A lot of people in government these days make a real show about the need to be transparent, then turn around and do everything they can to conduct their most controversial business behind closed doors.
Get breaking news!
Some day in the not-too-distant future, an orchardist will push a button and a fleet of robots will deploy and harvest the apples. Working day and night and in any weather, they will choose on…
How can you talk to consumers about gene editing when most have little understanding of how plants are bred?
Farmers have been poring over the details of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s interim rules governing the production of hemp. They haven’t liked a lot of what they see.
In an era of bare-knuckled politics, it is instructive to reflect on the career of William Ruckelshaus, the first director of the Environmental Protection Administration.
When it’s time to sign a new farmland rental agreement, both parties can bring a lot to the table to make sure the cash rental agreement meets everyone’s needs. A few of the pieces of informat…
Every Dec. 5, USDA joins partners around the globe to celebrate World Soil Day, an annual event to bring attention to the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for sustainable management …
About a decade ago, I moved to the small town where I plan to spend the rest of my life. Excitement filled me, and I rushed to join the community and put down some roots.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) notes that 90% of the world’s fisheries are at capacity or have been overfished. By the year 2030 — a mere decade away — the world po…
As has been well-reported, Dean Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 12.
Now I admit I haven’t googled up gas so I’m far from a expert on cow gas, or people gas for that matter. But I never hear about human gas, and it may be more than you need to know about me but…
The Old Rule: Profitable milk demand exceeds the milk supply made by U.S. dairy farmers — make more milk.
In 1621 the Pilgrim colonists of Plymouth, Mass., celebrated their first harvest in the New World with a three-day feast, an extended dinner party that is the origin of our modern Thanksgiving…
The folks at Washington’s Department of Ecology like to write reports. It’s as though they are always looking to point a finger somewhere for causing one sort of problem or the other.
We have been skeptical that there could be Congressional approval of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, before next year’s election given the great partisan divide between the White H…
Say it. Let it roll off your tongue. “Sabotage.”
The following sentence, tucked in a footnote of a White Paper the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife prepared last winter, may hold the key to the health of the South Resident po…
I find it appalling that the director of the dept of wildlife, Kelly Susewind, is ignoring the governor’s directive to curtail the killing of wolves in order to protect cattle.
In the West, few resources evoke more passion than water. The reason is obvious: Everything comes down to the quantity and quality of water.
I recently read the editorial entitled, “Grizzly bears pose danger to all around them,” and thought, “Holy cow, that’s pretty scary. Perhaps I’ve been wrong about bears all along? I’d better r…
For years we’ve advocated for legislation that would give agricultural producers and processors easier access to affordable, legal foreign workers they need to make up for the lack of domestic…
Much of the Pacific Northwest and California have been embroiled in a legal fur ball for the past several decades. At its center: fish.
In 2017, U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill ordered the Idaho Department of Fish and Wildlife to destroy data collected from wolf and elk collars that he determined were attached unlawfully to a…
America is fortunate to have a large and diverse agricultural economy. Our citizens — and millions of others across the world — have grown to depend on the high-quality food and goods we produce.
Farmers in Oregon’s Yamhill County who for three years have been fighting the county’s attempt to turn an abandoned railroad right-of-way into a recreational trail got a boost earlier this mon…
The biologists from the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others who want to move up to 200 grizzly bears into the North Cascades of Washington state are playing wit…
John Newton, chief economist of the American Farm Bureau recently wrote: “Agriculture will continue to play an important role in helping the world adapt to and mitigate climate change, but U.S…
I was part of a dairy food processor business for many years, and agree with your Oct. 18 headline, “Milk Prices Need Clarity, Consistency.” This in reference to the confusing and complicated …
Many of us can think of one-lane roads — paved, gravel, or dirt — that wiggle all around our state.
Suppose you are a dairy farmer and having lunch at the local coffee shop. Between your hamburger and that piece of apple pie you have been eyeing, the person at the table next to you notes tha…
We welcome last week’s news that China has agreed to buy between $40 billion and $50 billion in U.S. agriculture products as part of a “cease fire” in the ongoing trade war between the two countries.
In his recent book, “On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey,” Paul Theroux writes on Mexico and the U.S., but accuses Americans — and their president — of not knowing Mexico.
By the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s most recent estimate, Oregon’s sage-grouse population has dropped 37% since 2003. As a sagebrush steppe indicator species, the grouse’s sharp de…
Land O' Lakes CEO Beth Ford has recently acknowledged in a "60 Minutes" interview that many of her co-op member owners are at risk of losing their farms.
We have often argued in this space that farmers, ranchers and timbermen can’t effectively operate if county and local governments are able to pass their own and disparate regulations.
With all due respect to Sonny Perdue, there’s more to farming than size.
An Aug. 28 letter asserts that wolves “have been introduced by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).” This is blatantly false. All wolves in this state arrived from Canada or …
“Hey, be neat, no meat,” said television talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres in a short video she posted to social media on Sept. 17.
After receiving many phone calls, along with the same concerns appearing in various news outlets, it is certainly time for the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to apologize to the American family…
Farm groups are lauding a new agricultural trade deal the administration has reached with Japan.
Sometimes, it appears that the environmental community can be its own worst enemy. Instead of building bridges with farmers and ranchers, some environmental groups do the opposite. Anywhere th…
If you visited a gas station or convenience store in 2019, you likely noticed the sale of CBD or cannabidiol and other industrial hemp-derived products. Touted by marketers as having a range o…
In my last op-ed in the Capital Press I described the existing "predator pit" in the Kettle Range north of Highway 20 and wolves "prey-switching to livestock."
Last week Oregon Director of Agriculture Alexis Taylor delivered a sobering report to members of the state Legislature.
Farmers and others in rural parts of the country occasionally throw open their gates and welcome tours of legislators and other community leaders.
Laws are put in place to protect us. It is that simple. They ensure our rights as citizens are upheld and abuses by those around us are kept in check. Lawbreakers are typically punished for th…
A friend recently posted a meme on social media showing a large, nasty-looking snake coiled around a streamside tree, devouring a hapless fish that swam a bit too close to the water surface.
Hurrah for Tillamook dairies, and farms both small and large. I write in defense of Keebler elves and farmers, ranchers and other producers and against those who, in the name of “climate chang…
Regarding the Sept. 4 Capital Press editorial, "Voters trying to get Brown's attention." I don't believe that is the voters' intention. Rather, they want to get rid of a bad apple.
While farm and private property interests cheered, environmental groups last week bemoaned the Trump administration finalizing the repeal of the controversial “Waters of the United States,” or…
Oregon agriculture is a big tent. From the smallest acreage in Western Oregon to the largest ranch in Eastern Oregon, from the newest hemp farm in Central Oregon to the multi-generational gras…
In 1990 the Northern Spotted Owl was listed as a “threatened” species under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), resulting in the steep decline in federal timber harvests and the economic…
A federal judge has put a temporary stay on a 50% wage hike the Department of Labor had ordered for blueberry pickers.
Maybe you go to the fair for the food. After all, who could resist a peanut butter and jelly pickle dog, or deep-fried Nutella custard stuffed French toast?
About wheat exports and the dismissive comments by President Trump: Perhaps now his followers should do some research on candidate Trump, who has declared bankruptcy six times, before the next…