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10 CapitalPress.com March 27, 2015 Idaho Subscribe to our weekly Idaho email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Idaho grain, cattle producers agree on ‘open range’ plan By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — Idaho’s cattle and grain associations have developed a plan they hope will allow their members to settle open range disputes internally rather than in the courts or legislature. The Idaho Grain Produc- ers Association and Idaho Cattle Association recently agreed on a system that will use regional directors from both groups to help solve open range issues between cattlemen and grain farmers. IGPA Executive Director Travis Jones said the plan in- volves a “peer-to-peer state- wide network system.” “We think the best res- olutions to these issues are solved in the countryside and not in the Capitol,” he said. In open range areas in Ida- ho, cattle are permitted to roam freely. It’s the responsibility of landowners to fence their property to keep cattle out. The opposite is true in ar- eas with herd districts, which can be created by county commissioners or through a petition by landowners. Most of Idaho is open range. The plan, which took a year to develop and will soon be explained to grain produc- ers and cattlemen, involves regional directors from both groups appointed to deal with open range disagreements in their areas. These directors will be heavily involved in their re- spective organizations and trusted by their peers in the region, said John Foster, an IGPA lobbyist who helped broker the deal. Foster said there is usually a fairly obvious solution to the problem that can be agreed to when well-respected peers without a vested interest are allowed to intervene. There are about 2.2 mil- lion beef cattle in Idaho and 1.8 millions acres of wheat and barley. While some cattlemen and grain producers have clashed because of open range issues over the years, those disputes haven’t become a major problem and the two groups want to keep it that way, Jones said. “We felt it’s better we tackle these things internal- ly and maybe we can take what’s a micro problem and make it into a macro solu- tion, essentially,” he said. “We want to find a solution that doesn’t involve legisla- tors or policemen and dis- trict courts.” ICA Executive Vice Pres- ident Wyatt Prescott said the groups came up with the solution “to try to solve this amongst ourselves rather than on a legislative level.” Prescott said one simple solution could include a grain farmer supplying fencing material and a cattle producer agreeing to provide the labor to install it. Or, he said, it could in- volve moving a grazing rota- tion to “earlier in the spring and getting those cattle a pasture or two away from that border later in the season when there might be more opportunity for conflict.” “We’re looking for those kinds of simple, common-sense solutions,” Prescott said. Idaho lawmakers OK $200,000 for sheep station By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — Idaho lawmakers are showing their support for the USDA’s sheep experiment station near Dubois with $200,000 in ongoing state funding. That money will be provided to the University of Idaho’s College of Agri- cultural and Life Sciences and will be used to support two range research po- sitions at the station. CALS didn’t ask for the money in its fiscal year 2016 budget request but members of the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Com- mittee who support the station were successful in getting it put into CALS’ research and extension budget. The 20-member JFAC, which in- cludes legislators from the Senate and House and sets funding levels, voted unanimously to appropriate the money. USDA has targeted the station for closure and a diverse group of support- ers and stakeholders has been fighting to keep it open. In a letter to Congress, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said a lack of financial and human resources at the Photo submitted Sheep graze at the USDA Agricultural Research Service Sheep Experiment Station in Dubois, Idaho. The Idaho Legislature has approved $200,000 in funding. station is one of the reasons it is slated for closure. Vilsack said that “reduced funding levels and staffing levels ... and increas- ing costs have contributed to the unsus- tainability of the ongoing research pro- gram at the (station).” Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, a JFAC member, helped lead the effort to get the $200,000 into CALS’ budget. Bair, a re- tired farmer, said the funding shows the USDA that Idaho is committed to help- ing keep the station open. “It tells them the state of Idaho thinks it’s important and is willing to put some skin in the game on this thing,” said Idaho Wool Growers Association Executive Director Stan Boyd. Boyd said the research station en- compasses more than 48,000 acres in Idaho and Montana and covers three climate zones and numerous landscapes. “It’s a perfect place to conduct re- search for the sheep industry,” he said. “It’s a real asset and it would be a real shame to lose that station.” If the station remains open, the range research positions will work out of Du- bois. If it’s closed, those positions will move to Salmon, said Rich Garber, direc- tor of industry and government relations for CALS. The funding serves two purposes, one of which is “to make a statement that the state of Idaho has some skin in the game and that they see the value of that research center in Dubois,” he said. “The second thing is that it is an investment in further research on range issues.” The $200,000 in state funding was applauded by the Idaho Cattle Asso- ciation, which told its members in its regular newsletter that the station is crucial for Idaho’s cattle industry be- cause it hosts “a century of data on grazing and sage grouse, something that has not yet been fully mined nor could ever be duplicated.” John Deere Dealers See one of these dealers for a demonstration 13-4/#4N John O’Connell/Capital Press Ric Sorbo, project manager of the proposed Magnida fertilizer plant in Idaho’s Power County, speaks during a community meeting on the plant last summer. Fertilizer plant project still on track By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho — Officials planning a large nitrogen fertilizer plant here say they remain on track to break ground this summer, and they expect to save nearly half a billion dollars in con- struction costs thanks to lower oil prices. Ric Sorbo, project manag- er of Texas-based Magnida, increased his original cost es- timate for plant construction from $2.1 billion to $3 billion when competition with the booming domestic energy sec- tor drove up construction bids. But with lower oil prices, construction in U.S. oilfields has slowed and Sorbo esti- mates the broader pool of contractors hungry for work should reduce his project cost to “somewhere north of $2.5 billion.” The plant, to be built on farm land near ConAgra’s fac- tory, would use natural gas as a feedstock and produce more than a million combined tons per year of ammonia, urea, UAN — a solution of urea and ammonium nitrate — and die- sel exhaust fluid. Sorbo plans to enter into a seven- to 10-year contract for natural gas. At current prices, he estimates he would save $20 million per year on nat- ural gas compared with pric- es anticipated in his original modeling. Sorbo said he’s delayed the original timeline for the financial close — when all details are solidified and the project can go forward — to take advantage of declining oil and gas prices. He now anticipates financial close in the early summer. “The reason it’s been pushed back a little bit, quite frankly, is we’re taking ad- vantage of the downturn in oil prices we’ve seen in the last three or four months. That makes the construction companies hungrier,” Sorbo said. “And look at natural gas prices. In the last six months they’ve come down dramatically.” Within the next two months, Sorbo said Magnida expects to select its engineer- ing and construction company. Magnida has received compet- ing offers from two large firms — Bechtel and KBR. He said Magnida is also continuing its conversations with banks and investors to line up financing. A roadblock facing the project was overcome re- cently when ConAgra Foods reached an agreement with Magnida and rescinded an appeal of the clean air permit issued for the fertilizer plant. Details of the agreement have been kept confidential. Magnida’s goal is to open the plant, which would employ 175 workers, by 2017. University of Idaho Exten- sion economist Paul Patterson said the plant may not lower nitrogen fertilizer costs but would likely displace fertilizer imports from foreign markets and stabilize prices. Reduced price volatility would facili- tate budgeting for producers, he said. Patterson said nitrogen prices appear to be comparable to last year’s levels. “The theme of the market seems to be there’s going to be an abundance of natural gas available, which should keep prices relatively stable,” Pat- terson said, adding that lower commodity prices should also reduce fertilizer demand.