A4
TH E BULLETIN• THURSDAY, MAY 2, 20'I3
Crop insuranceswells beyond disasteraid New York TimesNewsService
WASHINGTON The w orst droughtin 50 years led to record payouts from a taxpayer-subsidized i n s u rance program created to p r otect farms from w e ather-related disasters. But the high costs were mostly a result of policies that guarantee farmers a portion of their projected revenue, rather than coverage that pays them for their damaged crops, according toa study released Wednesday. The study comes as lawmakers are preparing to work on a new farm bill — a spending bill passed every five years that sets the nation's food and farm policy. The last farm bill was passed in 2008. The study was financed by the Environmental Working Group, a Washington research group, and conducted by Bruce Babcock, an agriculture economist at Iowa State University. Under the federal crop insurance program, farmers can buy insurance that covers poor yields, declines in revenue or both. Babcock said most farmers bought a combination of the two policies.
Pond
The result, he said, is that crop insurance has become more of a farm income support program than a system that protects farmers in times of disasters like the 2012 drought. Taxpayers pay about 62 percent of the insurance premiums. The policies are sold by 15 private insurance companies, which receive about $1.3 billion annually in total from the government. The government also backs the companies against losses. These subsidies drive up the cost of the program, Babcock said, with farmers buying higher levels of coverage than they otherwise would. He estimated that without the subsidies, crop insurance payouts during the 2012 drought for the two largest crops, corn and soybeans, would have been just more than $6 billion, about half of the $12 billion that the government actually pald. As a result, the study found, many farmers made m ore
money from insurance payouts during the drought than they would have from healthy
crops.
the four options. Dahl said aside from the Continued from A1 dam removal with c hannel Though detailed cost es- building option, none of the altimates are still a few weeks ternatives met the group's goal out, GreenWorks offered the of finding a fix with limited management board some idea long-term maintenance costs. of thecost to dredge and reT he da m r e m oval w i t h move silt from the pond, plac- c hannel building option i s ing the price at $30-$50 per more of a "canal building projcubic yard. The estimate, Fig- ect," Dahl said, recalling the urskisaid,reflects the cost of strong support for a free-flowvacuuming silt off the bottom, ing river expressed in surveys pumping it to a nearby loca- conductedby the management tion where it can be spread out board and his neighborhood and dried, and disposing of it. association. "There was a large number At the estimated price, it would cost between $1.8 mil- of people who wanted the rivlion and $3 million to remove er returnedto a more natural 60,000 cubic yards of silt. In state," Dahl said. "For those 1984, removing that amount of guys, the river rats and old silt cost $312,000. The pond is hippies, for those guys when currently estimated to contain you take the dam out and it's a 380,000 cubic yards of silt, up mile-long, man-made canal, it from the 350,000cubic yards kind of defeats the purpose of estimated to be on the bottom going natural." prior to the 1984 dredging. Figurski said it's difficult Figurski said dredging all to know what might happen of the sediment from Mirror if the dam were removed, Pond was never really on the whether that's through the table. As GreenWorks begins dam removal alternative on f illing in th e details of t h e the management board's list, dredging options, its goal will or as a result of future action be to find the "sweet spot," Fig- by PacifiCorp. urski said. That is, how much Aerial photos show the river sediment must be removed has established a channel that from where in the pond to put has remained reasonably conoff additional dredging as long sistent over the last several as possible. years, he said, but it's unclear Ryan Houston, director of if a free-flowing river would the Upper Deschutes Water- erode its way down to the unshed Council and a member derlying bedrock, or w here of the m anagement board, that bedrock is. said figuring out how much Depending on the course to dredge — if dredging is the chosen bya free-flowing river, solution — is a tricky proposi- removing sediment from the tion. The more sediment you pond bottom may be desirdredgefrom a river,the slower able, or creating an artificial the water will move, Houston channel unlikely to c hange said. The slower the water significantly over the longer moves, the more sediment term, Figurski said. falls out of suspension and beEach of the three options gins piling up on the bottom. beyond the "do nothing" op"Taking out twice as much tion are similar in terms of the sediment will not necessarily regulatory hurdles that would get you twice as much time," need to be cleared, Figurski