Hannelore Sudermann

The Teamsters are the apparent winners in the bid to represent Department of Corrections workers, one of the largest groups of public employees in the state. In the vote counted Monday, 1,481 out of about 3,900 DOC workers who cast ballots voted for Teamsters Union representation. Only 818 voted to keep the current union, the Washington Public Employees Association, and 189 voted not to have union representation.

Tuesday was a big day for this town of 4,000. It was Patty Martin's final city council meeting as mayor, coming after she spoke-out against agriculture waste-control practices. And it also was the day the community heard results of tests for toxins in a groundwater plume which may be heading toward the town's high school.

Quincy-area residents next week will hear about the extent of pollution and possible cleanup efforts when ag-retailer Cenex Supply and Marketing and the Washington State Department of Ecology discuss test results from the Cenex-owned site in the town. The land, less than half an acre which Cenex bought from another agricultural product supplier 15 years ago, is tainted with herbicides and pesticides. "It was probably mismanaged before they bought it," said Ed Hares, hydrogeologist for the Washington State Department of Ecology. "Let's just say with the past practices, we can look back and say they were wrong."

Guests tour a plane from Central Montana Air's new fleet at Spokane International Airport Tuesday. Photo by Hannelore Sudermann/The Spokesman-Review

As Third World countries become richer and the global appetite swells, so will the demand for food. That should be good news for Washington state farmers. But trade barriers and outright bans, such as China's on U.S. wheat, will prevent American agriculture from meeting the demand, said Dennis Avery, author and former State Department agriculture analyst.

Wheat is Washington State University's latest cash crop. On Friday the Washington Wheat Commission planted $1.5 million on the school to pay for more farming research. The individual winner of the donation is plant pathologist R. James Cook for whom the money will buy an endowed chair. Cook came to the university in 1965 to teach and research plant pathology. Now he'll lead scientific teams in researching direct seeding of wheat, barley and other crops.

Finding ways to balance salmon restoration, water rights and farming was the challenge at the Washington Association of Conservation Districts meeting in Spokane on Tuesday. Several hundred conservation leaders from 48 districts around the state came in search of the solutions. "Salmon may be the poster child, but the issue is water quality," said Colin Bennett, a WACD director from Klickitat County.

Workers at the Stemit Growers Inc. Olds Station Warehouse in Wenatchee sort and pick Red Delicious apples recently. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

The Washington State Department of Agriculture wants people to know that a popular mood-elevating drug has a downside. It causes cows, sheep and horses who eat it to lose weight and sunburn. The Washington Department of Agriculture issued a warning last week that St. John's wort, both a toxic weed and a popular herbal anti-depressant, has "a dark side."

James Hellwig is a key to international markets for the region's businesses. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review

Farmers have learned to look one more gift horse straight in the mouth. It's the estate and gift tax exemption in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. It might look good to ranchers and farmers, but those who plan to pass the business to their heirs are looking twice before they leap into the latest congressionally-authored complication. The Taxpayer Relief Act, a portion of which is a $1.3 million exemption of inheritance tax for small businesses, goes into effect Jan. 1.

Though loan volume is up, earnings are down at Northwest Farm Credit Services. The Northwest's largest agricultural lender announced Friday that its third-quarter earnings are $12.7 million, from income of $31.7 million. Earnings are down from $13.6 million out of income of $31.6 million a year ago. "From the standpoint of the earnings, it's a reflection of the decreased spread in what you get on loans and the competitive interest rate," said Jay Penick, president and chief executive officer. The spread has narrowed in the last year because of competition from the regional and community banks in the Northwest, Penick said.

Too much, too fast, too soon. Though the country's economic ship has come in, the real ones are stuck out of port. In Los Angeles, the barges can't get the dock time they need to drop off cargo from Asia. When the ships do get in, the exports often aren't there for them to take away. They're stuck on a train or in storage in another state.

Simon Craven-Thompson, owner of Craven's Coffee, addresses a group of high school students at the Youth Entrepreneur Seminar Friday. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

A sprouting force is cheating Adams County farmers of their winter wheat crop. Because of abundant cheat grass, the growers are tearing up entire rolling hills covered with the tender shoots of September plantings. Though it's an annual problem for farmers, this year the wind and weather have combined to make the weed uncommonly prolific.

Sexual confusion. It's the apple growers' latest weapon against the intrepid coddling moth, their greatest enemy. By confusing the male moths with a synthetic female sex hormone, growers can drive the gray-winged little menaces to distraction. Fewer moths mate and no larvae are born to spoil the apples.

