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September 18, 2015 CapitalPress.com 5 Amalgamated reporting strong early sugar beet harvest By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press AMERICAN FALLS, Ida- KR ² 2I¿FLDOV ZLWK $PDO- gamated Sugar say they’re on track for record yields and good sugar content at the start of their early harvest. “The overall sugar at the South Pleasant Valley receiv- ing station is up quite a bit from last year. Tonnage is up slightly from last year,” said Jim Tiede, an American Falls farmer. Magic Valley beet grow- ers started digging on Sept. 7, with Eastern Idaho growers commencing the following day, and growers should con- tinue harvesting through Nov. 1. Operations commenced Sept. 10 at the Twin Falls and Paul factories, and processing of a large crop should con- tinue for the next 10 months, said Amalgamated President and CEO John McCreedy. “Our indication at this point is we have a very, very high tonnage,” McCreedy said. “We could have a record crop in terms of size and total amount of sugar produced.” McCreedy said he’s cau- tiously optimistic about sugar levels. “If the trend stays consis- tent, what we would antic- ipate seeing is better sugar content than we’ve seen in the past couple of years,” Mc- Creedy said. According to a Sept. 1 forecast by the USDA’s Na- tional Agricultural Statistics Service, Idaho should pro- duce 6.3 million tons of sugar, with yields expected to aver- age 37.6 tons per acre, up 0.1 tons. In Amalgamated’s Ore- gon territory, beet production is forecast at 495,000 tons, with yields expected to rise 12 percent to 39 tons per acre. Rupert, Idaho, farmer Duane Grant, chairman of Snake River Sugar Co., said some of his beets have tested at 16 percent sugar, which is strong for so early in harvest. “We have expectations for an above-average crop, both LQWHUPVRIWRQQDJHGH¿QLWHO\ DQGWKH¿UVWVXJDUVFRPLQJLQ also look to be at least aver- age, and perhaps above aver- age,” Grant said. Grant noted some growers, especially near Glenns Ferry, were hard hit by the fungal disease Aphanomyces. Based on strong produc- tion, McCreedy anticipates Amalgamated growers will enjoy above-average beet re- turns. Sugar prices, however, have been trending downward since early 2015 and have dropped about 6 cents per SRXQGRI¿QLVKHGVXJDUWR cents per pound. Jack Roney, an economist with the American Sugar Al- liance, explained sugar prices plummeted during 2013 due to WKHÀRRGLQJRI0H[LFDQVXJ- ar on the U.S. market. Prices recovered in 2014 when the U.S. government imposed an- ti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Mexican sugar, and the U.S. and Mexican govern- ments reached an agreement by the end of the year allow- ing duty-free Mexican sugar imports to resume, with vol- umes limited to demands of the U.S. market. Romey believes price de- FOLQHV DUH ³D UHÀHFWLRQ RI the certainty that has been returned to the market” fol- lowing the suspension of the duties. Roney said the U.S. beet crop appears to be strong this season. Furthermore, he said, Australia requested greater access to sell sugar into the American market during Trans-Pacific Part- nership negotiation. U.S. ne- gotiators have assured sugar producers they may make minor concessions to Aus- tralia but won’t undermine the nation’s sugar policy, Roney said. Idaho spud growers report big size, fewer tubers By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press Don Jenkins/Capital Press Central Washington rancher Sam Kayser talks Aug. 4 in the Teanaway Community Forest about efforts to prevent wolf depredations on livestock. Kayser has lost two cows to wolves this summer. Most recently, a Washington State University graduate student conducting wolf research found on Sept. 5 a cow killed by wolves. Rancher resigned to wolves, but can’t afford depredations Attacks occur despite preventive measures By DON JENKINS Wolves also killed a cow that was found on the state land in An Ellensburg ranch- mid-July. er who has lost two cows to The depredations occurred Washington’s western-most even though Kayser has taken wolf pack says he still hopes every possible step to prevent to coexist with wolves, but them, WDFW wolf policy co- WKDW ¿QDQFLDOO\ DQG HPRWLRQ- ordinator Donny Martorello ally he can’t take ongoing said. depredations. Kayser has an agreement “I’m not going to go for with WDFW to use non-le- that. I don’t know what I’d do thal means to deter wolves. about it. We’d have to cross He shares the cost of em- that bridge when we came to ploying a range rider with an it,” Sam Kayser said Monday. environmental group, Con- In mid-June, Kayser turned servation Northwest. The loose about 180 cow-calf pairs calves were kept in a fenced on a state grazing allotment area away from wolves until north of Cle Elum in Central they weighed more than 200 Washington. The Teanaway pounds. SDFN ZKLFK KDV DW OHDVW ¿YH The range rider can track members, has roamed the area the pack’s general location since at least 2011, but it did because three members have not have a record of attacking EHHQ¿WWHGZLWKUDGLRFROODUV livestock until this summer. “We have all the tools The state Department of in place,” Martorello said. Fish of Wildlife determined “There’s no way to take the that a cow found dead Sept. 5 risk to zero.” on U.S. Forest Service prop- A second producer grazes erty near the state grazing