March 20, 2015
CapitalPress.com
13
BYD virus confi rmed in Burley area
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Winter wheat and winter
barley are showing signifi cant
symptoms of barley yellow
dwarf virus in the Burley area,
the PNW Pest Alert Network
reported on Thursday.
The virus was confi rmed
in winter barley on the Cassia
County-Twin Falls County
border in the Murtaugh area,
said Joel Packham, Univer-
sity of Idaho Extension edu-
cator.
Thus far, the grower has
only found it in one pivot,
around 125 acres, he said.
The virus was found in
winter barley following corn.
Corn is often a silent carrier
for the virus as it does not
show the disease. But the
Idaho trout sales
60 million
Number of fish sold*
Value of fish sold
$52.8 million: Up 19.2% from 2013
aphids that feed on the corn
carry the virus to the newly
fall-planted/sprouted winter
barley or wheat, he said.
A sample from another
suspected winter barley fi eld
south of Burley has been tak-
en and sent for testing. Results
are expected soon, he said.
BYDV is a serious and
widely occurring viral dis-
ease of cereal crops and other
grasses. Important economic
hosts include wheat, barley,
oats and occasionally corn
and rice. It can affect both
winter and spring crops, but
is often a greater concern in
winter crops, according to a
University of Idaho bulletin.
It is very diffi cult to distin-
guish between the BYDV and
winter kill or root diseases,
Packham said.
Another problem is the
lack of moisture currently
being experienced. The mois-
ture stress appears to be com-
plicating the symptoms even
more, he said.
Deciding what to do with a
BYDV-infected crop depends
upon the severity of the in-
festation. It may only affect
patches or certain areas of the
fi elds, usually the outsides or
borders of the fi elds, Packham
said.
“Often producers will
grow and green chop the crop
to be used as a forage, as the
grain production is severely
damaged by the disease,” he
said.
There are no known vari-
eties of the winter cereals that
are any more or less suscepti-
ble to the virus, he said.
Lambing keeps Coast Range farmer busy
By JAN JACKSON
For the Capital Press
50
34 million
40
30
36.1 million:
Up 19.9%
from 2013
20
$27 million
10
*Trout
Trout 12 inches and longer
Source: USDA NASS
0
2003
’05
Carol Ryan Dumas and Alan Kenaga/
Capital Press
’07
’09
’11
’13 2014
Idaho food-trout sales
up 19 percent in 2014
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Idaho sales of food-size
trout, 12 inches and longer, was
up 19 percent year over year to
$52.7 million in 2014, accord-
ing to USDA National Agricul-
tural Statistics Service.
That increase came from an
additional 6.5 million pounds
to 42.2 million pounds, up 18
percent over 2013, and an extra
penny per pound at an average
$1.25 per pound.
The state’s trout producers
sold an additional 6 million fi sh
with an average weight of 1.2
pounds, according to the NASS
survey of producers in January.
The notable increase in pro-
duction and sales is most likely
due to facilities coming back
on line, said Gary Fornshell,
extension aquaculture specialist
with the University of Idaho in
Twin Falls.
Three facilities changed
hands in 2012 when junior-right
ground water pumpers miti-
gated their out-of-priority use
with senior-right holders Clear
Springs Foods and SeaPac of
Idaho. The pumpers purchased
three trout farms, transferring
one farm and leasing another to
Clear Springs Foods and leas-
ing a third to SeaPac of Idaho.
At least two of those fa-
cilities did not return to full
production right away due
to needed reconstruction and
modernization and were some-
what out of commission in
2013, Fornshell said.
With production at those
three facilities now at or close
to capacity, the industry ex-
pected production numbers
would come up, but 42. 2 mil-
lion pounds is “pretty high,” he
said.
Clear Springs Foods has
increased production about
30 percent — to 26 million
pounds annually — since as-
suming production at the farm
it acquired and the farm it leas-
es through the mitigation set-
tlement, said Randy Macmil-
lan, vice president of research
and environmental affairs for
Clear Springs Foods.
“Whether that accounts for
the difference (in production in
2014), I don’t know,” he said.
He also doesn’t know if
a 6.5 million pound increase
in Idaho’s trout production in
2014 is reality or perhaps bet-
ter accounting, he said.
Clear Springs doesn’t have
previous production data on its
two additional farms, but the
farm it now leases was largely
offl ine for a number of years
and the farm transferred to
Clear Springs wasn’t as heav-
ily utilized, he said.
Clear Springs’ increased
production could account for
Idaho’s increase, but there’s no
way to verify the NASS-sur-
veyed production number, he
said.
SeaPac’s production has
remained fairly level since it
began leasing the facility from
the Idaho Ground Water Asso-
ciation, as the facility was al-
ready in production prior to the
lease, said Gary Marquardt,
SeaPac general manager.
Idaho’s total trout sales,
food-size and smaller, ac-
counted for 52 percent of the
$102.5 million in trout sales
nationwide in 2014, up from
46 percent in 2013, according
to NASS.
U.S. food-size trout sales
in 2014 totaled $95.1 million
— up 4 percent from 2013 —
on 60.6 million pounds (up 4
million pounds) at an aver-
age price of $1.57 per pound
(down 4 cents per pound).
