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8 CapitalPress.com August 14, 2015 Idaho Subscribe to our weekly Idaho email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Farm super takes over Tetonia facility By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press TETONIA, Idaho — Rath- er than choosing another off- site crop researcher to head its Tetonia Research & Extension Center, University of Idaho administrators have put their faith in a farm supervisor who has been directly involved in the facility’s daily operations since 1985. Todd Carter, who lives at the research center, is already well versed in most of the su- perintendent’s duties, having overseen the station’s plant- ing, harvesting and irrigation and serving as a point of con- tact for its frequent visitors for three decades. “Just being on site, Todd will have a better appreciation for the day-to-day operations, and that’s really what the oversight of a superintendent is,” said Mark McGuire, who assumed the role of UI’s inter- im associate dean of research and director of the Idaho Ag- ricultural Experiment Station this month. Carter, a Sugar-Salem High School graduate who was raised on a local potato and grain farm, replaces Phil Nolte, a UI Extension potato pathologist stationed in Idaho Falls. Nolte recently retired. Carter will continue his normal work maintaining equipment, tending fields and running a greenhouse that produc- es pre-nuclear potato seeds, Carter which are the first generation of seeds in the UI and USDA Agricultural Research Ser- vice potato breeding program. He’ll also be tasked with at- tending more meetings, de- veloping a budget and making planting decisions, based on university input about cereal foundation seed sales. “I think it’s a lot differ- ent than just farming. You’ve got lots of different varieties throughout the years,” Car- ter said of running a research farm. At the height of the reces- sion, the station was target- ed for closure, but remained open thanks to investments from Idaho’s wheat, potato and barley commissions. The facility once had six full-time workers. Carter now oversees one full-time assis- tant, a summer worker and a part-time secretary, but the university has assumed the full financial responsibility for the center and has invested in new equipment, new siding for buildings and a new equip- ment storage building. Nolte believes Carter’s ex- perience makes him the ideal candidate to head the facility. “I think Todd is the perfect person for that,” Nolte said. “He’s got all of those skills, he knows the land — I have a feeling they’ll be able to go forward without any kind of rough transition.” Carter explained the 580- acre Tetonia station, which is at 6,200 feet of elevation, plays a critical role in helping UI and USDA-ARS barley and wheat breeders evalu- ate experimental lines in a high-elevation, short-season setting. The facility also pro- duces foundation oat, bar- ley and wheat seed, which is clean seed for other cereal seed growers to utilize. Three oat fields and a barley field are now planted to foundation seed, Carter said. He said 130 acres of sup- plemental wheat crops help support the station and the salary of its part-time secre- tary. Last season, supplemen- tal crops generated $38,000, he said. For the potato breeding program, the high-elevation facility has little disease pres- sure, ideal for expanding early generation experimental seed in fields. The facility also hosts winter wheat snow mold trials, and Carter said a quinoa trial is in the planning stages. IPC Interest up in mixed Bannock County Fair “Saturday was huge, extends and it was way more Potato than our Saturday had ever been.” Bowl contract By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press Piney Morrison Fair Superintendent John O’Connell/Capital Press Gus Johnson, 10, wearing the red cap, watches as Earnest Newsome judges his show chicken, Roxie, during the Bannock County Fair on Aug. 7. Morrison said many food vendors sold out and report- ed their strongest sales ever for Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. “Saturday was huge, and it was way more than our Saturday had ever been,” Morrison said. On Wednesday, the fair hosted a concert featuring Home Free, the winning band from season four of NBC’s The Sing Off. Mor- rison said if not for extra revenue diverted from the defunct North Fair, she wouldn’t have had the bud- get to land Home Free. Melinda Harper, with the Idaho Rural Water Associ- ation, has traveled to fairs throughout the state distrib- uting test kits for nitrates in rural wells and leaks in toilets. John O’Connell/Capital Press Brooklyn Wilde, 9, of Inkom, practices leading a steer Aug. 7 at the Bannock County Fair in Downey, Idaho. “So far this year, this is the best fair I’ve been to,” Harper said. “The kids have been busy.” The fair also featured un- usual agricultural-themed events, such as a competi- tion in which contestants were tasked with removing ear tags from soapy pigs while being sprayed with soapy water. Morrison said youth an- imal projects, however, are the centerpiece of the fair. Jacob McNabb, 14, of Inkom, won reserve cham- pion for quality with his steer. The calf came from his family’s herd, and he believes his participation in an animal project will help him better contribute to the ranch. “It gives me more experi- ence with animals and how different some animals can be than others,” McNabb said. For Brooklyn Wilde, a 9-year-old Inkom resident, the fair provided a stage on which to exceed her own ex- pectations. In her first year of fair competition, Wilde showed the top goat, earning the right to advance to the Round Robin competition, where each champion had to show every winning animal. “This is a little bit of a crash course,” her mother, Jana Wilde, said as the girl practiced leading the win- ning steer. “We’re super proud of her because she’s a first-year in 4-H going into the Round Robin.” Payments to Idaho ag fell 23 