August 7, 2015
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Capital Press
LEWISTON, Idaho — Ida-
ho’s wine industry and a coali-
tion of economic development
groups, cities and counties
are gearing up to promote the
pending Lewis-Clark Valley
American Viticultural Area.
An AVA is a specific wine
grape growing region that is
federally designated because
it has certain growing condi-
tions, boundaries and history.
It’s anticipated the pro-
posed AVA will be approved
early next year.
It’s critically important
that the AVA be promoted and
marketed heavily and correct-
ly from the get-go, said Idaho
Wine Commission Executive
Director Moya Shatz-Dolsby.
The IWC is using part of an
$88,000 specialty crop grant it
obtained from the Idaho State
Department of Agriculture to
organize a media tour of the
AVA once it’s approved.
“You need to make sure
you do it right because as soon
as that AVA goes live, you’re
going to get a huge splash in
the media,” Shatz-Dolsby said.
“You want to make sure it’s ex-
ecuted well because you have
one chance to look good.”
IWC will coordinate its
efforts with Clearwater Eco-
nomic Development Associa-
tion, which received a $67,000
specialty crop grant from the
ISDA to promote and market
the AVA.
CEDA will use the funds to
implement a marketing launch
to introduce the AVA’s grape
growers and vintners to con-
sumers, tourism operators and
potential markets.
The funding will help en-
sure the AVA “gets a bang-up
launch,” said CEDA Econom-
ic Development Specialist Deb
Smith.
“You really do only have
one chance to do it right,” she
said. “You can’t launch year
after year. You have to do it
right the first time.”
CEDA will also create a
five-year marketing plan for
the AVA.
“You can’t just market it for
year one and then stop,” Smith
said. “We’re trying to approach
this much like a business.”
The proposed 306,658-
acre Lewis-Clark Valley AVA
includes parts of five counties
in Idaho and Washington and
is centered around a 40-mile
long strip of canyons sur-
rounding the cities of Lewiston
and Clarkston.
The area was a premier
wine grape growing region in
the early 20th Century but that
disappeared after Prohibition.
Evidence of the region’s
former winemaking history,
including hundreds of acres
of abandoned vineyards, are
all around the region, said
Melissa Sanborn, owner and
winemaker for Colters Creek
Winery, which is included in
the AVA.
In the early 2000s, wine
grapes started to make a come-
back in the region and the pro-
posed AVA now includes four
wineries and 12 grape growers.
“It’s definitely coming back
and it’s coming back strong,”
Sanborn said. “We’re looking
forward to promoting the heck
out of the AVA once it’s final-
ized.”
Public learns about ag research at Twilight Tour
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Brian Schneider, a USDA
agricultural research
technician involved in
the Aberdeen, Idaho,
potato breeding program,
takes the test to guess
the potato variety during
the July 29 Twilight Tour
in Aberdeen. The tour
is intended to share the
facility’s research with the
public.
Capital Press
ABERDEEN, Idaho —
USDA researcher Michael
Gines is working to discover
the mechanism plants use to
produce a heart-healthy fiber
found in barley and oats, called
beta glucan.
Gines, science technician in
the oat laboratory at USDA’s
Agricultural Research Service
in Aberdeen, was among sever-
al scientists to display details of
their research during the July
29 Twilight Tour.
University of Idaho hosts
the tour and rotates it annually
between its Aberdeen Research
& Extension center and its re-
search facility in Kimberly.
USDA, which partners with UI
on several research projects, is
also invited to participate.
Gines explained high lev-
els of beta glucan are ideal for
nutrition in oats and barley
varieties bred for human con-
sumption, but low levels are
preferable in malt barley.
“There are reasons to have
high levels, but there are also
reasons to have low levels
within the plant, and we don’t
know how it’s made yet,”
Gines said. “We need to de-
termine what makes more and
what makes less.”
His lab has confirmed a
specific gene found in oats and
barley is associated with beta
John O’Connell/Capital Press
glucan expression by introduc-
ing it into an Arabidopsis plant.
