April 3, 2015
CapitalPress.com
9
Idaho
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New rules relax import restrictions on livestock
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Two pending
rules that relax some import re-
strictions on livestock entering
the state have been approved by
the Idaho Legislature.
One of the rules involves
dairy cattle headed for slaughter
and the other affects all cattle
and horses. Both are designed
to make it easier for the state’s
livestock industry to operate.
The new rules both have
safeguards to ensure herd
health is protected, said Scott
Leibsle, deputy administrator
of the Idaho State Department
of Agriculture’s animal indus-
tries division.
One of the rule changes
will allow dairy cattle import-
ed into Idaho to be granted a
tuberculosis testing exemp-
tion if they are consigned di-
rectly to feedlots approved for
finish feeding.
This means they could be
brought in under the testing
exemption only if they are
kept in the slaughter channel
and used for no other purpose,
said Leibsle, the deputy state
veterinarian.
“You can’t milk them, you
can’t breed them, you can’t
send them out to graze; you
can only send them to slaugh-
ter,” he said.
The Idaho Cattle Asso-
ciation petitioned for the
rule change because of the
benefit it could bring to the
state’ feedlots, said ICA Ex-
ecutive Vice President Wyatt
Prescott.
Because of the state’s pre-
vious rule requiring a tubercu-
losis test for dairy cattle, a lot
of Holstein cows destined for
slaughter have gone to other
states, he said.
“This is an opportunity for
our feeders in Idaho,” Prescott
said.
A lot of Holsteins that
were going to the National
Beef Packing Co.’s Brawley,
Calif., beef processing facil-
ity, which was shuttered last
year, are bypassing Idaho and
going to Washington and oth-
er states, said Cevin Jones,
president and owner of Inter-
mountain Beef, a commercial
feedlot near Twin Falls.
Idaho’s previous brucello-
sis rule for dairy cows “has
been hampering the ability
of Idaho feedlots to get them
here and put them on feed
here,” Jones said. “If we can
capture some of them here,
it would be something that’s
good for the feedlot industry
in Idaho.”
Another rule approved by
lawmakers this year would
lift a prohibition on importing
livestock that originate within
a 10-mile radius of an outbreak
of vesicular stomatitis, a viral
disease that primarily affects
horses and cattle but can also
impact sheep and goats.
During a conference call
with other state veterinarians
last year, it became clear that
Idaho’s vesicular stomatitis
restriction wasn’t necessary
because it differs from the
nationwide standard, which
is only to limit importation
of animals from the affected
premises, Leibsle said.
He said the virus is primar-
ily linked to seasonal hatches
of black flies and insect con-
trol is the main way to limit
its spread.
Livestock entering Idaho
from a state where the virus
has been diagnosed within the
last month are still required to
have a veterinary certificate
certifying they are free of ve-
sicular stomatitis.
Bill grants livestock Hop acres expected to increase by almost 1,100
producers capital
gains tax deduction
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho law-
makers have passed a bill
that ensures livestock op-
erations will be treated the
same as other industries
when it comes to a state tax
deduction for capital gains.
Idaho allows ranching
operations to claim a 60
percent tax deduction on
capital gains derived from
the sale of tangible person-
al property and held for at
least 12 months, as long
as at least half of the enti-
ty’s gross personal income
comes from farming or
ranching in Idaho.
This could include cattle
or horses held for breeding,
draft, dairy or sporting pur-
poses.
However, the deduction
is not available for minori-
ty interests in these opera-
tion who do not get at least
50 percent of their income
from farming or ranching.
That could include indi-
vidual owners in an S cor-
poration or limited liabil-
ity company who share in
profits from these so-called
“pass-through” entities.
This is not consistent
with how other industries
are treated when it comes to
this tax deduction, said Sen.
Brent Hill, R- Rexburg, the
bill’s author and a retired
certified public accountant.
Hill’s legislation, which
was signed into law March
19 by Gov. Butch Otter and
is effective July 1, would
ensure that those partners
would be eligible for the
tax deduction regardless of
whether they derive half of
their income from farming
or ranching, as long as the
pass-through entity meets
that requirement.
“This results in consis-
tent treatment of all qualify-
ing capital gains, rather than
holding livestock to a dif-
ferent standard,” the bill’s
statement of purpose says.
The bill was supported
by Idaho’s dairy and cattle
industries.
“This would allow those
individual members of the
entity to deduct the capi-
tal gains as long as the co-
owned entity derives more
than half of its gross income
off of farming or ranching,”
said Idaho Cattle Associa-
tion Executive Vice Presi-
dent Wyatt Prescott.
He said the change could
be particularly helpful to
family owned livestock op-
erations where not every
member of the family gets
more than half of their in-
come from ranching.
Milk Producers of Idaho
Executive Director Brent
Olmstead said he sent a
copy of the legislation to
an accounting firm that spe-
cializes in agricultural ac-
counting.
“Their reply was, ‘It’s
about time,’” he said. “We
think it’s a great idea. It puts
livestock and agriculture on
the same ground as mining
and forestry and other in-
dustries.”
WILDER, Idaho — Idaho
hop acres are expected to in-
crease significantly again this
year, as farmers in the nation’s
No. 3 hop producing state re-
spond to continued demand
from the craft brewing indus-
try.
Hop producer Brock Oben-
dorf and industry consultant
Roger Keske both anticipate
Idaho growers will add close
to 1,100 acres this year,
which would be a 29 percent
increase over the 2014 total of
3,812 acres.
