Photo By Tom Banse

More Northwest farmers will feel the collateral damage from a festering trade dispute with Mexico. The Mexican government Wednesday slapped new tariffs on imported apples, cheese and sweet corn. Mexico is using expanded tariffs to pressure the Obama administration to restore a program allowing Mexican trucks into the U.S. Correspondent Tom Banse reports.

A first round of tariffs imposed last year on potato products, pears, cherries and Christmas trees cost Northwest farmers tens of millions of dollars. Now the addition of one of the Northwest’s iconic exports raises the stakes. Mexico announced that effective immediately, U.S. apples will also be subject to a 20 percent tariff. Mark Powers of the Northwest Horticultural Council says Mexico is the number one export market for our region’s growers.

Mark Powers: “The whole point of these retaliatory disputes is to inflict pain and believe me, our industry is feeling it.”

Powers says exporters have to eat the 20 percent tariff or lose the sale to other countries. He says that’s unfortunate because Northwest farmers have nothing to do with the cross border trucking dispute behind all this. The Teamsters Union is trying to keep out what it calls unsafe foreign competition. Mexico charges that stance violates the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network

On the web: Mexican Government’s complete list of retaliatory tariffs (in Spanish)

Selected Northwest commodity exports subject to retaliatory tariffs by Mexico:

Apples 20% tariff rate (new)
Wine 20% tariff
Potatoes 5% (newly lowered from previous 20% tariff rate)
Pears 20%
Cherries 20%
Christmas trees 20%
Onions 10%
Apricots 20%
Fresh grapes 20%
Toilet paper 5%
Sweet corn 15% (new)

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Counting fish at the Bonneville Dam fish ladder. Photo by Tom Banse

NORTH BONNEVILLE, Wash. – Banner runs of salmon and steelhead are migrating up some Northwest rivers this summer. Not since dams were constructed on the Columbia and Snake Rivers have this many sockeye salmon returned. Meanwhile, the 2010 summer steelhead run is on pace to be the second highest on record on the Columbia. The modern record for steelhead was set in 2001.Correspondent Tom Banse explores possible explanations for the unexpectedly high salmon returns.

Bonneville Dam was finished in 1937. Ever since, fish counters have sat in front of big underwater picture windows there. Fish ladders at the dam funnel spawners past the windows.

Jane Jackson: “Whoa! Look at that big, big Chinook… Steelhead…”

Park ranger Jane Jackson calls out the fish as a human counter keeps track with a clicker.

Sound: (clicker)

Jane Jackson: “Wow! A wild Chinook… and another one. Hatchery, hatchery….”

Tom Banse: “We’ve got a big group here. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven coming by the window…”

Rarely have salmon and steelhead filled the windows as they have this year.

Jane Jackson: “Oh, that one has got a scrape.”

The run of endangered Snake River sockeye has set a modern record. The returns are more than double the pre-season forecast. Right on its tail comes a blockbuster steelhead run. Columbia River wild steelhead are listed as threatened. Steelhead resemble salmon, but are technically an ocean-going trout.

Sound: (splashing of fishermen)

Downstream of the dam, dozens of fisherman cast lines from the riverbank for marked hatchery-origin fish.

Jeff Seale: “Ha! Holy smokes, look at that.”

Sport fisher Jeff Seale reels in the biggest steelhead he says he’s ever caught. It’s longer than his outstretched arm and weighs maybe 14 pounds.

Jeff Seale: “Last year was good and I’m hoping this year is just as good.”

Nearby, fisherman Mike Lazelle of Carson, Washington throws out some theories with his line.

Mike Lazelle: “It’s probably good ocean conditions have led to a good run this year. I’m sure it’s probably nothing we did.” (hearty chuckle)

Biologists say it’s hard to prove cause and effect because there are so many variables in play. A spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would like to believe that all the money spent on dam improvements “is finally paying some dividends.”

Tribal fisheries biologist Stuart Ellis sees benefits from a court order to spill more water over the tops of dams in the summer. That’s instead of running the water – and young fish — through the power turbines.

