Ben Doornink Far West Focus Magazine Far West Agribusiness Association Earlier this summer, I was invited to travel to southern Idaho to observe one of our members go through an EPA audit of its Risk Management Plan (RMP). Having never sat through an EPA audit before, I jumped at the […]

By Rick SOhn Umpqua Coquille LLC Housing starts picked up this month to the second highest number in 3 years. Will it repeat next month? Logs already made a typical mid-winter spike, driven by some shortages. See below for details and a six-year span of prices and analysis of lumber, […]

Why Christmas trees were caught in the crossfire By Kurt Kipp, Daily Digger, Association of Oregon Nurseries Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Read, international trade reporter at The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.), takes a look at the possible causes and the impact of the recently resolved U.S.-Mexico trucking dispute, which resulted in […]

Mexico Lifts 20 Percent Tariff on California Wine By The Wine Institute SAN FRANCISCO – Mexico eliminated retaliatory tariffs on 99 U.S. products, including a 20 percent tariff on U.S. wines, following U.S. approval of a Mexican trucking company’s permit to cross into the U.S. U.S. wine exports to Mexico […]

Oregon’s bats are in trouble By Oregon Department of Fish And Wildlife SALEM, Ore.—While black bats are winging their way to center stage on Halloween decorations and greeting cards, Oregon’s real bats aren’t doing so well: disease and habitat loss are threatening their survival. In fact, eight of Oregon’s 15 […]

Local and Regional Food Bill Prepared for Inclusion in New Farm Bill National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Washington, D.C. October 27, 2011 – Today Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine announced that next week they will introduce the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act, a comprehensive […]

Traps yield zero gypsy moths but 34 Japanese beetles By Oregon Department of Agriculture For Oregon, it’s all quiet on the gypsy moth front. For the first time since wide-scale trapping began back in the 1980s, not a single gypsy moth was detected this summer. Last year, only one gypsy […]

New wolf pack in Snake River Unit; Walla Walla wolf collared Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Photo courtesy of ODFW- LA GRANDE, Ore.—A new wolf pack is using the Snake River wildlife management unit of northeast Oregon, which borders Idaho and includes the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area and […]

American Forest Resource Council PORTLAND, OR – The Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Wyoming Federal District Court Judge Clarence Bremmer’s 2007 ruling that the 2001 Clinton Roadless Rule was illegal. The ruling sets the stage for implementation of that Rule. The impact of today’s ruling means that over […]

Washington’s 2010 Agricultural Value Second Highest on Record Washington Farm Bureau October 17, 2011 – 3:14pm The value of Washington’s 2010 agricultural production reached $8.25 billion (including government payments), 13 percent above the 2009 revised figure of $7.30 billion. This is the second highest value on record-second only to 2007’s […]