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Idaho Wheat Growers Impacted by Washington Export Terminal Shutdown by Conrad Wilson Boise State Public Radio, August 5, 2014

The Northwest wheat harvest is in full swing, but the export of grain has all but stopped at the Port of Vancouver, Wash. The shipments have been blocked because Washington state inspectors have stopped checking grain for export at the port because they don't want to cross a picket line in a labor dispute.

Farmers are calling for those inspections to resume after harvesting about 40 percent of Washington's wheat. Washington Wheat Growers Association President Nicole Berg farms 21,000 acres near the Tri-Cities.

Berg says most of the region's grain is heading to Asian markets like Japan and Vietnam. "Around 90 percent of the wheat in the state of Washington as well as the Pacific Northwest goes overseas."

Wheat and other commodity crops have virtually stopped moving through United Grain's terminal at the Port of Vancouver. That's made Berg her nervous.

"We have big concerns because I kind of feel like we're an innocent by-stander down here on the farm level with different things that happen at the ports that are somewhat out of our control."

In July, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced state patrol officers would no longer escort state grain inspectors across a picket line set up at the port by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

State grain inspectors say at times they've felt unsafe crossing the picket line. So without a police escort, the inspectors said they would no longer cross. But without inspections, it's virtually impossible to ship grain.

Randy Ward is the merchandising manager for Pendleton Grain Growers, he moves the grain from the farmer's field to export terminals at ports throughout the region. "I've never seen anything like this before," he says.

United Grain at the Port of Vancouver is the largest grain holding facility on the West coast. And it's one of only nine export terminals that help move grain from Oregon and Washington, and as far East as Idaho, Nebraska, the Dakotas -- even Minnesota -- overseas.

Ward says if United Grain can't ship his wheat, it clogs up the whole system.

"Essentially what you're doing is taking the ability of them to push through bushels at their facility away from the market."

One possible solution would be for the feds to take over grain inspections. In fact, across the river at the Port of Portland, grain inspections have continued. That's because federal -- not state workers -- perform grain inspections in Oregon.

But so far efforts to get the U.S. Department of Agriculture involved at the Port of Vancouver have not been successful.

Last week, 10 members of Congress from Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, calling the lack of grain inspections "unacceptable" and urging the agency to quote "meet its statutory obligation to inspect wheat exports."

Blake Rowe, CEO of the Oregon Wheat Commission, says the inspections are USDA's responsibility.

"There's an agreement for Washington state to do the work in Washington but they're choosing not to do that and ultimately the responsibility falls back on USDA, the Federal Grain Inspection Service and they need to step up," Rowe says.

He adds with United Grain offline, shipping grain will only get more difficult as harvest ramps up in states further east.

"The capacity of the elevators on the Columbia -- that gets worse as harvest in those other states really gets cranked up," says Rowe. "As the corn crop begins to come in, it's going to make the availability of United Grain even more critical."

United Grain Corporation locked out the longshore workers in February 2013. The company says it wants to lower labor costs to match a 2012 agreement between union workers and another firm, Export Grain Terminal (EGT), in Longview, Wash.

Pat McCormick, a spokesperson for United Grain, says it's all about staying competitive. He says the 2012 labor agreement gave the Longview company a cost advantage that United Grain -- as well as Columbia Grain in Portland -- would like to match.

McCormick says United Grain and other terminals "are after a level playing field so that they can more fairly compete with EGT."

But longshore workers union employee Brett Lynch says it's not about competition. "That's what they like to say, that they feel the playing field is uneven now."

The longshore workers union and United Grain Corporation are expected to resume negotiations Aug. 10.

Lynch says United Grain has been profitable. "They are still competitive with the workforce that they have in place."