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Farm and RanchWINTER 2014

Ranchers feel the stressFire and drought have reduced usable acreage — Page 5

2 | Wednesday, December 31, 2014 | Farm & ranch

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On the cover: Wheat grows in a field on Darby Road in June 2013 northeast of

Moscow. | Photo by Geoff Crimmins

Ranchers put weight behind GMO-based feed

Decision by association reported to be science based | 6

Save water, drink better (wine)Multi-state research project expects marketable results

by 2017 | 4

Benefits from specialty crop grantsWSU received millions of federal dollars this year to help

specialty crop growers | 11

Tuttle named Cattlewoman of the YearAt 83, Asotin woman continues to be moving force for the

Washington industry | 13

FARM & RANCH | Wednesday, December 31, 2014 | 3

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Multi-state research project expects marketable results by 2017

By Shanon QuinnDaily News staff writer

Washington State University researchers have discovered a water-conscious way to simultaneously irrigate crops, decrease water contami-nants and improve the qual-ity of fruit through the use of a micro-irrigation system that has been in the works for about five years.

WSU professor of crop and soil sciences and project lead Pete Jacoby, who joined the team in January 2013, said the program puts a new spin on old drip line irrigation.

“The project differs from previous usage of buried drip

lines that were plagued by a host of problems, including clogging of the drip emitters that were in contact with the soil and destruction of the lines by gophers and similar vermin,” Jacoby said. “Our design involves the placement of a hard tube vertically into the ground with an emitter placed on top of the tube and attached to a dripline placed about 18 inches above the soil surface and in line with the vine trunks in vineyard rows. The emitter is never in contact with the soil and the tube is resistant to damage by gophers and most field equipment used to maintain the ground surface beneath the vines.”

But design isn’t the only thing new about this system, Jacoby said.

“We use electronic capaci-tance meters to monitor soil water movement and soil moisture availability in the soil profile near the vine. This

data help determine when to apply irrigation applications,” he said.

Jacoby said the research trials, which are taking place on vineyards near Prosser, Wash., use battery-powered controllers that limit irrigation amounts.

“In two of our project sites, we are comparing continuous application with pulsed appli-cations that involve short-duration applications inter-rupted by an hour or more to allow the water to spread lat-erally to a larger volume of soil and to reduce loss of water and nutrients through a saturated soil profile,” Jacoby said.

On top of saving water and improving water qual-ity, Jacoby said the system improves crop yield and qual-ity by conditioning the vine to develop deeper roots and collect only the lesser amount of water provided by the irri-gation system rather than sur-

prise rainfall.“Grapevines are often sub-

jected to reduced or ‘deficit’ irrigation during the period following fruit set through rip-ening. This technique of using water to produce higher qual-ity grapes involves a physi-ological process through which sublethal stress causes the vine to allocate carbon to the fruit to produce higher than normal levels of sugars and deep, rich fruit color, particu-larly in red wines. These quali-ties can produce high-quality, premium wines in the hands of knowledgeable and skilled winemakers,” he said.

Although the system isn’t yet ready for commercializa-tion, Jacoby said he expects the current projects to yield publishable results within the next two years.

Shanon Quinn can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to [email protected].

Save water, drink better (wine)

Associated Press

ST. LOUIS — Two of the biggest U.S. agribusiness companies say they have agreed to settle their pat-ent-infringement lawsuits against each other that had been pending in a St. Louis federal court.

Terms of the deal announced Tuesday by DuPont Co. and Monsanto Co. were not announced.

St. Louis-based Monsanto had claimed DuPont infringed upon certain Monsanto patents for determining a seed’s genetics. Based in Wilmington, Del., DuPont had alleged Monsanto infringed upon certain DuPont seed-processing patents.

DuPont, Monsanto settle patent lawsuits

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Farm & ranch | Wednesday, December 31, 2014 | 5

Fire and drought have reduced usable acreage

By Kathy HedbergLewiston Tribune staff writer

High beef prices, drought and recovery from wildfires are expected to continue to have an impact on the avail-ability of pasture for cattle producers this coming year.