Stuart Ellis: “One of that likely has occurred with these particular fish is that we’ve had really good outmigrating conditions for the juveniles.

A colleague of Ellis’ in Portland, Jeff Fryer, mentions that fishing has been greatly reduced in places to protect threatened runs.

Jeff Fryer: “Back when I started in the late eighties when you had a big run we’d harvest 50 percent or so. It was a much bigger harvest allowed.”

Then there’s the question of whether increased hatchery production can explain higher salmon returns. State and federal fish & wildlife agencies discount this possibility. They say hatchery production overall has held pretty steady.

A caveat now. Stuart Ellis points out that for every Northwest salmon run that’s exceeded the pre-season forecast, he can find one that’s struggling. For example, this year’s run of Lake Washington Chinook is falling way short.

Stuart Ellis: “You have to have enormous humility to work in this business, because these fish are masters at faking you out. As soon as you think that you’ve got some real understanding of what these fish are doing and what kind of factors are influencing their survival, something will change.”

Ellis is sure salmon will need intensive management into the foreseeable future. He says the region’s growing population, a warming climate and increasing demands for water are just some of the reasons why.

Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network

On the web: Bonneville Dam Fish Count and Webcam

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According to a researcher at Washington State University, some peach growers in Oregon reported losing 50% of their crops last year. The flies originally came from Asia. The same species showed up in western Washington 2009, and again this year.

The Washington Blueberry Commission has been working with researchers to figure out how to control the fruit flies. Alan Schreiber is the director of the commission. He says it is unclear how major the damage will be.

Schreiber: “This pest is either gonna cost us a lot of money to control it or it is gonna cost even more amount in terms of loss production. We are really holding our breath in waiting to see if we had the ability to control the insect or not.”

Growers have been setting up traps to help catch the fruit flies. Doug Walsh is a professor at Washington State University. He believes organic growers are most susceptible.

Walsh: “Obviously, it’s a new pest in our area. The shame that we have right now is we had a very large increase in our organic blueberry production here in eastern Washington. We have a number of pesticides that can control this insect that’s relatively easy to control with the insecticides that are available, but it’s the organic producers and the backyard growers that I am concerned about. ”

Walsh also says the pest is seasonal, and they tend to increase in a warmer weather. He hopes that a cold winter in eastern Washington will help depress the fly population.

Copyright 2010 KUOW

To listen to this story go to Northwest Public Radio

Photo by Tom Banse

This weekend, around 30,000 people are expected to descend on Sequim, Washington for that small town’s 14th annual lavender festival. Organizers boast it is North America’s biggest celebration of the purple herb. Lavender festivals are blossoming all over the Northwest. There’s another one in Twin Falls, Idaho this Saturday and on San Juan Island, Washington Saturday and Sunday. Correspondent Tom Banse takes stock of what’s become a growth industry.

If “U-pick” lavender or lavender sachets aren’t your thing, maybe you’ll succumb to lavender body butter, ice cream, salad dressing, lavender BBQ rub, eye pillows or dog bandanas. Those are just some of the cottage businesses that have sprouted lately based on the fragrant herb.

Mary Jendrucko: “It just caught on.”

Mary Jendrucko and her husband planted a lavender farm near Sequim in 2000. Membership in her local growers’ association has tripled since then.

Mary Jendrucko: “I think it’s because the world is so crazy and people want to relax. Lavender has those known qualities for relaxation.”

Jendrucko says one nice side benefit of the dramatic growth in the lavender business is seeing farmland preserved which otherwise might be converted to housing developments.

Lavender businesses in Oregon recently reached the critical mass needed to form their own industry association. Last weekend, lavender lovers had no fewer than seven different festivals to choose from across the Northwest.

On the Web:

Sequim Lavender Festival

Oregon Lavender Association

Lavender Festival – Twin Falls, ID (July 17)

San Juan Island Lavender Festival (July 17-18)

Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network

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Ripe cherries wait to be picked in a orchard outside of Prosser, Wash. A new contraption nicknamed the cherry thumper may drastically change how those Northwest fruit get to market.