The average per-pound
price of food-size trout in the
10 reporting states other than
Idaho was $3.02 per pound,
with a high of $4.28 in Penn-
sylvania, NASS reported
Idaho’s price is always be-
low Eastern states and the na-
tional average because most
of Idaho’s production goes to
processors as opposed to direct
sales to consumers, restaurants
or retail, said Linda Lemmon,
executive secretary of Idaho
Aquaculture Association.
RAINIER, Ore. — Scot-
ty Davidson started raising
sheep in 4-H because they
were the only animals he
wasn’t allergic to.
He has continued to raise
them because he likes them.
Now retired, Davidson is able
to give them his full attention,
which is necessary in the coy-
ote-infested hills of Columbia
County. With 240 new lambs
on the ground, Davidson and
his fi ve guard dogs are on
duty around the clock.
Davidson’s farm is a 28-
acre wooded parcel about 10
miles west of Rainier, Oregon.
While part of his fl ock is pas-
turing on rye grass fi elds near
Corvallis, lambing takes place
in the barn near his house.
Once the lambs are born, he
transports them and the ewes
to pasture he rents in nearby
Clatskanie.
“Raising sheep here in the
foothills of the Coast Range
means one thing for sure —
coyotes,” Davidson said. “I
have fi ve guard dogs (Marem-
mas) — I keep two here at the
lambing barn, two in Clats-
kanie and the other one on
a strip of land I rent under-
neath some Bonneville Power
lines.”
USDA National Agricul-
ture Statistics Service says
about 190,000 sheep and
lambs are raised on 2,753
farms in Oregon. Davidson’s
fl ock accounts for a big per-
centage of the 1,000 sheep in
Columbia County.
With hundreds of lambs
on hand, Davidson has a set
process.
“I lamb and ear tag them
in the barn before loading
them on the truck for the trip
to Clatskanie,” he said. “I load
the new lambs in a large pet
carrier so they won’t get tram-
pled on the way.”
Davidson retired after 30
years as a Columbia County
deputy sheriff.
“The positive for raising
sheep where Davidson is, is
that we can use the grass cy-
cle well,” Chip Bubl, long-
time Oregon State University
Extension agent for Columbia
County, said. “We get 60 to
70 percent growth from mid-
April to early July so we can
graze effi ciently and put meat
on the lambs.
“Coyotes, internal para-
sites and foot rot, however,
are another matter,” Bubl said.
“These health problems espe-
cially need a lot of thought and
planning help from our veteri-
narians. There are not a lot of
new materials developed to
help with these problems.”
Bubl said Davidson’s
worming management plan is
targeted.
Photos by Jan Jackson/For the Capital Press
Part of a 240 lamb crop, triplets thrive in the warming pen in preparation for a 10-mile trip to pasture.
“We are trying to make
worming management target-
ed to ewes, time the worming
when those parasite numbers
are high, try to target treat-
ments based on parasite loads
in droppings per-sheep and
breed for more parasite resis-
tant lambs,” he said. “Scotty
knows what he’s doing and is
doing a good job.”
“It is just a given that par-
asite and coyote problems
come with 46-inches a year of
rain and living in the foothills
of the Coast Range,” David-
son said. “In the meantime,
with the help of my boys, who
are involved in 4-H, and the
guard dogs, we’re seeing a
nice crop of lambs.”
Columbia County, Ore., sheep grower Scotty Davidson.
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
DENVER — The U.S.
Potato Board has approved
a program that matches in-
dustry donations to buy up
to 3,000 salad bars for school
cafeterias during the next fi ve
years.
USPB also plans to main-
tain contact with school
district food service profes-
sionals — both at schools
receiving new salad bars and
those that had them previous-
ly — to suggest creative pota-
to preparation ideas and offer
display materials.
Members of USPB’s sev-
en caucuses gave their con-
sent to allocate $900,000 in
reserves toward the fi rst year
of the program during the
organization’s recent annual
meeting in Colorado Springs,
said USPB spokesman David
Fraser. Fraser said USPB will
evaluate the program follow-
ing the fi rst year before mov-
ing forward with year two.
USPB President and CEO
Blair Richardson suggested
the USPB Salad Bar Chal-
lenge, which is similar to
another salad bar program
offered by United Fresh Pro-
duce Association, in January.
Fraser said USPB is well on
its way toward meeting its
goal for the fi rst year, thanks
to strong industry support. For
example, the Michigan Pota-
to Industry Commission has
agreed to donate funding for
150 salad bars. Syngenta also
plans to participate, Fraser
said. Donors will be allowed
to select schools to receive
their salad bars.
“Since January, the dis-
cussion has been very good,”
Fraser said. “There’s a lot of
people jumping on board.”
Fraser said the United
Fresh program is responsible
for placing 4,000 salad bars in
U.S. schools.
However, he said United
Fresh didn’t follow up with
school districts to inquire
about fresh produce con-
sumption or offer menu sug-
gestions. Fraser said USPB
envisions the salad bars will
be stocked with baked pota-
toes, potato wedges, potato
salad or other potato dishes,
in addition to other traditional
fruits and vegetables.
“Nobody has proposed an
after-the-installation market-
ing and support program like
we are proposing,” Fraser
said. “This very well could
become a model for other
segments of the produce in-
dustry.”
Fraser said new school
lunch program guidelines
set minimum consumption
requirements for each food
group, but no maximum lev-
els.
Fraser said USPB plans
to start placing salad bars in
schools this summer.
12-1/#6
U.S. Potato Board boosts salad bar program