Wyatt Prescott, executive director of the Idaho Cattle Association, said improving prices in the beef market have encouraged more peo-ple to add to their herds or some farmers to begin raising cattle.

That makes competition

for pasture tight. Add to that the drought in some areas of the country, as well as wildfires that have scorched thousands of acres and the situation becomes even more intense.

“A lot of producers don’t have winter pastures so they’ll feed hay to cows to winter them or they will lease ag crop land” through the winter, Prescott said.

The cost of leasing private pasture land over the past decade has doubled in some areas, while grazing permits on public lands have been curtailed to aid in the recov-ery from wildfires.

Prescott said he expects to see some higher value crop grounds being turned over for pasture as the competition

gets higher and commodity prices deflate.

“We’re in a growing phase in the beef industry and people are trying to expand and grow, so they go out and compete for those pastures,” Prescott said.

The competition was increased last year when ranchers from the Midwest, which suffered devastating drought, relocated some of their herds to the Northwest. As those lands have recovered, some of the Midwestern herds are returning home, easing up some of the pressure on regional pasture land.

Like most agricultural products, however, the beef market is volatile and Prescott said things could turn around and change the dynamics of

pasture availability.“We have seen a point in

the cattle market where we have seen a price correction on the futures that might be leading to the next downward

cycle,” Prescott said. “We don’t know for sure.”

Kathy Hedberg may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 983-2326.

Ranchers continue to feel pasture land stress

File photoImproving prices in the beef market have encouraged more farmers to add to their herds, or to even begin raising cattle, said executive director of the Idaho Cattle Association, Wyatt Prescott.

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Decision by cattle association reported to be science based

By Chelsea EmbreeLewiston Tribune staff writer

The Idaho Cattle Association has passed a resolution announcing its support of genetically modified feed, despite concerns about possible effects on cattle and other live-stock.

“The science says there is no problem with GMO-based feeds,” said John Hall, a mem-ber of the association’s science and technology committee.

Supporting genetically modified feed — largely made of corn, soybeans or alfalfa — means supporting growers who want to grow genetically modi-fied crops and beef producers who want to utilize them.

“That has an impact because beef producers can make their own personal decisions based

on economics, philosophy, mar-keting avenues,” Hall said.

Hall, a professor and super-intendent of the University of Idaho’s Nancy M. Cummings Center for beef research and education, said the resolution takes a stance against legislation that could work against the use of genetically modified crops.

“That larger implication affects basically all of agricul-ture in Idaho. Obviously, agri-culture is a very, very impor-tant part of the economy in Idaho,” Hall said.

The Idaho Cattle Association’s science and tech-nology committee presented the resolution at the association’s annual meeting this November, where it was passed with over-whelming support.

“One of the reasons it was overwhelmingly accepted is because it’s a logical and sci-ence-based decision,” Hall said.

Hall noted a September study conducted at the University of California-Davis that argued there is no difference between

livestock fed genetically modi-fied crops and livestock fed non-GMO products. The study looks at livestock health and produc-tivity from 1983 to 2011, not-ing that genetically engineered feeds were introduced in 1996.

“These field data sets, rep-resenting over 100 billion ani-mals following the introduc-tion of (genetically engineered) crops, did not reveal unfavor-able or perturbed trends in live-

stock health and productivity,” according to the study.

The association was also careful that their resolution didn’t step on any toes, Hall added.

“The question that was raised during our discussion of this was that this doesn’t mean

we have issues with a group that would say, ‘We don’t agree with that stance,’ ” Hall said. “That’s a marketing decision by those individuals.”

Chelsea Embree may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2278.

Idaho ranchers put weight behind GMO-based feed“

... Beef producers can make their own personal decisions

based on economics, philosophy, marketing

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Disease has led most of the world to use the process

By Joel MillsLewiston Tribune staff writer

So far, Inland Northwest winegrowers have been spared from the necessity of grafting.

“Most of the world is planted on grafted vines,” said Michelle Moyer, a viticulture extension specialist at Washington State University’s Prosser research center. “Except for parts of Australia and parts of the Pacific Northwest because we don’t have established popu-lations of phylloxera in our soils.”