Adams County landowner Ken Melcher scans an aerial photograph of his land with Washington State Farm Services Agency worker Kay Stelzer. In the background, Melcher's son Wes talks with Raeann Telecky. Photo by Hannelore Sudermann/The Spokesman-Review

A trader in the Dow Jones futures pit shouts orders near the suspension of trading at the Chicago Board of Trade Monday. Photo by Associated Press

1. Francisco Ramirez picks Fuji apples last week in Grant Daniel's 70-acre Wenatchee orchard. 2. More than 20,000 Red Delicious apples a week pass through this line at the Stemilt Packing Co., where washed and waxed apples are prepared for boxing. Photos by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

Growers in Okanagan County this season had plenty of fruit, but no one to pick it. Orchardist Rocky DeVon needed 50 people to help him harvest his Red and Golden Delicious apples. Instead, he had to make do with 19. "There was a tremendous shortage of labor up here," he said. "And across the board, it seemed to be hurting everybody." Farmers partly blame the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which stepped up arrests in Eastern Washington this year. He and the other orchardists depend on the migrant workers to harvest their crop. "If they don't work in the agriculture industry, nobody does anymore." DeVon said he pays beginning workers about $65 a day and experienced pickers earn up to $100. He also supplies housing and utilities. Employers are required to check workers' documents to ensure they're eligible to work in the United States, according to the INS. Undocumented workers sometimes get around this by borrowing Social Security numbers, identification and green cards from other workers. Though labor was tight in other apple-growing areas, such as Wenatchee and Yakima, the hardest hit was Okanagan County, said Dean Tupper, spokesman for the Washington Farm Bureau. The INS hadn't noticed a labor shortage, said Loretta Lopez-Mossman, deputy chief patrol agent for the agency. But INS arrests are up from last year, she said. "We are showing our highest apprehensions for the last six years." This year, the INS picked up 2,331 undocumented immigrants in Eastern Washington, a jump from 1,352 last year. That was due to an increase in INS officers in the state. "This year we had most of our agents in the sector (Eastern Washington) for the whole year," said Lopez-Mossman. "Last year most people were down at the (U.S.-Mexico) border for Operation Gatekeeper." Okanagan County seemed to have its own such operation. According to DeVon, the agents heavily patrolled Highway 97, the main road into the county. "I don't know if we were so much singled out as we were an easier target because we only have one road," he said. "The Hispanics were afraid to come here." While DeVon was able to harvest his crop in a timely manner, some of his fellow growers had to leave their apples too long on the trees while they waited for workers to finish in other orchards. DeVon said he tried to find other workers. He even placed an order for 40 workers with the Department of Employment Security in June. "They finally got me two people the last few days of picking," he said. DeVon said he's lucky that his harvest was smaller than usual this year and he was not too hurt by the low number of available workers. But next summer, he's expecting more fruit and will need more help. "If I have the same number of workers and a normal harvest, I expect half my crop to rot on the trees," he said."I'm extremely worried about next year."

In the continuing struggle for rights and power in the apple industry, it's the workers who are at the core. For more than a year and a half, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has targeted the apple packing industry, hoping to win over the workers, particularly at Stemilt Growers Inc. in Wenatchee and Washington Fruit in Yakima. Unions have tried to organize farm workers since at least the 1930s, but in the state of Washington they've had little success.

Claiming fertilizer laced with heavy metals ruined land and crops in Eastern Washington, a Seattle lawyer filed civil suits Monday against two major fertilizer suppliers. One class-action complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court in Yakima against Minnesota-based Cenex Supply & Marketing Inc. and the other was filed in the Grant County Superior Court against Quincy-based Quincy Farm Chemicals, Inc. Plaintiffs' attorney in both cases is personal injury attorney Steve Berman of Hagens & Berman. He has a reputation for securing large out-of-court settlements from major corporations.

When it comes to holding beer and pop, plastic is shaking up the aluminum industry. The familiar cylindrical can ousted the glass bottle as the dominant package 30 years ago and has reigned since as king of beer and soft drink containers. But the crush for cans in North America may be over. Market surveys show even though it's the same beverage in a new package, people are willing to pay more for unique single-serve plastic bottles.

Poultry has plucked the top spot as king of the meat industry away from beef. While beef is losing its place on America's tables, chicken is fast flying toward 50 percent of the total meat market share. Pork is also a challenger.