Houston said. said. The pa r t i al-sediment-re- Dahl said without greater moval option would use sedi- certainty f r o m P a c i fiCorp ment dredged from the bot- on what its plans for the dam tom to create shallows or dry are, both dredging options are land, Figurski said, most likely premature. "If we're going to bank on it around the islands in the upper part of M i r ror Pond or being there and spend millions on the western Harmon Park of dollars to dredge or designside. Doing so should not alter er dredge, we need some kind the views enjoyed by any of of guarantee that it's going to the privateproperty owners be there," he said. along the edge of the pond, he Houston said none of the sa>d. a lternatives selected by t h e H owever, the material board were particularlysurcharacterized as "goo" in the prising, and that the board GreenWorks reports — would could well have arrived at the not stay in place without rein- same four c h oices months forcement, Figurski said. The ago before the public outreach option would l ikely i nvolve process began. However, the bringing in large rocks to sta- board's consideration and rebilize the artificial banks and jection of other options — one hold the dredged material in of the final eight possibilities place. called for dam removal with "It would be as natural look- no sediment management, aning as we could make it," he other for the partial removal said. "There's no need for it to of the dam and the construcbe a concrete-lined channel. tion of stepped water terraces Houston said he finds the — should streamline the propartial removal option intrigu- cess from here forward, Housing, as the wetlands it could ton said. "The fact they were uncovcreate could help neutralize contaminants that ar e c u r- ered,they were brought to the rently being emptied into the surface, that at least means the pond through a series of storm probability of these coming up drains. at the 11th hour and throwing Spencer Dahl, a manage- a wrench in to the process, I ment board member repre- think that probability is less," senting the Old Bend Neigh- he said. borhood Association, voted — Reporter: 541-383-0387, against moving forward with shammers@bendbulletin.com
Warming
fecting a wide array of marine life, he said. "Our dumping of Continued from A1 heat and CO2 into the ocean is Sea levels during that 2.8- like making investments in a million-year epoch r a nged pollution bank," he said. from 16 to 131 feet higher The graph, made famous by than current levels, according Al Gore in his documentary to Richard Norris, a Scripps "An Inconvenient Truth," was geologist. instituted by climate science "I think it is likely that all pioneer Charles David Keeling these e cosystem c h anges at Scripps. It is the longest concould recur, even though the tinuous record of CO2 in the time scales for the Pliocene world, starting from 316 ppm warmth are different than the in March 1958. present," Norris said. Heating For the previous 800,000 the ocean probably will cause years, CO2 levels never exsea levelrises and change the ceeded 300 parts per million, pH balance of the ocean, af- and there is no known geo-
logic period in which rates of increase have been so sharp. The levelwas about 280 parts per million at the advent of the Industrial Revolution in t he 18th century, when the burning of fossil fuels began to soar. "I wish it weren't true, but it looks like the world is going to blow through the 400ppm level without losing a beat," said Scripps geochemist Ralph Keeling, who has taken over theKeeling curve measurement from his late father. "At this pace we'll hit 450 ppm within a few decades."
The saw-tooth pattern of the incline reflects small seasonal variations within th e l ongterm upward trend. Generally, the micro-peak in the curve comes in May. "The 400-ppm threshold is a soberingmilestone, and should serve as a wake-up call for all of us to support clean-energy technology and reduce emis-
sions of greenhouse gases, before it's too late for our children and grandchildren," said Tim Lueker, an oceanographer and carbon cycle researcher who is a longtime member of the Scripps CO2 Group.
Rise in importsfor Germandeerdrinkers
Beer Continued from A1 "What we've found in the United States is this amazing variety of styles and the opennessofcustomerstonew things," said Marc Rauschmann, who is importing beer from California-based Firestone Walker Brewing Co. in air-freighted coolers. Other beer is shipped by sea."We were really impressed." Rauschmann has started an aggressive effort to sell imported beer and to brew his own German beer in flavorful styles that are popular among craft brewers in the United States but rare in Germany, such as hoppy ales and zesty lagers. The turnaround is shaking big G erman brewers, many of whom like to brag that they are the best in the world. Upstarts are using another b - w ord, b o r i n g, to explain why c onsumption has been sliding from its 1976 heights. Back then,
While the consumption of beer per person in Germany has fallen for more than 15 years ...