Phylloxera is a nasty little root louse that can kill grape vines by causing “galls,” or knots that prevent the uptake of water in the plant. It was responsible for an epidemic in the late 1800s that wiped

out half of the European crop when it was accidentally intro-duced from North American parent varieties, Moyer said.

And while there aren’t yet many reasons to graft, there is good news for growers who may be forced to do it in the future, said WSU enologist Jim Harbertson. A three-year study to determine how graft-ing affects the quality of wine found little to no difference between natural and grafted rootstock.

“From what we could tell, it wasn’t as significant as we anticipated,” Harbertson said, possibly to the chagrin of those who market Inland Northwest wines. “I think some people have tried to say that we don’t use rootstocks, ergo we are superior. I don’t know if that’s really accurate.”

Moyer went back into wine history to explain why graft-ing became so widespread. In the mid- to late-1800s, sharing plants was a common pastime

in Victorian society. English botany enthusiasts were especially enamored of North American grape varieties.

“They were different, they were interesting, and they tasted different than what they were using over in Europe,” she said.

But as can happen when plants are transferred between regions without caution, trou-ble erupted. In the queen’s own glass house, something ugly was growing on the vitis vinif-era vines: powdery mildew.

“Then it spread out into the vines in the field, and then it just kind of rampaged across Europe,” Moyer said.

Growers quickly learned to control the mildew with sul-phur, but they wanted a better long-term solution. They tried breeding the mildew-resistant North American plants with French varieties. In the pro-cess, they unwittingly intro-duced the continent to phyl-loxera.

“They were bringing in plants to cure one disease, and it brought in another pest,” she said.

Any number of half-baked ideas were employed to fight the bugs, like dumping hot oil into the soil. But the only thing that worked was graft-ing traditional varieties onto insect-resistant American root-stock. That approach also took care of consumers’ distaste for French-American hybrid wines because it preserved the traditional flavors they were used to.

“Now all of Europe is plant-ed on grafted plants,” Moyer said.

Luckily, local growers shouldn’t have to worry about such complicated problems because the area is so inhospi-table to pests like phylloxera.

“It just can’t spread,” she said. “It tries and it doesn’t go anywhere. It’s hot, it’s dry, and phylloxera doesn’t like hot, dry, sandy soil. We’ve lucked out in

the inland desert because of that.”

Growers sometimes graft for reasons other than defeating disease and insect problems, Moyer added. It can help com-bat acid balance problems in the soil, control canopy growth or help fruit ripen earlier. But those benefits are largely out-weighed by the potential for graft union failures in the cold-er climates that predominate in Idaho, eastern Washington and eastern Oregon.

Harbertson said the region also benefits from the previ-ously untouched soil where many vineyards are planted. Some California vineyards, for example, inherited nematode infestations when they were established on land that once grew citrus trees that harbor the destructive roundworm.

The bottom line, according to WSU researchers, is that wine grape growers shouldn’t have to graft in the near future.

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“It’s always easier to do nothing,” Harbertson said. “If you’ve got a prob-lem, we’ve got a solution for you. But until you have that problem, there’s no point in looking for one. We want to be

cautious, but still not take unnecessary risks.”

Joel Mills may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2266.

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Research shows ban of insecticide could have costly effects

By Samantha MalottDaily News staff writer

Recently released data show the use of a nicotine-related insecticide can provide various benefits to the agriculture world including increased yields, lower costs and improved pest man-agement.

Thirteen agriculture and economics experts participated in the study for AgInfomatics, available through Growing Matters, covering the effects of neonicotinoids on nine different crops grown across the nation, including wheat and potatoes.

Pete Nowak, Ph.D. research-er for AgInfomatics and head of the research team, said the goal was to assess the value of the pest control method and identify

the costs of disuse.Neonicotinoids are fast-grow-

ing insecticides that have a simi-lar chemical make-up to nicotine and is used to essentially para-lyze the bug attacking the crop.

