At the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture’s western policy conference in February, officials talked about issues facing Western producers, including the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Agriculture department officials from 14 Western states met on Monday at the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture’s western policy conference to talk about challenges and opportunities facing farmers in their region.

Marketing

Ted McKinney, CEO of NASDA, said USDA’s Emerging Markets Program could help promote exports of U.S. agricultural products in international markets. Officials in the program recently traveled to Vietnam. The next few trips will be to Thailand, Indonesia and Kenya.

Poultry

Some officials talked about their states moving toward cage-free eggs.

Jerome Rosa, associate director of Arizona Department of Agriculture’s animal services division, said the state is phasing in a law that will require all eggs sold in Arizona to be cage-free by 2025. The challenge, he said, is there is no third-party verification system to ensure compliance.

Craig Buttars, commissioner of the Utah Department of Agriculture, and Kate Greenberg, commissioner of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, are similarly working out the details of their states’ cage-free egg laws.

Officials are also troubled about the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak.

Derek Sandison, director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture, said the state had to euthanize 1.8 million laying hens and destroy 1.8 million eggs on a commercial farm in December. Similarly, Utah recently lost more than 2 million chickens.

Wildlife

Wildlife concerns remain top-of-mind for many farmers and officials.

In 2020, Coloradoans voted narrowly in favor of a ballot measure to reintroduce wolves.

“Our Colorado Parks and Wildlife (department) is leading on wolves, but we are at the table,” said Greenberg.

Officials from other states similarly talked about wolf predation and populations.

They also talked about other Western wildlife.

Doug Miyamoto, director of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, said he is frustrated that his state has spent millions of dollars on sage grouse conservation efforts yet populations remain low.

Pest management

Sandison said Washington is embarking on its second year of Japanese beetle treatments.

Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said California has released its sustainable pest management roadmap, which is open for public comment. She predicts the plan will result in reduced use of major pesticides, including fumigants.

“I’m here to warn you what’s coming your way. That’s what California’s here for,” she joked, a reference to how other Western states often follow California’s policy lead.

Reusing ‘waste’

Sandison, of Washington, and Ross, of California, said their states are exploring ways to repurpose biomass from food waste as animal feed.

State legislatures

Agriculture department leaders are also eyeing their respective states’ legislatures.

In Washington, Sandison is watching Senate Bill 547, which proposes to lift the overtime pay threshold to 50 hours a week for 12 weeks a year.

“We’re not real optimistic that’s going to pass, but it’s still alive,” he said.

In Washington, Colorado and Montana, legislators have introduced bills that would monitor or restrict the acquisition of farmland by foreign buyers.

Other

Officials also talked about climate-related programs, the need for funding to better maintain land-grant universities’ research facilities, flaws with disaster assistance and the need for better post-fire recovery programs.

The 14 departments in the Western Association of State Departments of Agriculture:

• Alaska

• Arizona

• California

• Colorado

• Guam

• Hawaii

• Idaho

• Nevada

• New Mexico

• Oregon

• Samoa

• Utah

• Washington

• Wyoming