June 26, 2015
CapitalPress.com
9
Idaho
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By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho Potato
Commission board members
unanimously voted to support
IPC employee Pat Kole June
17 and rejected a request to
terminate him.
Members of the Idaho PCN
Group asked for Kole’s imme-
diate resignation or termina-
tion during the IPC’s regular
monthly meeting in May.
Kole is the IPC’s vice pres-
ident of legal and government
affairs.
The request to IPC com-
missioners was made during a
conference call with growers
affected by a federal pale cyst
nematode quarantine in East
Idaho.
They accused Kole of
working behind the scenes to
support the eradication pro-
gram, which they oppose in
its current form.
The request for Kole’s ter-
mination caught IPC mem-
bers by surprise and the call
was discontinued after com-
missioners said they weren’t
comfortable continuing the
conversation without legal
advice.
Members of the PCN
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lawsuit targeting the quaran-
tine and accompanying erad-
ication program, which they
say is unreasonable and has
cost them millions of dollars.
Idaho State Department of
Agriculture and USDA’s Ani-
mal and Plant Health Inspec-
tion Service are defendants in
the lawsuit, but IPC is not.
PCN group members say
Kole exceeded his responsi-
bilities by attempting to elicit
industry support for the con-
tinuation of the current eradi-
cation program.
But IPC commissioners
said Kole did nothing wrong
in discussing the lawsuit with
another industry organization.
IPC members approved
the following motion: “The
IPC has completed its inves-
tigation as to the claims made
by some members of the PCN
group on May 29 against Pat
Kole and have determined
that (Kole), as vice president
of legal and government af-
fairs, did not exceed his re-
sponsibilities in talking to the
National Potato Council about
the pending lawsuit against
USDA and ISDA.”
Iris virus detected early in
Treasure Valley onion fields
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
ONTARIO, Ore. — The iris
yellow spot virus, which can se-
verely impact onion yields, has
made an early appearance in the
John O’Connell/Capital Press Treasure Valley.
Arbon Valley, Idaho, dryland farmer Hans Hayden looks over experi-
Southwestern Idaho and
PHQWDOSORWVRQKLVIDUPGXULQJD-XQH8QLYHUVLW\RI,GDKR¿HOGGD\ Eastern Oregon produce about
Hayden said heavy rain in May helped his crops recover from lack of
25 percent of the nation’s fresh
moisture and barley yellow dwarf virus, and though test weights may
bulb onion supply and the virus
be affected, he’s optimistic he’ll have at least an average crop.
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in this region later in the summer.
But it was detected in com-
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County, Idaho, June 12 and in
Malheur County, Oregon, last
week, said Oregon State Univer-
sity Cropping Systems Extension
By JOHN O’CONNELL
moisture in May, enabling them Agent Stuart Reitz.
Capital Press
to outgrow the virus damage,
The advanced symptoms
Marshall warned symptoms, seen on some of the infected
ARBON VALLEY, Idaho LQFOXGLQJ \HOORZDQGUHG ÀDJ onion plants suggests they were
— Heavy May rainfall has en- leaves, will return at heading. SUREDEO\LQIHFWHGDURXQGWKH¿UVW
abled cereal crops infected by Some yield losses and reduced of June, he said.
Idaho’s widespread barley yel- test weights are still expected.
“That would be really early,”
low dwarf virus outbreak to re-
“Before the rain, I was pre- said Oregon farmer Bruce Corn,
cover, thereby minimizing yield dicting 30 to 50 percent dam- who said the virus can devastate
losses, according to University age,” Marshall said, adding RQLRQ¿HOGV
of Idaho cereals pathologist Ju- losses should be greatest on dry-
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liet Marshall.
land farms. “I still think we’re in a pretty short amount of time,”
Furthermore, Marshall said going to have 10 to 30 percent he said.
stripe rust infections haven’t damage.”
The virus is transmitted to on-
been nearly as rampant as she
Marshall anticipated stripe ion plants by thrips and growers
initially feared, given the abun- rust would be abundant this are being encouraged to aggres-
dance of May moisture and the season, too, but has found only sively manage the tiny insects.
disease’s early arrival through- isolated cases, including in Soda
“Keep vigilant about watch-
out the West Coast.