Out of the 206 million com-modity crop acres in the United States, 133 million of those are being treated with neonicoti-noids, he said.

Nowak said the unattended risks of banning the insecticide use, as some groups wish to do, are the most important facts being ignored in this debate.

“There are a lot of groups that are jumping on this, but they really aren’t thinking through what might occur if they take away this valuable tool in agri-culture,” he said. “That’s the big picture.”

One worry has to do with bees and if the insect will be exposed to a low dosage of the insecticide if it comes in contact with a treated seed’s flowers and nectar.

“The science on the risks is still really getting formulated,” he said.

The insecticide is different than the long-used formulas that are sprayed over the plants. Neonicotinoids are a coating applied to the crop. An insect has to bite into the plant to be affected by the neonicotinoid, he said.

It becomes internal and sys-tematic to the plant, Nowak said.

“It basically paralyzes the insect so it can no longer oper-ate, and they die,” Nowak said. “You can have a bee land on the leaf of the plant, and it’s not going to be affected by that.”

This method can be less dangerous to insects than other

various chemicals used, as the makers have formulated it in different ways so it focuses on different species of insects, he said.

B e c a u s e growers don’t have to use mul-tiple different pest manage-ment tools, it can result in sig-nificant savings to the growers, he said.

Taking away the use of neonic-otinoids, Nowak said, is going to produce unan-

ticipated and costly results.“If you take away neonicoti-

noids and growers still have to manage these pests, they are going to go back to the only available chemistry out there, and that is older chemistry,” he said.

Along with the cost of hav-

ing to retrain workers to apply the older methods, the older chemical make-ups can be more harmful toward insects.

If people worry about the effect on pollinator health with the neonicotinoids, the impact on pollinators is going to be a hundred times worse than what is happening right now if grow-ers have to go back to the older chemistry, he said.

Pests are able to build up a resistance to older insecticides and can kill off the beneficial bugs as well as the ones actually attacking the plant, he said.

“It’s a recipe for disaster,” Nowak said. “You quickly real-ize the value of something that is no longer there. That’s where we really began to get some insights into how important they are in North American agriculture.”

Samantha Malott can be reached at (208) 883-4639, or by email to [email protected].

Weighing the value of neonicotinoids

“The science on the risks is still really

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By Anthony KuipersDaily News staff writer

With a variety of grants and federal dollars already avail-able for wheat crops, the U.S. Department of Agriculture wanted to strengthen another important component of the agricultural industry: special-ty crops.

Washington State University, in particular, is enjoying the fruits of this effort.

The university received more than $14 million in fed-eral grants to help Washington state growers get the most out of their crops of apples, cher-ries, peaches and other flower-ing plants.

James Moyer, associ-ate dean of the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences at

WSU, said the university’s researchers received well over 20 percent of the total funds awarded through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, a program that provides grants to support research and exten-sion projects that address the needs of the specialty crop industry.

“It’s important to us, it’s important to the state and it strengthens our relationship with the growers,” he said.

It also brings together fac-ulty members in the field from all over the U.S. to tackle research that “otherwise may not occur” he said.

Faculty member Dorrie Main received $2.7 million over five years through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative to improve a genome database for roseceae crops.

Main said this database

takes in all the publicly avail-able information on breeding roseceae and puts it all on one website for growers to access.

G r o w e r s and research-ers working with special-ty crops can submit any breeding data they have with informa-tion on the genome, traits and markers of their crops.

They can also store private data without fear of others gain-ing access to it.

Main said they can use the database to identify which traits are associated with particular genes, and use those mark-

ers in their breeding program. The researchers have been updating the database for 12 years, she said.

D o u g Walsh, fac-ulty member in the depart-ment of entomology, received $3.2 million to develop strat-egies for pest and disease management in hops, while other WSU faculty are researching how to use b i o d e g r a d -able plastic mulch for sustainable specialty crop production.

Specialty crops, especial-ly apples, are a billion dol-lar industry in the state, yet

only recently has the fed-eral government opened up many grant opportunities for researchers in the specialty crop field.