PROSSER, Wash. — The legend of John Henry pits a “steal driving man” against a steam drill. John Henry wins the contest but in the long run, machines have prevailed in the American economy. Now, researchers at Washington State University are developing a modern day contraption that could put cherry pickers out of work. The “cherry thumper” is the size of a sedan. It thumps tree limbs to drop the fruit onto a conveyor belt. Correspondent Anna King went to check it out at WSU’s cherry test farm in Prosser.

During the cherry harvest nowadays, it’s not unusual to hear the pickers sing. Maria Arebalo belted this one out last season.
Sound: Maria Arebalo
But one day, the sound of cherry picking could be this.
Sound: Cherry thumper
This machine is nicknamed the cherry thumper. It looks like an oversized video game. With a seat, two joysticks and a robot arm. I get Matt Whiting a scientist with WSU, to fire up his invention.
Matt Whiting: “It’s comprised of a thumper, knocks the branches back, fruit fall onto a catching conveyor, they are brought up to the top of the machine, another conveyor brings them to the rear, leaf litter is removed in the field and there is a standard cherry bin collecting the fruit at the back of the machine.”

Qin Zhang, a member of the mechanical cherry harvest team, drives the cherry thumper at a test orchard outside of Prosser, Wash.

Sound: Machine thumping sound, conveyor squeaking sound [under]
Early summer is Whiting’s go time. He has just about two to three weeks during the peak of cherry season to do all his field research for the year. If Whiting can get this thing working properly, farmers could replace hundreds of cherry pickers with one thumper. Whiting says labor is one of the most expensive costs for cherry farmers.
Matt Whiting: “The holy grail would be to have a fully mechanized harvest. We’ve studied that the last few years and we found that the picking costs per pound have gone from by hand from 20 to 24 to maybe 25 cents a pound to 2 to 3 cents per pound using this prototype harvester.”

Whiting says that price includes the purchase of the machine. The U.S. Department of Agriculture thinks it’s such a good idea that it gave Whiting 4-million-dollars to develop the project. Now he has a team of 11 working on everything from nuts and bolts to consumer packaging.
It’s not the only contraption Whiting and his team are developing. They’re also working on a cherry shaker that looks like a weed-eater.

Qin Zhang and Matt Whiting of Washington State University show off their cherry shaker that’s in development and the fruit it can quickly collect.

Sound: Cherry shaker
It could be used in older farms where the trees aren’t suited for the thumper.
These two machines have big implications for the rural economy in the northwest and the cherries you buy in the store.
Last year during the peak of cherry harvest there were more than 40-thousand cherry pickers working in Washington alone. Mechanization means there would be far fewer of them. It also means farmers and consumers would have to get used to cherries without stems. The machines knock the cherries down and the stems stay on the tree. Stem-less cherries are already hitting a test market this summer in Missouri.
Sound: Thumper
If all goes well on the test farm – you might be see the stem-less orbs in your stores in about four more summers.
I’m Anna King outside of Prosser, Washington.

Copyright 2010 Northwest Public Radio

Listen to the audio of this story on KUOW public radio

Meet J.J. Williams. His family owns a winery on a dusty Eastern Washington hill called Red Mountain. At 23 years old, he’s third gen working full-time in the business. And he’s in charge of dealing with the bloggers. J.J. says wine bloggers can’t be ignored. They are continuing to grow in numbers and popularity. That’s forcing wineries to get savvy and give them information, tours and samples. It’s J.J.’s job to sort out which blogs are legit. He says it’s very different than sending wine to an established wine critic.

J.J. Williams: “It’s difficult because you don’t know who you are sending wine to. You don’t know what their palate is. You don’t know what the conditions are they are reviewing the wine under. If they are going to pair it with food — or not pair it with food — or pair it incorrectly with food. Really the nature of blogging is that anyone can have a voice and everyone has an opinion.”

