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10 CapitalPress.com April 24, 2015 Subscribe to our weekly Idaho email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Idaho UI ag Specialty crop fund applications low school looks at BYU By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press CALDWELL, Idaho — The dean of University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences told stakeholders April 16 that CALS is open to partnering with BYU-Idaho on certain research projects. John Foltz said those proj- ects would have to make sense for both universities, which compete for ag students. “We are trying to find ways to partner with them that are appropriate for them and for us (while) also realizing they are a competitor for us,” Foltz said. “We want to make sure we don’t give away the farm also.” Foltz made those remarks in response to a question asked during an informal “coffee with the dean” event in Caldwell that attracted more than 30 people. Brigham Young Universi- ty-Idaho is a private, four-year university located in East Ida- ho. The university’s ag mission has been expanding and Foltz was asked whether CALS is interested in partnering with BYU-Idaho on some research projects. Foltz said the college is ex- ploring what he termed “com- petitive collaborative partner- ships” with BYU-Idaho, which has an enrollment of more than 16,000, about 4,000 more than UI. He encouraged faculty and staff to “keep your ears to the ground” for possible ideas. “We’re very open to looking at those sort of relationships,” Foltz said. “If you have some ideas on that, we should talk about it.” BYU-Idaho doesn’t have a graduate program for its ag students and many of them are ending up at UI as graduate stu- dents. “It would behoove us to strategically collaborate on various research projects (if the opportunities arise),” said UI Food Technology Center Di- rector Josh Bevan, who asked the BYU-Idaho question. In response to a question about what CALS is doing to continue increasing enrollment, Foltz said the college is focus- ing on several areas, including forming partnerships with the agricultural industry to help explain the career opportunities available in the farm sector. One of the keys to attracting students is informing them of the many career opportunities involved with farming and who better to do that than the indus- try itself, he told the Capital Press later. “The challenge is that many young people think of agricul- ture as just farming,” he said. “It’s not just that; it includes all of the supporting industries. We want to partner with industry to help them share (that) message because they’re the ones that are hiring our graduates.” BOISE — The Idaho State Department of Agriculture received 16 fewer proposals for specialty crop block grant funding this year and the to- tal request for funding was down substantially from last year. This happened despite the fact the program in 2015 will again receive almost twice as much funding from the USDA for the program than it has re- ceived in previous years. The ISDA received $1.91 million from USDA last year and will receive a similar amount this year. That is al- most twice as much as the state has received from the federal specialty crop block grant pro- gram in previous years. But while the state received a record 38 requests for fund- ing last year and a total funding request of $3.64 million, also a record, the ISDA only received 22 proposals requesting a total of $2.1 million this year. “I personally thought that with more funding available, we may receive more re- quests,” said Amanda Gibson, who administers the ISDA program. This year’s totals were in line with the years prior to 2014, she said. ISDA found out right be- fore last year’s application deadline that it would receive almost twice as much funding as normal because of chang- es in the new farm bill and it wasn’t able to notify the state’s specialty crop industry of that fact. So the department extend- ed the deadline for another five weeks and received an addi- tional 17 applications. Whether the department announces a second round of applications for 2015 depends on the competitiveness of the applications submitted, Gib- son said. Three-member judging teams with no conflicts of in- terest evaluate each project, score them and include com- ments. ISDA officials review those scores and have the fi- nal say on which projects get funded. “If there are not enough solid projects, we may consid- er going out for a second ap- plication round,” Gibson said. “At this point, we have to wait until the review panel com- pletes their scoring and we can evaluate the results.” Gibson said the department received more applications than normal this year that fo- cused on unique economic development plans that seek to increase value-added pro- duction. Most of the applications the ISDA receives are for straight research or promotion and marketing projects, but the department received several this year that fall outside those boundaries, Gibson said. “We had a few pretty cre- ative ideas this year,” she said. The ISDA expects to an- nounce which projects will be funded before June. Grower tries new canola production method By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press AMERICAN FALLS, Ida- ho — Kamren Koompin is taking a new approach to rais- ing canola this season, which he believes will increase prof- its while significantly reduc- ing the odds of crop losses. The Koompins have plant- ed canola in southeast Idaho about six times during the past two decades, finding winter crop yields can nearly double spring canola production. In the past, however, they’ve had trouble with snow mold and winter kill with fall-seeded canola. Koompin believes new products on the market should alleviate snow mold problems. And he hopes to reduce winter kill by following University of Idaho canola breeder Jack Brown’s advice and planting his winter canola in the spring, nearly four months early. Because winter canola re- quires a vernalization period to flower and go to seed, there- by completing its life cycle, Koompin plans to take three cuttings of canola this sea- son as a high-quality hay. By winter, the root system should be fully developed, helping the crop to better withstand harsh conditions that might kill less mature plants. During the following season, he’ll let the canola bloom and harvest John O’Connell/Capital Press Kamren Koompin, of American Falls, Idaho, shows the supply of