Moyer said the focus of federal dollars largely fell on wheat and cereal crops in the past, but with these new grant programs, the govern-ment recognizes the economic importance of specialty crops, as well as their importance to the health of Americans.

In February, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., announced the Specialty Crop Research Initiative will be funded at $80 million a year and the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program will be funded at $72.5 million from 2014 to 2017, a more than 50 percent increase for both programs from levels in the 2008 farm bill.

Anthony Kuipers can be reached at (208) 883-4630, or by email to [email protected].

Washington benefits from specialty crop grantsWSU received millions of federal dollars this year to help specialty crop growers

“(The initiative) is

important to us, it’s important to the state and it strengthens our relationship with the

growers.”James Moyer

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By Mary StoneLewiston Tribune staff writer

A gift with ties to the industry’s roots is boost-ing the wine program at Washington State University’s Tri-Cities campus as construction wraps up on its Wine Science Center.

Scheduled to be completed later this month and operating by February, the cen-ter recently received $500,000 from the Albert Victor Ravenholt Foundation, which honors a pioneer in Washington wine pro-duction.

Ravenholt was a

founder of Sagemoor Vineyards, one of the first in the Tri-Cities area, said WSU viticul-ture and enology pro-gram director Thomas Henick-Kling.

“That was a very important step to get the industry going,” Henick-Kling said.

From the Ravenholt donation, $400,000 will go toward the Wine Science Center build-ing, which includes labs and classrooms as well as meeting space, Henick-Kling said.

The remaining $100,000 will be used to create an endowment for a lecture series “where

we can bring in guest speakers every year and honor Mr. Ravenholt

and what he and his c o l l e a g u e s have achieved here,” he said.

Sagemoor general man-ager Kent W a l i s e r , who serves as chair-man of the Washington State Wine Commission board, was instrumental in securing the Ravenholt g r a n t , Henick-Kling said.

The $23 million cen-ter has been funded in part with $5 million from a state of Washington e c o n o m i c development fund and a $2 million fed-eral economic d e v e l o p -ment grant. Another $7.3 million

came from a portion of the state’s tax on wine, H e n i c k -Kling said.

The rest, he said, comes from p r i v a t e donations.

The Tri-Cities loca-tion was selected for the center, H e n i c k -Kling said, b e c a u s e the campus there had the infra-s t r u c t u r e to support the school’s undergradu-ate and g r a d u a t e programs.

There are about 30 fac-ulty mem-bers in the p r o g r a m s , he said, 14 of them full time, with about 90 stu-

dents between Pullman

and the Tri-Cities, including 30 graduate students.

Program partici-pants study such subjects as grapevine physiology, genet-ics, wine chemistry, wine microbiology and business man-agement. Washington State University also runs the extension program for grape growers and wine makers across the state, Henick-Kling said.

The center will help the university continue its tradition of partner-ing with people in the wine business, he said.

“We’ve always worked very closely with the wine industry,” he said. “We designed that into the building — collaboration with industry — because we want them to be part of the research and teach-ing all the time.”

Mary Stone may be contacted at [email protected] or at (208) 848-2244. Follow her on Twitter @MarysSchoolNews.

WSU heightens focus on wine educationFoundation grant assists with opening of Wine Science Center in Tri-Cities area

“We’ve always worked very

closely with the wine industry. We designed

that into the building

— collaboration with the industry

— because we want them to be part of the research and

teaching all the time.”

Thomas Henick-KlingWSU viticulture and enology program

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Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Department of Agriculture plans to expand the monitoring of Oregon farm land for compliance with federal water quality law.

Some officials hope that will lead more farmers to seek help with programs such as tree planting to shade and cool streams, making them better able to support threat-ened fish species, the agri-cultural publication Capital Press reported.

For decades, the agency’s strategy for compliance with

the federal Clean Water Act on farmland was largely complaint-driven, said John Byers, manager of its agricul-tural water quality program. But some problems, such as manure piles near water-ways or streams denuded of vegetation, may never be reported, he said.

“Neighbors don’t always want to turn in neighbors,” Byers said.