J.J. says all that can get expensive. It’s also hard to track sales stimulated by blogs. But he says word of mouth already sells a lot of wine — and blogging is just another way that happens. J.J. even has a video blog himself called “The One-Eyed Wine Guy.”

On the Web:

Wine Bloggers Conference

One-Eyed Wine Guy

Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network

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The P&J Oyster Company has been in operation in New Orleans for 134 years. Not any longer. The company has halted operations because oil from the BP spill has made it into its harvesting grounds. Bill Dewey is with Northwest oyster giant Taylor Shellfish. He says the last thing he’s thinking about is whether this is good for his business. He calls the folks at P&J his good friends.

Dewey: “We’re sick about what’s happening there in the Gulf. And we’re not out there trying to capture their markets, we’re more interested in trying to figure out ways to help them.”

Dewey says oyster prices and demand did go up after Hurricane Katrina. That could happen again. But he notes that Pacific oysters are different from Eastern and Atlantic ones. Plus, oysters from Washington and Oregon are farmed and it takes two to four years to grow them to market size. Dewey says he can’t just ramp up production overnight.

Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network

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Rose: “Most surveys have either focused on pesticides or on specific pests or diseases. This really is getting a much more nationwide picture and a comprehensive look at the pests and diseases.”

Researchers around the country will measure out half-cups of live bees from the hives and put them in alcohol or a freezer. Then the bees will go back to a lab for inspection.

Copyright 2010 Northwest Public Radio

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An underground dinner in rural Washington wine country.

[HOST INTRO] Underground markets and restaurants have popped up all over the country.  They open their doors only briefly, for an afternoon or an evening, in ever changing, often secret locations. Like 21st Century speakeasies for the foodie set, they sidestep the high overhead and complex regulations that traditional food establishments face.

In this installment of Edible Idaho, correspondent Guy Hand slips into the Northwest world of underground food.

(Sounds at market)  (Hand) With a smile and a legal waiver, a Treasure Valley, Idaho woman greets me at an unmarked door.  Inside I find what she calls an underground food market.

Bacon cupcake from underground market in Idaho.

(Hand) And what is that?  (Woman) It’s a little secret membership club where you can sign up in advance to come to this secret food market, sort of like the farmers’ market that’s downtown but, you know, it’s a little club, we’re not professionals, we’re die-hard amateurs.  (Hand) Is it legal?  (Woman) It is legal.  We have a lawyer (laughing).  (Hand) Oh, that makes it legal if you have a lawyer?  (Woman) We worked very hard with our lawyer to get this up and running properly.

(Hand) So how is it different than a farmers’ market?  (Woman) The difference is really just that we’re not paying a lot of money first of all to come set up a booth at a farmers’ market, but secondly, a lot of us have been trying really hard to break into the professional scene.  There’s such a high cost associated with doing things professionally that this, we determined would be the best way to have a bunch of people start working towards becoming completely legitimate.

(Woman) That’s the short answer (laughing) (Hand) And are there any advantages for the consumer? (Woman) Yes, well there’s a huge price break.  For example, I was traveling around yesterday trying to compare our prices and the difference is huge.

(Hand) This woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, says the morel mushrooms they’ve got are half the price of the store-bought version.

Various breads and scones available at underground market.

(Hand) So what are some of the things that are available? (Woman) Let’s see, I’m going to go around the room . . . There are raspberry plants, fresh spinach, catnip, quinio cakes that you can eat today, different kinds of cupcakes, andouillie sausage made locally.

(Hand)  And what’s the advantage of making it underground or secret? (Woman)  That component is partly so that everybody knows that they’re buying something that people produced in their own home, so it’s more like a club and we feel like that’s a little bit more fun too, for people, so they kind of have to find out about it through the grape vine . . .

(Hand) This woman admits the secrecy is there also to keep the health department from knocking down the door.  She understands the importance of food safety, but thinks, like many in the underground food movement, that regulations are not only burdensome but often misplaced.

(Woman) . . . a lot of these things are actually better for you because we’re not using nitrates or nitrites and because we’re not boiling the kimchee to make it so that it has no bacteria in it, and we’re not boiling the goat cheese so it’s completely flavorless and bad for you.