Springs, Magic Valley and Ririe. ing what’s happening in your
Marshall began warning of a She believes the combination ¿HOGV´ 5HLW] VDLG ³'RQ¶W ZDLW
high potential for problems with of growers moving away from until you get a full-blown infec-
the virus last fall, when heavy susceptible varieties, such as WLRQDFURVV\RXU¿HOG´
August rains shattered grain Brundage, and growers apply-
Reitz said thrips populations
heads and resulted in more vol- ing fungicides along with their didn’t experience their normal
unteer plants to support disease herbicides kept stripe rust in die-off rate this year because of a
and insects, including the aphid check.
relatively mild winter and he be-
vectors of barley yellow dwarf.
Arbon Valley dryland grow- lieves that is a factor in the early
This spring, she said yellow er Hans Hayden said stripe rust appearance of the virus.
dwarf was rampant from Trea- hasn’t been a problem in his
The mild weather also per-
sure Valley to Utah, with the grain this season, even on some mitted the survival of more vol-
heaviest infections in Filer, Twin ¿HOGVKHGLGQ¶WVSUD\ZLWKIXQJL- unteer onions, which allow thrips
Falls and Buhl. She advised a cide. He believes he minimized to over-winter, he said.
few growers to destroy crops his yellow dwarf damage by
The region faced less virus
and replant.
spraying insecticide last fall, but pressure than normal last year
Marshall said yellow dwarf he still feared his crops were a and a big reason for that was
stunts roots and hinders a plant’s lost cause until rains arrived in onion farmers sprayed for thrips
ability to absorb water, so the May.
earlier and more often, said Nys-
problem was exacerbated by ex-
“It’s had so many things pick sa farmer Paul Skeen, president
tremely dry weather from Feb- on it,” Hayden said, “but I think of the Malheur County Onion
ruary through April.
it will be at least an average Growers Association.
Though crops had ample crop.”
Skeen said it’s critical that
Grain rebounding from
barley yellow dwarf
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
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ly reduce yields in onion plants, has appeared in the region earlier than normal. Growers are being
encouraged to aggressively manage thrips, which transmit the virus.
growers stay on top of their
thrips management programs.
Skeen, who has farmed for 43
years, used to never spray before
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times before that date this year.
“If people are not staying on
top of their spraying, they’re go-
ing to get in trouble” he said.
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of the virus but he’s also spraying
a lot, which raises his production
costs substantially.
“We’re at the point now
where we’re spending more
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thrips than we do on fertilizer,”
he said.
Plant health plays a major
role in controlling the impact of
the virus, Reitz said, since health-
ier plants are less susceptible to it.
Growers can minimize the
stress on their onion plants by
ensuring they have adequate
moisture and fertility levels, he
said.
“It’s every bit as important
to try to minimize the stress on
your plants,” said Corn. “If you
can keep your plants healthy, (the
virus) seems not to be as devas-
tating.”
Hail causes damage in Pleasant Valley
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
ABERDEEN, Idaho —
Growers in the Pleasant Val-
ley area of southeast Idaho say
potatoes and sugar beets are
beginning to rebound from a
June 15 hail storm, but wheat
losses will be more acute.
According to the National
Weather Service’s Pocatel-
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pea-sized hail 8 miles west of
American Falls at 5:11 p.m.
and quarter-sized hail south-
west of Aberdeen by 5:39
p.m. A meteorologist said hail
in the Aberdeen area was ab-
normally large for the area,
and hail completely covered
the ground.
Aberdeen grower Dirk
Driscoll said his potatoes,
sugar beets and wheat all
sustained damage. Driscoll
is waiting for his insurance
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his potatoes and wheat, which
are both covered by crop in-
surance.
Estimated damage to his
wheat ranges from 15 percent
to 40 percent.
He said spuds should re-
cover, but he might lose a few
tons in yields.
Aberdeen grower Alex
Tiede said in two of his potato
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down pretty much to stems.”
Tiede said he was fortunate
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Ranger Russets, which are
known to recover from dam-
age better than many other va-
rieties, and he’ll watch them
closely to see if they yield
odd-shaped tubers.
“I was pretty pleasantly
surprised when we dug they
hadn’t dropped any sets,” Tie-
de said.
Tiede said his sugar beets
should have time to recover,
26-1/#4X
but he lost up to half of his
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Tiede said the storm cov-
ered a roughly 3-mile-wide
swath near Aberdeen in hail,
with the heaviest hail limit-
ed to about a half-mile-wide
area.
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good and the other half you’ve
got hardly anything left,” Tie-
de said.
26-7/#4x