About two years ago, the department decided to “self-initiate” compliance with water quality rules, using publicly available informa-tion like aerial photographs and topographical maps to

identify potential problem areas and then notifying the landowners.

Since the agency doesn’t have the resources to con-duct in-depth monitoring of the whole state, the approach was tested in Wasco and Clackamas counties.

In mid-2015, the depart-ment intends to roll out the program in six to 12 new “strategic implementation areas” once Byers determines where improvements are most needed.

An example of a project that approach might help is aimed at restoring riparian habitat along several creeks

in Multnomah County. Despite numerous entreat-

ies from the local soil and water conservation dis-trict, most landowners have refused free streamside tree planting that would reduce creek temperatures, and only about 25 to 30 percent of stream miles targeted by the district are enrolled in the restoration program.

“Some people are just not interested in having someone else working on their proper-ty,” said Julie DiLeone, rural lands program supervisor for the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District.

Once the Agriculture

Department tells landown-ers they can’t pollute, the solution is up to them. For technical assistance, they can seek help from a conser-vation district.

“If more people come in the door, at least in our dis-trict, that’s great because we have the capacity to help more people,” said Laura Masterson, an organic farm-er and board member of the East Multnomah district.

She noted the districts aren’t regulators, so people shouldn’t be afraid to come to districts for help, she said.

“That firewall is critical,” she said.

Oregon ag agency expands water quality monitoring

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By Kerri SandaineLewiston Tribune staff writer

ASOTIN — Charlotte Tuttle, an 83-year-old go-getter, spent the morn-ing vacuuming for a 100-year-old woman before being interviewed about her latest award.

At an age when most people slow down, Tuttle is known as a moving force. She is Washington state’s Cattlewoman of the Year. She also works as a part-time caregiver with four clients, hence the vacuuming.

Tuttle, who is rarely at a loss for words, was speechless when she was named Cattlewoman of the Year at a recent state convention in Spokane. She thought she was assisting with a presen-tation when organizers summoned her to the podium.

“I was absolutely sur-prised,” Tuttle said. “It was really nice and I am honored.”

In an introduction pre-pared by Asotin County members, Tuttle was described as “always on the go, not only knowing what needs to be done, but seeing that it is done. She keeps her county organizations informed on what is going on with the beef industry at the county, state and nation-al level.”

Tuttle joined what was then called the Asotin County Cowbelles in 1985 and is serving her third stint as presi-dent.

“I will probably be president until I die,” she said with a smile. “Every October, I put nominat-ing committee on the agenda, and they all just sit there and laugh.”

Tuttle said she joined

the organization because the members were friend-ly and outgoing and she instantly liked them. She supports the cattle indus-try because it’s a “great lifestyle and wonderful American tradition.”

Most of her work on behalf of the Cattlewomen is aimed at legislative issues rather than spend-ing time in the saddle herding cows.

“I haven’t been on a horse in 60 years,” she said. “My last horse was a doggone jumper.”

She and her late hus-band, Bob, raised three daughters. They moved to Asotin about 30 years ago, and Tuttle f o u n d her niche with the Cowbelles. She has served on the scholarship committee, conducted membership drives and assisted with beef counts on the state level.

In addi-tion, Tuttle is active in 4-H and FFA and rarely misses an Asotin County Fair Board meet-ing. She attends Asotin City Council sessions and is a regular at Asotin County Commission and health district meetings.

She is well known in the community as the “hat lady.” She has an extensive collection and a hat on her head almost every day of the year.

In the spring, she will no doubt don a festive one for the Asotin County

Fair parade. Tuttle was recently informed she’s been selected as the 2015 grand marshal of the April events.

Of all her projects and activities, the cat-tle organization is one of her favorites and she remains committed to the industry. The cattle market is doing well right now, but it goes in cycles and she predicts it will be struggling again someday.

“It’s important to keep up with the governmen-tal issues that affect the industry,” Tuttle said.

T h e A s o t i n C o u n t y Cattlewomen have about 20 mem-bers on the books. The group works on several fundraisers throughout the year, including a plant sale on Mother’s Day week-end and a quilt raffle during fair time. Tuttle has helped organize the distribution of roast beef

at Second Harvest food drives and is a regular consumer of the product she promotes.

