Asparagus Panel Loses Farmers’ Backing

The state is denying Washington asparagus farmers the right to vote to shut down their own Asparagus Commission.

In a decision issued Feb. 24, Department of Agriculture Director Jim Jesernig ended the farmers’ efforts to terminate the commission, which he said was fulfilling its duties.

Now the growers, who question the commission’s expenses and operations and who circulated a petition to terminate the commission last summer, have until March 10 to appeal.

“This is not going to die,” said Amy MacHugh, one of the farmers involved with the petition signed by more than 40 growers. “All we want to do is be able to vote on it. It’s pretty simple.”

The Washington Asparagus Commission was formed in 1991 to tax about 350 growers on their sales and use the revenue to market and research asparagus and to investigate unfair trade practices.

Today the commission’s board is made up of nine members, including six growers, a fresh asparagus packer, a processor and a Department of Agriculture representative. Its budget this year is $553,000.

Among the growers’ concerns were the commission’s need to hire a trade specialist, the research it funds and high expenses for trade shows and travel, especially to Peru, Mexico and Japan.

Margaret Webring, the commission’s administrator, said she had expected Jesernig to stop the termination process.

“Basically, it was one grower who wanted to see the commission terminated,” she said. The grower was invited to several board meetings, but didn’t attend, she said.

When the Agriculture Department held public hearings last November to examine the growers’ problems with the commission, only MacHugh spoke, though about 15 growers indicated by signature they wanted to terminate the commission.

Last year the commission stopped funding asparagus research at Washington State University. Plant pathologist Lori Carris got $26,000 the year before for an asparagus research project. The commission funds WSU economist Ray Follwell and pays for maintenance on a one-acre WSU test plot.

But the commission’s research priorities have changed, Webring said. Now the body devotes most of its research money to its own farm in the Tri-Cities area, where Alan Schreiber is heading the research on pest management, different irrigation trials and varieties.

Time is running short for the growers who want to appeal Jesernig’s decision, and the Agriculture Department has not yet received any written objections.

Last year, Washington growers produced more than 35,000 tons of asparagus valued at $51.2 million. The state is the nation’s second-largest producer of the crop.