winter canola seed he plans to plant this spring and raise for forage and harvest for seed during the fallowing season. The production method, promoted by University of Idaho, should also minimize winter kill. the oil seeds, currently worth about 22 cents per pound. “You’re getting kind of a double whammy off of one crop,” said Koompin, who learned about the concept in January, when Brown made a presentation to growers and grain elevator personnel in Grace, Idaho. Koompin plans to plant about 200 acres of canola seed genetically engineered to with- stand glyphosate herbicide, and about 50 acres of conven- tional seed that Brown devel- oped. Buyers offer a premium for conventional canola. Koompin, who will blow on his canola seed with fertil- izer and harrow it in to avoid planting too deep, said cano- la is a good low-water option that tolerates drought stress once it’s established. Canola forage yields are typically no better than two- thirds of alfalfa yields — about 4 to 6 tons per acre un- der irrigation. But Brown said canola hay and green-cut “canolage” have more protein than alfal- fa. The relative feed value for good canolage can score up to 320, compared with 200 for top-grade alfalfa. Canola hay is also low in lignin, enabling feeders to mix in a greater percentage of cheaper forage. By leaving canola in the ground for two seasons, Brown said growers also max- imize the soil health benefits of the rotation crop. Brown said spud growers report less disease and a higher percent- age of No. 1 tubers following canola, which leaches a natu- ral fumigant into soil. Brown believes the major driver of increased canola acres throughout Idaho will be that Scoular Co. has begun developing the infrastruc- ture to procure canola from throughout the Northwest for Pacific Coast Canola’s new plant in Warden, Wash. J.C. Olson, a merchandis- er with Scoular, said the bulk of the 350,000 metric tons of canola processed at the plant per year is imported from oth- er growing regions. Given its proximity to Warden and its rotational ca- pacity, Olson said Idaho has “some real potential to carry canola production now that has not been tapped.” Olson said Scoular has worked with elevators throughout Idaho, including in the state’s Eastern region, to begin handling canola. Rise in Idaho farm deaths worries OSHA By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press BOISE — The director of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Admin- istration’s Boise office said he’s focusing on agricultural workplace safety in Idaho following a rash of on-farm fatalities in Fiscal Year 2014. In most years, Dave Ke- arns said Idaho experiences a couple of agricultural fa- talities. In the fiscal year that ended last October, howev- er, Kearns said seven of the state’s 14 workplace fatalities involved agricultural work- ers. “That kind of raised a red flag for us,” Kearns said. “We’ve always known that agriculture was a lot more of a high hazard industry, but we couldn’t really account for why this was occurring.” Kearns said there have been a pair of agricultural fa- talities in FY 15 — one high- way related and another from a heart attack triggered by an electric fence. Of the FY 14 fatalities, two involved all-terrain ve- hicle rollovers. Fatalities also occurred when a tractor start- ed and crushed a mechanic making repairs, when a com- bine pinned a driver against his truck, when a worker was wedged inside a feed mixer, when a diesel tank explod- ed while a farm owner was welding it to a trailer and when a potato farm worker was crushed between two trucks. Tractor rollovers are the major cause of farm fatali- ties, and many accidents stem from blind spots on heavy equipment, Kearns said. Kearns said OSHA and Idaho fund free workplace safety consultations for small businesses, including farms, through a program staffed by Boise State University. Kearns said participants re- ceive no citations but must try to improve any deficien- cies. OSHA has also offered agricultural safety training at recent community events. Kearns recently spoke about safety to a couple of agri- cultural groups and has been invited to grower meetings planned for next winter. Web training is available at nasdonline.org through the National Agricultural Safety Database. Following a wet 2014 Ida- & Create Resilience | Improve Production | Increase Profit HWY 730 • IRRIGON, OR f f u t S ho grain harvest with wide- spread quality problems, Bill Harp, owner of the Michi- gan-based Safety and Techni- cal Rescue Association, said this could be a bad summer for grain engulfments. Harp said poor quality grain tends to stick to side walls in stor- age, prompting growers to enter bins to break it up. Nationwide, Harp said, there have already been five engulfment fatalities in 2015. His company has trained farm and grain elevator staff, including in Idaho, in proper procedures for entering grain bins — including wearing lifelines monitored by anoth- er person and locking out and tagging augers. The business trains fire departments and emergency responders in en- gulfment rescues. Large Idaho agricultural businesses have begun in- stalling more modern equip- ment to prevent employees from falling on the job, said Heath Mann, a sales asso- GRAZING CONFERENCE: “No boredom, just brilliance through collaboration. We’re impacting the future.” MAY 6 & 7, 2015 Stay, learn & play @ the Washington Family Ranch Your Hosts: Pacific Northwest Center for Holistic Management & Country National Beef “The Buttercreek Boys” will be playing the third Sunday of each month at the museum. 541-561-2211 | 541-561-2327 | 541-303-3923 17-2/#6 17-1/#4X ciate with SafeRack LLC. Mann said most farmers still view such equipment as cost prohibitive. The Washington State De- partment of Labor and Indus- tries, which oversees farms of all sizes, reported nine ag- ricultural fatalities in 2014, up from five in 2013, and has had two farm fatalities in 2015. Staff offer training and free safety consultations to farms. Oregon workers’ compen- sation insurers paid benefits for four agricultural work- place deaths in 2014, three of which involved logging. That’s down from nine agri- cultural death claims — in- cluding six in the logging sector — in 2013. Oregon OSHA recently launched an online ATV training program for farm workers at orosha. org/educate/view/ATVSafe- ty.html. The department notes four Oregon workers were killed and seven hospi- talized during the past decade from ATV injuries.