almost 2,000 sheep on Forest land was killed by wolves. Service and private land in the Capital Press area, according to WDFW. The producer lost at least three sheep to cougars this summer. In early September, another three ewes and two lambs were killed by pred- ators, but the carcasses had been scavenged, and WDFW couldn’t identify the predator. The sheep rancher has used a range rider and up to 11 dogs, according to WDFW. At times this summer, radio collars indicated wolves were in the immediate vicinity of WKHÀRFN Also this year, wolves in northeast Washington have killed three cows and one calf and seriously injured a sheep dog. Those attacks took place where wolves are no longer a federally protected species. WDFW has said lethal remov- al would be the next step if more depredations occur. In Central Washington, wolves are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, and shooting or relocat- ing them are not options, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswoman Ann Froschau- er said. AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho — Early in their potato harvest, Idaho growers say they’re dig- ging fewer spuds than last year, but tuber sizes are much larger. Growers — who are now digging early maturing variet- ies such as Russet Norkotah, specialty types, reds and Ranger Russets — anticipate yields will be down from last season, but will still be above average. ³,W¶VDJRRGFURS²GH¿QLWH- ly bigger (tuber) size,” said Ab- erdeen grower Doug Ruff, who started digging chip potatoes on Sept. 11. Aberdeen grower Ritchie Toevs has been happy with the lack of rot and high percentage of dry matter in his spuds and anticipates bulk will make up for reduced tuber numbers. His quality has been variable. ³:H KDYH RQH ¿HOG WKDW¶V beautiful and another one that’s course,” Toevs said. “Last year, where they were smaller, they were all smooth. This year, some of our big potatoes had knobs.” Toevs said the return to Ida- ho growers remains well below the cost of raising spuds. “I don’t know why we don’t manage shipments. It’s frustrat- ing,” Toevs said. Doug Gross, a Wilder grow- John O’Connell/Capital Press Workers clean and load red potatoes following harvest Sept. 11 in WKH3OHDVDQW9DOOH\DUHDRIVRXWKHDVW,GDKR7KHVL]HSUR¿OHRIWKH crop appears to be up, while the number of tubers is down. er, said his Norkotah yields and quality are average and his Rangers are slightly above aver- DJH+HVDLGWKHFURSSUR¿OHLV about the opposite of last season, DQGSULFHVDUH³ÀLSÀRSSLQJ´ “The old crop is pretty well gone and the new crop, it looks like there’s better size,” Gross said. “The carton sizes are start- ing to decline (in price), and the consumer bags are starting to rise.” USDA lists Norkotah pric- es for the Twin Falls-Burley district at $12 to $16 per hun- dredweight for cartons and $9 to $12 per hundredweight for 10-pound consumer bags. Since mid-August, University of Idaho Extension economist Chris McIntosh said prices of 10-pound consumer bags are up $3 per hundredweight, but 60-count cartons have dropped $7 per hundredweight. Retired UI economist Paul Patterson is hopeful that cheap- er prices during the past season triggered more consumption of fresh spuds, thereby changing consumer behavior. Though Russet Burbank harvest won’t commence until later this month, Idaho Potato Commission Pres- ident and CEO Frank Muir said test digs indicate Idaho’s major variety will also have larger size but fewer tubers beneath each plant. Strong dollar, port slowdown reduce potato exports problems that are still being resolved, including foreign buyers switching to other sup- DENVER — A strong pliers and a mid-summer glut dollar, a labor slowdown at caused by U.S. spud products West Coast container ports ¿QDOO\ DUULYLQJ RQ WRS RI UH- and a large European pota- placement purchases. He said to crop aligned to cause U.S. USPB committed an addi- potato exports to drop for the tional $300,000 reallocating ¿UVW WLPH LQ D GHFDGH GXULQJ some of its USDA Market the marketing year that ended Access Program dollars, em- June 30, according to a recent phasizing Japan and South U.S. Potato Board report. Korea, to win back lost U.S. The value of U.S. spud customers. exports, estimated at nearly $1.625 billion, was down 7 percent from the previous year, according to the report. Export volume — estimat- ed at nearly 68 million hun- dredweight on a fresh weight equivalent — was down about 5 percent, but still amounted to the second highest export volume on record, according to USPB. USPB Chief Marketing 2I¿FHU -RKQ 7RDVSHUQ VHHV D rosier export outlook for the current crop, given that the port labor dispute has been resolved, the Euro is strength- ening and this year’s European potato crop should be down due to reduced acreage and some weather challenges. “I do think we will resume growth this coming year,” Toaspern said. Toaspern said the port slowdown created lingering By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press USPB reported the larg- est export reduction occurred in the frozen category, where exports, estimated at $890 mil- lion, were down by 11 percent. Frozen export volume, with a fresh weight equivalent of nearly 4.7 million, was down 12 percent. Japan, the major foreign buyer of U.S. frozen potatoes, cut its U.S. volume by 23 per- cent and its global frozen pur- chases by 13 percent. 38-4/#4X 38-4/#4N