percent in 2014 Federal payments to state lower percentage of income than national average By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — Federal gov- ernment payments to Idaho farmers and ranchers de- clined rapidly in 2014 and ac- counted for a tiny percentage of the state’s total net farm income. According to estimates by University of Idaho agri- cultural economists, feder- al payments to Idaho agri- culture totaled $99 million 33-2/#4 during fiscal year 2014, a 23 percent decrease compared with 2013. That decrease continues a 14-year decline in gov- ernment payments to Idaho farmers and ranchers and federal payments to Idaho agriculture have declined by more than 60 percent since 2000. In inflation-adjusted dol- lars, government payments to Idaho agriculture peaked at $398 million during the farm financial crisis in 1986. “Government payments to Idaho agriculture continue to decline,” said UI ag econo- mist Garth Taylor. “They are a minor part of Idaho agricul- ture.” According to UI esti- mates, government payments accounted for 2.2 percent of Idaho’s total net farm income in fiscal 2014, while they contributed 10.9 percent to total U.S. net farm income. Compared with the rest of 33-2/#14 EAGLE, Idaho — The Idaho Potato Commission has agreed in principle to a $900,000 contract extension securing the naming rights of the Boise-based Famous Ida- ho Potato Bowl through 2018. The original six-year con- tract, valued at $2.49 million, changing the name of the former Humanitarian Bowl, hosted at Boise State Univer- sity, expires after the 2016 bowl game. Under the terms of the extension, IPC will pay $450,000 for the naming rights of both the 2017 and 2018 bowl games. The 2015 bowl game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. MT on Dec. 22. The Famous Ida- ho Potato Bowl, which in- cludes teams from the Moun- tain West and Mid-American conferences, is one of 13 col- legiate bowl games owned by ESPN Events, a division of ESPN. “We are excited to ex- tend our relationship with the Idaho Potato Commission through the 2018 bowl sea- son,” bowl executive director Kevin McDonald said in the press release. “A college bowl game in the state of Idaho cel- ebrating the potato industry makes perfect sense.” Under the original con- tract, IPC paid $375,000 per year for the naming rights in 2011 and 2012, $420,000 per year for the 2013 and 2014 games and $450,000 per year for the 2015 and 2016 games. IPC also paid an $80,000 one- time rebranding fee. The contract provided IPC a comprehensive advertising package including: recogni- tion in game signage, video board advertisements, pub- lic address announcements and the game logo; two full pages of advertising in the game program, four 30-sec- ond advertising spots during the radio broadcast; and five 30-second advertising spots during the ESPN television broadcast. In its 19th season, the bowl at BSU’s Albertsons Stadium is the longest-running cold weather bowl game. DOWNEY, Idaho — Ban- nock County Fair organiz- ers say their century-old event drew more visitors and entries in animal proj- ects and other competitions this summer, following its consolidation with an ur- ban-themed fair serving the northern portion of the county. Attendance had been sparse at the North Ban- nock County Fair, former- ly hosted in Pocatello, and fair organizers say most 4-H animal projects have histor- ically enrolled at the South Fair in Downey, anyway. Hosting a single rural fair in Downey Aug. 3-8 helped the county boost enrollment in animal competitions and draw better entertainers, said fair superintendent Pin- ey Morrison. Despite high calf prices, Morrison said the steer cat- egory had 16 animals, com- pared with nine last season. Youths also entered more than 30 animals in both the lamb and pig categories. “We know our fair, be- cause it’s the country, we get the attendance and we get the animals, so I feel like the taxpayers felt on this end of the county it was a huge benefit,” Morrison said. The theme of this year’s fair, “United We Stand,” recognized both the patri- otic nature of the county and the added strength of a combined fair, Morrison ex- plained. Specific attendance num- bers were unavailable, since fair admission is free, but the nation on average, “Ida- ho agriculture doesn’t farm the government,” said UI ag economist Ben Eborn. Taylor believes Idaho ag- riculture’s comparatively mi- nor reliance on government payments has strengthened the state’s farming sector. “Government payments are such a small proportion of Idaho farmers’ income,” he said. “As a result, Idaho agriculture is far more nim- ble in what we do. In my opinion, in the long term it’s made farmers in Idaho far more responsive to prices, markets and international demand than farmers in the Midwest.” Production support pay- ments accounted for 50 per- cent of all government pay- ments to Idaho producers in 2014, conservation program payments accounted for 45 percent of the total and the rest was in the form of emer- gency program payments. Because of the new farm bill, it’s unclear how feder- al government payments to Idaho farmers will shake out this year, Eborn said. That depends largely on how com- modity prices fare and what level of coverage people signed up for, he said. However, it’s unlikely government payments to Ida- ho farmers will increase this Sean Ellis/Capital Press Wheat is harvested in a southwestern Idaho field July 8. Federal government payments to Idaho farmers and ranchers declined 23 percent to $99 million in fiscal 2014. year, he added. “It’s probably going to be lower unless commodity prices really take a plunge,” he said. Direct production support, which accounted for half of government payments to Ida- ho farmers in 2014, is gone in the new farm bill, but con- servation program payments will stay intact, Taylor said. It remains to be seen what the new farm bill’s shift to- ward insurance programs will mean for Idaho in terms of government payments, he added.