(Hand) It seems like, getting back to those strict rules, they’re often times geared for big industrial food organizations and not small producers that can’t pay for or can’t follow those kinds of regulations and this seems like a way to get around that.  (Woman)  You got it.  You totally just nailed it.  I mean it’s just like radio.  If you look on the radio dial, everybody on the radio is going to be this huge, giant company, but there’s no way that little people can get in edge-wise because of all the laws and the cost.  And so here we are, we’re the little people, we’re getting in edge-wise, that’s it. (laughing)

An amuse bouche of salt cod fritter in romesco sauce at underground dinner.

(Crossfade to sounds at underground dinner) (Chef) The bottom of this bowl is hot ‘cause it was on a burner so hold it right here, a pinch on every plate . . .

(Hand) Some underground aficionados have already done time on the  above-board, big-boy side of the food industry.  (Chef) So it doesn’t take a lot K.B., not a lot.  (Hand) Today, I’m in Washington state with a chef who once owned a critically acclaimed restaurant.  He gave it up for the freedom, he says, comes with cooking underground.

(Chef) Brandon, once they get the pesto they can go . . .

Salad of local greens and vegetables with sherry vinaigrette at underground dinner.

(Hand) Tonight this chef, who also wants to remain anonymous, is preparing a multi-course underground meal for thirty-two.  He divulged the location — a stunning orchid greenhouse in rural Washington — just the night before.

(Hand) Is it better than having a restaurant?  (Chef) Well, you know what, at least there’s a bottom line here.  As you know, having a restaurant, there’s no bottom line.  It’s a way of enjoying what you do and actually not having all the costs that actually kill a restaurant.

(Hand)  Along with lower cost and limitless location possibilities, he’s also free to make last minute menu changes.

(Chef) I’m dealing with ultra fresh stuff here, I mean I wait to write the menu until almost last minute and then scramble to get the stuff ‘cause I want to see what’s in season, what I have . . .

(Hand) The chef pops open a cooler of just procured early spring produce.

(Chef) This is all of our goodies in here.  Fava beans, chive flowers, local radishes.  Right here is the prized possession of the day: that’s all the strawberries that are in Walla Walla right now.  I bought ‘em at the market this morning.  Paid the guy $20 for two pints.

(Hand) That quest for perfect ingredients, the surprising locale and the mildly illicit allure of an underground dinner has attracted a well-heeled and appreciative clientele.

Guests at orchid house in rural Washington state.

(Guest) I don’t think any of us would have dreamt of having a meal like this in an orchid hot house.  It’s just wonderful.  It’s just great variety, it’s imaginative and it is just a great deal of fun.

(Hand) Some say the underground restaurant scene was born ten years ago in Portland, Oregon.  It then spread to Europe and beyond.  Regulatory agencies are predictably unhappy with these unlicensed, off-the-grid events.  But proponents argue that they fill a need tradition food establishments simply don’t satisfy.

(Chef) Alright, sorry I didn’t get out right away to tell you what that last course was . . .

(Hand) From an undisclosed Northwest location, I’m Guy Hand

(Chef) That course right there was a fava bean flan . . .

In mid-May, Washington State University entomologist Richard Zack warned that the conditions were ripe for a devastating outbreak of grasshoppers. He predicted the worst infestation in a generation.

Zack: “And what that was based on was numbers of grasshoppers over the last five or six years have been increasing.” Zack says grasshoppers munched on a quarter of a million acres in the Northwest last year. He says the dry areas of southeastern Oregon, southern Idaho and central Washington got the worst of it.

But he says, this year, the rains have come at the perfect time, when baby grasshoppers are hatching.

Zack: “The wet cold provides them with a lot of diseases, with a lot of fungus, et cetera, and that tends to knock numbers down. And that’ll work with grasshoppers, with yellowjackets, with wasps.”

Despite the weather, Zack says the Northwest is at the peak of a cycle where grasshopper populations are high. He expects their numbers to fall over the next few years.

Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network

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