests flooding farmland during the winter to recharge aquifers. The findings echo those of University of California researchers earlier this year.
Latest drought summer deadly for California salmon(Capital Press)
-If a final count in December confirms the bad news, it would mean a second summer in a row that 5 percent or less of the young fish survived California’s drought.-
Another deadly summer of drought has heightened fears of extinction for California’s endangered, winter-run Chinook salmon.
Officials with the National Marine Fisheries Service said Wednesday that preliminary counts show hot, shallow waters from the drought killed most of California’s juvenile winter-run Chinook before they made it out to the Pacific Ocean.
Rain won’t change plans for Detroit Dam(Salem Statesman Journal)
It was not an easy summer at Detroit Lake.
The popular reservoir east of Salem saw its lowest summertime water level in its six decades of existence, resulting in a lake filled with stumps instead of boats.
Farm groups flood Department of Ecology with comments on manure lagoon regs(Capital Press)
The Washington Department of Ecology compiled comments totaling 5,000 pages on its proposal to regulate manure lagoons, a policy that agriculture groups and individual farmers warn will bankrupt some producers, particularly small dairies.
Pendleton Grain Growers will detach its grain division(Capital Press)
Drought and a small crop this year meant that there wasn’t enough wheat for the co-op to handle economically.
Budget deal would cut popular crop insurance program(Capital Press)
-The crop insurance companies that depend on federal subsidies said in a statement that the proposed $3 billion in cuts over 10 years could be devastating to the industry.-
The two-year budget deal produces savings from one of the most popular programs in farm country — federally subsidized crop insurance — and farm state lawmakers are furious.
State’s fruit growers hoping Trans-Pacific Partnership leads to fewer tariffs on exports (WA) (Eugene Register Guard)
Washington fruit growers are hoping the Trans-Pacific Partnership will lead to fewer tariffs and higher sales when their crops are exported to other nations.
But many details of the proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim nations remain under wraps and final passage is far from certain.
Hydroponics should count as organic – Opinion (Bend Bulletin)
Some farmers view organic agriculture as something of a holy mission. But unless you’re a family farmer concerned about improving the soil and the world around you, what you’re growing isn’t really organic.
For others, organic farming is like any other farming — you’re interested in the health and welfare of land and animals, of course, but things like the restrictions on fertilizers and pesticides you can use are what count.
Full disclosure best policy– Opinion (Capital Press)
-Property buyers should get a disclosure statement when buying in the country as a way to avoid unfortunate surprises.-
When it comes to purchasing real estate, caveat emptor — the Latin phrase for “let the buyer beware” — isn’t enough. The more information a buyer gets, the better
Ag groups relieved by rail deadline extension (Capital Press)
Congress has passed legislation extending the deadline for railroads to comply with a safety requirement known as positive train control, which should avert potential disruptions to agricultural markets.
Bread Is Broken (New York Times)
-Industrial production destroyed both the taste and the nutritional value of wheat. One scientist believes he can undo the damage-
On the morning of July 13, like most mornings, Stephen Jones’s laboratory in Mount Vernon, Wash., was suffused with the thick warm smell of baking bread. Jones walked me around the floor, explaining the layout. A long counter split the space down the middle. To the right was what Jones called ‘‘the science part,’’ a cluster of high-tech equipment designed to evaluate grain, flour and dough.
Can SMART biotechnology serve sustainable agriculture? (Albany Democrat Herald)
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could employ biotechnology in agriculture without imposing the risks and provoking the divisiveness that accompany the genetic engineering (GE) of food? What if the “transgenic” GE practice of combining genes from wildly divergent organisms
to create what have been dubbed “Frankenfoods” was abandoned, and biotechnology respected nature’s wisdom by only combining the genes of closely related plants?
Changing face of Oregon ag presents challenges, opportunities(Albany Democrat Herald)
Although mid-valley farmers face numerous challenges, there are also many exciting opportunities in terms of new technologies and crops said Kerisa Kauer, the western Oregon senior vice president for Northwest Farm Credit Services, at a Albany Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Wednesday.
At Home: Farm Interns (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Sarahlee Lawrence has lived and traveled all over the world, but the place she feels most at home is the patch of high desert scrub land she grew up on just outside of Bend in Central Oregon. Lawrence came back to her family ranch and transformed the arid land into a lush
organic farm with the help of irrigation and a rotating cast of volunteers.
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