The resulting cross produced
beta glucan, which normally
isn’t found in Arabidopsis.
“We know this gene has a
large responsibility in the pro-
duction of beta glucan, but we
still don’t know how the syn-
thesis works,” Gines said.
To solve the puzzle, Gines is
seeking to identify proteins that
may play a role in beta glucan
production. He’s also studying
other genes that may also be
expressed simultaneously with
beta glucan production.
Gines said his study is one of
many being conducted around
the country targeting beta glucan
levels in cereals.
Jeff Stark, superintendent at
UI’s Aberdeen facility, estimates
200 people attended the Twi-
light Tour to learn about such
research efforts, and to enjoy
a free barbecue and games for
children. While other field days
at the facility are geared toward
crop advisors and producers,
Stark said the Twilight Tour fos-
ters “social interaction with peo-
ple in the community so they’re
more familiar with us.”
The event included tours of
research programs, such as North
America’s largest potato breed-
ing program, involving both UI
and USDA, and native plant
research. UI weed scientist Pam
Hutchinson gave samples of a
potato salad she made with an
edible common weed, purslane.
USDA aquaculture researchers
served smoked rainbow trout.
Aberdeen potato farmer
C.J. Harris, who brought his
Boy Scout troop to the Twi-
light Tour, visits the facility
frequently to inquire about dis-
eases and other crop issues.
Idaho farm personal
income drops 18
percent in first quarter
According to an IDL news
release, several sectors of
the economy showed gains
BOISE — A sharp drop in in personal income of more
Idaho farm income was a ma- than 2 percent during the first
jor reason the state’s personal quarter “but it was not enough
income total dropped slightly to offset a seasonal decline in
during the first three months farm earning of 18 percent,
of 2015.
followed by significant de-
Total personal income in clines in durable goods at 10
the state’s farming sector was percent and mining at nearly
$2.8 billion on a seasonally 3.8 percent.”
adjusted basis during the first
Farm personal income in
quarter of 2015, an 18 percent Idaho grew from $2.37 bil-
decrease from the $3.4 bil- lion in 2012 to $2.77 billion
lion total recorded during the in 2013 and $3.32 billion in
fourth quarter of 2014.
2014.
Personal income is an indi-
The drop in farm income
vidual’s total
didn’t
sur-
earnings and
prise Univer-
‘We’re looking at
includes wag-
sity of Idaho
es, investment
soft prices for every agricultural
earnings and
economists.
crop in the state
government
After
four
transfer pay-
straight
years
basically, except
ments such
of record cash
as unemploy-
receipts, Ida-
for beef.’
ment benefits.
ho agriculture
— Garth Taylor
Those to-
is
slowing
Agricultural economist,
tals, which
somewhat,
University of Idaho
were reported
said UI econ-
by the Idaho
omist Garth
Department
Taylor.
of Labor, are based on U.S.
“We’re looking at soft pric-
Bureau of Economic Analysis es for every crop in the state
data.
basically, except for beef,” he
Idaho farm profits — the said. “Cash receipts will be
proprietor’s profit — totaled way, way down this year.”
$2 billion during the first
UI economist Ben Eborn
quarter, a 23 percent decrease said Idaho cash receipts could
from $2.6 billion during the be down significantly from
fourth quarter of 2014.
last year’s record $9.7 billion
Statewide, total personal total.
income dropped by a tenth of
“I’m estimating that for all
a percentage point to $62.76 of Idaho agriculture, cash re-
billion during the first quarter. ceipts this year will be down
Large gains in farm income about 20 percent,” he said.
have helped drive the state’s
Dairy accounts for a large
personal income growth the share of the state’s farm re-
past several years. For ex- ceipts, he said, and milk pric-
ample, total Idaho personal es are 28 percent below last
income increased 5.3 percent year’s record level.
in 2014, in large part because
Based on the average Ida-
of a 19.7 percent increase in ho milk price of $16.50 so
farm income.
far in 2015, Eborn said Idaho
But that role was reversed dairy receipts could be down
during the first three months $800 million to $1 billion this
of 2015.
year compared with 2014.
