AGRICULTURAL CONCERNS

Agriculture, Salmon, and the Snake River Dams

Europeans were farming wheat along the Lower Snake as early as the late 1800’s.  Since this time the Lower Snake River has been used as a means for getting products to markets.  In the early days skilled steamboat operators carefully navigated both the Columbia and Lower Snake rivers in order to transport wheat and other goods to Portland.  From the early days it was obvious to settlers that without modification to the river system transportation opportunities and hence economic opportunities would be limited for the region.  An open river from Lewiston to Portland would be essential in order to give the railroad a source of competition and ensuring low transportation costs for merchants and farmers.  By the 1930’s products went by barge for 50 cents a ton from Duluth, Minnesota, to Buffalo, New York, a distance of about a thousand miles.  At the same time farmers in the interior Northwest paid railroads $4.80 a ton to ship wheat to Portland or Seattle, a distance less than four hundred miles[1]. 

By 1975 the dream of the open river had been realized.  The completion of the four dams on the Lower Snake ensured low cost transportation for wheat farmers and easy access to irrigation water for those who wanted to farm on what had previously been to dry to farm on.  In addition, the dams created an additional strain on Snake River wild salmon runs, some of which already have been declared extinct.  Now the Pacific Northwest is grappling with how to best manage the Snake River in order to ensure the survival of both Farmer and endangered salmon.  This section will briefly look at some of the major issues facing farmers that rely on the Lower Snake dams and how removal of the dams may affect their livelihood.  

Snake river just down stream from Almota,WA

Transportation

One must keep in mind that the current access to low cost barges are the result of a huge federal investment in the dams, essentially a huge subsidy. With the completion of Dams on the Snake, the river became easily navigable for barges.  For wheat farmers in the Washington State this was an enormous benefit. Columbia and Snake River barges carry almost two thirds of Washington’s grain to overseas markets. Barging gives farmers a cheap way to get their wheat to major grain elevators in Portland, which is a gateway to world markets.  

Currently barges can travel up to Lewiston, Idaho, but if the dams were removed this would no longer be possible.  Without the dams the barges can only make it up to Pasco, Washington, which is about 100 miles downriver from Lewiston.  Assuming that the dams are removed, some wheat farmers would have to substitute rail transportation or trucks in order to get barges in Pasco.  Currently, rail and truck transportation costs are nearly double in comparison to barging.  Furthermore, most predict that sufficient capacity does not currently exist to accommodate the increased demand that would result from the disappearance of barging. This may mean that taking out the dams would require additional infrastructure investments in roads and rail in order to handle the increase traffic.  Presumably this increased capacity could come from additional government subsidies if needed.  Even if the infrastructure improvements were made, the corps predicts that using rail or trucks would be more expensive which could force some farmers out of business.

Irrigation

As of today 13 large farm operators are utilizing the reservoir created by Ice Harbor Dam to irrigate a total of 35,000 acres of land.  According to the Army Corps of Engineers DREW (Drawdown Regional Economic Workgroup) study, this is the only usage of the river for irrigation.  On this land the 13 farms are growing a combination of fruit trees, potatoes, and other vegetables on land that would otherwise be a desert like landscape.  If the dams were removed, specifically Ice Harbor, an investment of $291,481,000 would be needed to make the necessary infrastructure improvements needed to continue irrigation operations.  The Army Corps of Engineers are estimating that infrastructure improvements would be costly enough so that the most prudent economic decision for these farms would be to shut down.  It is predicted that some of the land could be used as grazing land, but nonetheless, without irrigation the land value will be significantly reduced.

The Global Economy and an Uncertain Future

Like the Snake River salmon, wheat farmers in the Northwest have a very uncertain future to look towards.  In the context of assessing the costs of dam removal, the reality of modern agriculture needs to be examined.  Although transportation costs are an important part of a wheat farmer’s cost equation, it should not be assumed that their ultimate survival is dependent only on these dams; there are many other factors that one should be cognizant of as well.  As we become involved in a global economy, the economic trend for farmers is to become larger and more efficient.  As a result, the common perception that people have of the small independent family farmer is a declining trend.  In a global context, our domestic farms must compete with producers from all over the world.  In fact, farms in the northwest only supply 5% of the total world wheat consumption.  This world competition leads to a very volatile and uncertain future for many farmers.  For example, wheat prices have been dropping for the last five years largely due to increasing production in China, Russia and India as well as a surplus here in the US[2].  In addition, some foreign wheat farmers are more heavily subsidized by their governments, putting US wheat farmers at a further competitive disadvantage.  Farms that produce wheat along the Snake export 90% of their product to overseas markets like India and China[3]. As a result, United States foreign policy may also have future implications for northwest farmers[4].

To characterize removal of the Snake Dams as a farmer vs. fish issue misses the real point.  Regardless of what happens to the Snake dams, these farms are involved in a highly competitive industry and may be subject to shutting down anyway.  Similarly, removing the Snake dams may greatly improve the chances for salmon survival, but there are numerous other environmental factors that may continue to negatively affect their chances for survival.  

Ethical Issues

There are several ethical questions involved with the intersection of Snake River salmon and the southeastern Washington agricultural economy.  First, will taking out the dams have a substantial positive effect on salmon populations?  Most scientists agree that it will, but some scientists argue that there is a variable amount of uncertainty involved in predicting just how much taking out the dams will help salmon.  Others argue that such variables as ocean conditions may have a larger effect on salmon than dams[5].  Regardless, dam breaching has been identified as the most likely action to restore wild fish populations (PATH)[6].  Taking another perspective, why should we as taxpayers be subsidizing the transportation of wheat that is ultimately being shipped to foreign countries?  Moreover, why should we be subsidizing a select few thirteen large farming operations to grow fruit trees, potatoes and other water intensive crops in the middle of what has traditionally a desert like environment?  These are important questions to consider but they may be missing the real issue.