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2012
1995
Matt Walthaii is a part-time English teacher who is one of the three American expats behind a brewery set to open in Germany.
... the amount of imported beer
consumed asa
was furnished in a d ecidedly Berlin style — it was a subterranean lair where beakers of bubbling fluorescent liquids served as decoration, the tables appeared to be made from welded-together car parts and fake stalactites hung from the ceiling — but every person in Germany the discussion was all West drank, on average, three li- Coast, about the virtues of ters of beer a week. Now it various hops and of sour and is down by a third and ex- fruity tastes that are foreign pected to keep dropping as to German palates. "It's easy to get decent older,beer-loving customers die away. beer in Germany. We call But unlike t h e U n i t ed it boredom on a high level," States,where in recent years said Dirk Hoplitschek, one many supermarkets have ex- of the attendees at the tastpanded their beer selection to ing. He started a beer-rating include dozens of styles from w ebsite in Berlin to try t o the far reaches of the globe, stoke interest in n on-Germost German storeshave re- man beer, hoping to spark a mained resolutely unvaried, craft-brewing r e n aissance almost always offering just as happened in America in a handful of manufacturers the late 1970s. "The United States has a and only rarely throwing a non-German beer into the 30-year head start. People mix. are traditional here. Maybe it'll be a bit slower, but it'll N ow Rauschmann a n d others ar e p r o selytizing, happen," he said. traveling Germany to spread the gospel of unusual tastes. A growing import market His company, Braufactum, For n ow , n o n -German is owned by German beer beer remains a small part of giant R a deberger, w h i ch the country's market — just Rauschmann said was try- 8.1 percent of sales by voling to help spark a new beer ume in 2012, according to culture in the country where p reliminary e stimates by it has been a major producer the German Brewers Federasince 1872. tion. But that is almost douFor some beer business- ble 2004 levels, and it comes people, that change can't despite attitudes from many happen fast enough. Germans, especially older "The German beer indus- ones, who remain dismissive try has to reinvent itself in of U.S. beer. "I have worked in pubs all a hurry, or it's going to be a small fraction of what it is my life, but never has anynow," said Eric Ottaway, the body asked for an American general manager of Brook- beer," said Uw e H e lmenl yn B r ewery, w h ich h a s stein, 52, a barkeeper in the been expanding in Europe middle-class neighborhood and has been exporting its of Friedenau. " I don't t hink i t w o u l d beer to Germany through Braufactum, which sells a work here," he said, because 12-ounce bottle of Brooklyn perceptions run strong that Lager in u p scale grocery American beers areflavorstores for the equivalent of less and thin. $4.20 — almost three times But with small-scale brewits typical American price. eries springing up around Germany's cities, many of Evangelizing them creating beers that for new flavors emulate American craft beer At a recent tasting in one styles,the seeds of a broader Berlin bar, g uests sipped shift may have been planted, craftbeers out ofspecialves- some advocates say. "The older people see beer sels shaped like wine glasses that helped concentrate the as a d aily n u trition. The aromas of the brew. The bar younger people are m ore
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percentage of the German market has increased.
interested in different styles," s aid Thorsten H eiser, t h e head of exports at the Bavarian Weihenstephan brewery, which markets its beermaking origins in 1040 as the oldest in the world. In the working-class Wedding neighborhood of Berlin, one group of American beer enthusiasts is trying to create an outpost that sells styles that they missed drinking back home. They are building a small brewery and bar in the ground-floor storefront of a century-old apartment building, piecing it together with salvaged parts f ro m o t h er bars and breweries. Much of the brewing equipment is from the United States, because it was cheaper. "My friends would come to visit me in Berlin, and we would taste beer, and very quickly, I realized, we reached t he end. We tasted all t h e styles," said Matt W althall, 32, a part-time English teacher who is one of the three American expats behind the
8.1%*
2.9% *Preliminary
2012
1995
Sources: Federal Statistical Office of Germany; German Brewers Federation The Washington Post
Vagabund Brauerei, whose storefront they plan to open in June. "This was simply to fill a void," he said. "We feel as if we're teaching a lot of Germans things about their own beer culture t h a t t h e y 've forgotten."
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