When asked if she has a favorite breed, Tuttle was quick to answer.

“Herefords. They’re more mellow and the meat is delicious. You can’t beat a Hereford.”

Kerri Sandaine may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 848-2264. Follow her on Twitter @newsfromkerri.

Tuttle named Washington Cattlewoman of the Year

Barry Kough/TribuneAt 83 years, Charlotte Tuttle is a whirling dervish of activity, and is also the Washington State Cattlewoman of the Year.

At 83, Asotin woman continues to be moving force for the industry

“I will probably be president

until I die. Every October, I put nominating

committee on the agenda, and they all just sit there

and laugh.”Charlotte Tuttle

Washington Cattlewoman of the Year

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By Jennifer Sinco KelleherAssociated Press

HONOLULU — A fed-eral judge has ruled that a California-based labor con-tractor must pay $8.7 mil-lion in damages to Thai work-ers who were exploited while working at Hawaii farms, but it’s not clear whether any of them will get the money.

Mordechai Orian, former president of Global Horizons, said the Los Angeles company is no longer in business and has no way to pay.

“We will fight this ridicu-lous decision,” he said, calling the amount “insane.”

Orian continued to deny workers were mistreated.

“We paid those guys to the last penny they worked for,” he said. “We tried to keep legal farming in the United States alive, and this is the thanks we get.”

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a federal

lawsuit in 2011 against Global Horizons and six Hawaii farms. It alleged workers were subjected to discrimination, uninhabitable housing, insuf-ficient food, inadequate wages and deportation threats. Five farms settled for a total of $3.6 million.

U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi issued the ruling against Global Horizons on Dec. 19.

Anna Park, EEOC trial attorney in Los Angeles, said the agency is pleased but the next challenge will be getting money from Global Horizons.

Kobayashi ruled previously that the company is liable for the discrimination and abuse of the workers.

The contractor sought impoverished Thai nation-als, whom they stereotyped to be docile and compliant, the EEOC said, and charged them fees ranging from $9,500 to $26,000. The workers were given overcrowded housing often infested with bed bugs,

and some workers resorted to making primitive slingshots so they could catch chickens to eat, the agency said.

Kobayashi’s ruling awards $150,000 each for 82 claim-ants, coming from the $3.6 million in set-tlements and the $8.7 mil-lion Global Horizons is liable for. She found the last remain-ing farm that didn’t settle — Maui Pineapple Co. — is jointly liable for $8.1 million of the $8.7 million. The company couldn’t be recently reached for comment.

“The million dollar ques-tion is whether they’ll ever see any of it,” Clare Hanusz, an attorney who represents a large group of the workers with their immigration mat-ters, said of the award. “I’d be

surprised if there really was no money, though. I think it’s very carefully hidden.”

The company has no assets and couldn’t afford to con-tinue litigation, so it agreed to allow Kobayashi to issue a

default judg-ment without going to trial, said Javier Lopez Perez, an attorney r e p r e s e n t -ing Global H o r i z o n s . The com-pany plans to appeal, he said.

The money would be life-changing for the workers, many of whom continue to work in agriculture, Hanusz said.

“While I truly hope that the victims receive all the money they’re entitled to, I think they’ll also be happy the judg-ment validates their claims,” she said.

Thai farm workers may not get any of $8.7M award

“We will fight this

ridiculous decision.”Mordechai Orian

Former president of Global Horizons

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Safeway has pulled prepack-aged caramel apples from its shelves, the grocery chain said recently after the fam-ily of a person who died from a listeria infection linked to the fruit sued the company.

Shirlee Jean Frey, who died Dec. 2, became ill after buying several caramel apples from a Safeway supermarket in Felton in October, accord-ing to the suit filed in Santa Cruz County Superior Court.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention con-firmed the 81-year-old was sickened with the same strains of listeria found in apples that infected 28 other people in nine states.

Safeway pulls caramel apples amid listeria scare

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