“It’s all because of the
growth in the craft brewing
industry and the new aroma
varieties they’re wanting,”
Obendorf said.
All the new hop acres
in Idaho this year are being
planted to the aroma varieties
preferred by craft brewers,
said Keske, a soil and crop
agronomist out of Richland,
Wash., who consults on about
2,000 hop acres in Idaho.
He said craft brewers are
offering Idaho farmers a good
price for the new acres. “They
love the aromas and they’re
willing to pay for them.”
According to USDA’s Na-
tional Agricultural Statistics
Service, hop acreage in Ida-
ho has increased from 2,423
in 2012 to 3,376 in 2013 and
3,812 in 2014.
“We’ve got a couple of
new growers in Idaho bring-
ing new acres on as well as
existing growers who are add-
ing acres. It’s exciting,” said
Hop Growers of America Ad-
ministrator Ann George.
Based on USDA data for
hop acres, average yields and
total production, Idaho this
year could come close to Or-
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Farm workers set up strings that will train emerging hop plants in a field near Wilder, Idaho, on March 30.
Industry leaders expect hop acres in Idaho to increase by almost 1,100 acres this year.
egon, which ranked No. 2 last
year in hop production at 8.2
million pounds. Idaho was
third with 6.9 million pounds.
Oregon growers expect to
add 500 to 600 acres this year,
but Idaho’s average yields are
much higher.
Washington, by far the
nation’s No. 1 hop state, and
Oregon have also added sig-
nificant acreage in the past
few years but Idaho’s percent-
age increases have been much
higher.
Bart Watson, chief econo-
mist for the Brewers Associ-
ation, which represents inde-
pendent craft brewers in this
country, said Idaho is a prime
spot for growth in the industry
because of its comparatively
cheaper cost structure.
“One of the reasons Ida-
ho’s hop acres are growing so
fast is that it’s cheaper to ex-
pand in Idaho,” he said.
Production by the U.S.
craft brewing industry grew
by 18 percent last year and it’s
grown by double-digit mar-
gins during seven of the last
nine years, Watson said.
ISDA to expand Boise beetle eradication
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
BOISE — The Idaho State
Department of Agriculture
plans to significantly expand
the area of the city it will treat
this summer to eradicate an in-
festation of invasive Japanese
beetles.
ISDA officials fear the pest
could move from residential
neighborhoods into surrounding
agricultural production areas,
potentially hurting farm yields
and leading to trade restrictions.
Beetles are rampant in the
Eastern U.S., feeding on more
than 300 plant species and forc-
ing inspections of commodities
bound for export to states where
the insect isn’t established.
ISDA discovered the local
infestation in 2012, when 56 in-
sects were caught in a statewide
trapping network. The agency
started its eradication program
in 2013, when 3,058 beetles
were trapped in Boise.
ISDA pest survey detection
manager Paul Castrovillo said
the population caught in traps
dropped to 1,238 beetles in
2014, due to the prior summer’s
turf treatments with granular
pesticide to kill grubs.
Castrovillo said rather than
focusing treatments on just the
areas with the greatest insect
densities, ISDA will spread its
treatments over a broader area
this season.
In the initial year of the pro-
gram, the city hired pest control
professionals to treat 100 prop-
erties in downtown Boise. Treat-
ments led to a 95 percent reduc-
tion in beetles caught downtown
Japanese beetle
Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org
Binomial name:
Popillia japonica
Appearance: Iridescent
copper-colored elytra, green
thorax and head
Diet: Roots of grasses during
larval stage; foliage and fruits of
many common trees, vines and
crops during adult stage
Life cycle: Typically one year;
extended in
cooler climates
Origin: Japan
First observed
in U.S.: 1916
14-16 mm
near Riverton,
(Actual size)
New Jersey
Control methods: Chemical and
biological; mechanical traps
Source: USDA Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service
Capital Press graphic
in 2014, Castrovillo said. How-
ever, beetle numbers doubled in
untreated areas.
“To get 95 percent less bee-
tles the year after you treated I
think was a good piece of data
to show the treatments are work-
ing,” Castrovillo said.
Last summer, the city sought
to treat 500 properties, and all
but one property owner consent-
ed, once ISDA explained the
pesticides won’t hurt children
or pets and are applied only to
turf, rather than trees, shrubs or
gardens. ISDA is approaching
1,800 property owners for per-
mission this summer. Treatment
consent forms are available on-
line at www.agri.idaho.gov, and
the agency hopes owners will
grant permission by April 8.
Granular applications are made
in mid-May and mid-July.
Castrovillo emphasized that
the traps are nontoxic, drawing
in male beetles with female bee-
tle scent and attracting female
beetles with a floral scent.
Lloyd Knight, administra-
tor of ISDA’s Division of Plant
Industries, said ISDA plans to
approach the state’s Board of
Examiners during the next week
or two to request $400,000 to-
ward this summer’s program —
the same amount that was ap-
proved last summer. Knight said
the funding would be allocated
through a deficiency warrant, a
tool enabling the agency to allo-
cate unappropriated funding for
special purposes.
The Boise program was
modeled after a Japanese beetle
eradication program in Orem,
Utah, home to a thriving fruit
industry.
Kris Watson, Utah survey
entomologist, said his program
has declared eradication this
season, after making the initial
detection in 2006. Last summer,
he explained, no areas were
treated in Orem, and a grid of
traps caught no insects.
Watson said two male bee-
tles were discovered in Salt
Lake County late last summer,
and a delimiting network of
traps has been set up in the area
to make certain there’s no addi-
tional outbreak.
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