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
Committee reviews PCN program
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho —
Members of an Idaho State
Department of Agriculture ad-
visory committee are mulling
eight alternatives to the state’s
current pale cyst nematode
eradication program.
Options considered during
a July 24 meeting ranged from
completely deregulating potato
cyst nematodes, including PCN
and golden nematode, to es-
tablishing a “generally infested
area” surrounding known infest-
ed fields, with special restric-
tions on crops and equipment
leaving its boundaries.
Idaho has the only known
PCN infestation in the U.S. It
was first detected in 2006 and
is confined to 10,316 total reg-
ulated acres, including 2,897
infested acres. The 26 infested
fields are confined to a 7.5-mile
radius of Bonneville and Bing-
ham counties.
Associated fields can be re-
leased from the program follow-
ing two negative surveys after
host-crop production. Infested
fields require a series of tests
and three host-crop plantings
without PCN detection to be de-
regulated. This season, the pro-
gram had its first infested field
returned to commercial produc-
tion for evaluation. Half of the
infested fields have undetect-
able PCN levels, seven infested
fields have undergone at least
one treatment and six infested
fields await their first treatment.
Regulated growers have
complained the current program
— which imposes special sani-
tary restrictions on equipment
and crops from regulated fields
and restricts potato production
in infested fields — is overly re-
strictive. Some regulated grow-
ers have filed a lawsuit alleging
PCN treatments with methyl
bromide have compromised the
quality of their alfalfa, contrary
to USDA assurances.
“I can’t do anything with my
soil because of that methyl bro-
mide,” regulated grower Bryan
Searle told program officials at
the meeting. “You’ve lost our
trust.”
Jonathan Jones, national pol-
icy manager with USDA’s Ani-
mal and Plant Health Inspection
Service, emphasized APHIS
isn’t proposing the options,
which have been offered solely
for discussion purposes.
“We’re very comfortable
with how the program is pro-
gressing,” Jones said.
Strategies suggested by an
APHIS technical working group
of experts included:
•Offering
a
single
APHIS-funded field treatment
and requiring growers to wait
30 years for viable cysts to die
before planting spuds in infest-
ed fields.
•Implementing a four-year
rotation with a resistant Euro-
pean variety or a resistant Rus-
set yet to be bred, also includ-
ing a “trap crop” to stimulate
cysts to hatch in the absence of
a viable host.
•Utilizing a six-year rotation
with a resistant variety, a suscep-
tible variety and a trap crop.
•Establishing a “generally
infested area” encompass-
ing infested fields in which
free movement of equipment
would be allowed without san-
itation and testing, but equip-
ment and crops leaving the
area would be treated as com-
9
Idaho
Wine industry gears up
for launch of pending AVA
By SEAN ELLIS
CapitalPress.com
ing from an infested field.
Strategies suggested by a
group of regulated growers in-
cluded:
•Having APHIS regulate all
of Idaho as infested but allow-
ing the unregulated movement
of commodities within the
state.
•Allowing growers to plant
susceptible crops in infested
fields but to suppress PCN pop-
ulations with chemical applica-
tions and trap crops.
•Deregulating PCN, includ-
ing all of the Idaho acres and
nearly 313,000 acres infested by
golden nematode in New York.
•Having the government
purchase infested fields and re-
strict potato production.
Jones explained many of
the options, such as regulating
the entire state or deregulating
PCN, would likely lead to lost
relationships with trade partners.
Establishing one or more “gen-
erally infested areas” would
rope in many growers who ar-
en’t currently regulated without
suppressing the PCN popula-
tion, he said.
Jones said it could take sev-
eral years to develop a resistant
Russet, and the resistant Europe-
an variety already approved for
planting in North America, In-
novator, is susceptible to bacte-
rial ring rot and has yellow flesh,
which is less popular among
U.S. consumers.
He said buying fields
would likely require an act of
Congress.
Jared Wattenbarger, who
heads the group of affected
growers, believes compen-
sating growers and “locking
down those fields” is the best
option.
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