10 CapitalPress.com
October 23, 2015
Idaho
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Fresh spud packers grow organic category
Capital Press
IDAHO FALLS — Of-
ficials with two large fresh
potato packing operations
in Eastern Idaho say they’re
working to increase their prod-
uct offerings in the growing
organic category.
Wada Farms, based in Pin-
gree, intends to make its first
organic spud shipments during
the work week beginning Oct.
26. Idaho Falls-based Potan-
don Produce is exploring op-
tions to grow its overall or-
ganic supply base, said Ralph
Schwartz, vice president of
sales, marketing and innova-
tion.
Schwartz said his compa-
ny started supplying organic
spuds about five years ago
and has seen steady growth
of about 2.5 percent per year.
Last year, Potandon created its
own organic label, featuring
3-pound bags of russets, reds
and yellows.
Schwartz said Potandon
contracts for organic spuds
with established organic grow-
ers in Washington, Colorado
and Wisconsin.
“We anticipate (organic) to
continue to grow,” Schwartz
said. “I think it is here to stay.
Environmentalists target
Snake River dams — again
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press
SPOKANE — The issue of
breaching four giant dams on
the Snake River to help endan-
gered salmon runs has percolat-
ed in the Northwest for decades,
but the idea has gained new mo-
mentum.
Following renewed political
pressure to remove the dams,
people who oppose the struc-
tures gathered Oct. 3 on the
Snake River in up to 200 boats.
They unfurled a giant banner
that said, “Free The Snake.”
“The groundswell that is
occurring right now to remove
the four dams is like nothing
I’ve seen since 1998,” said Sam
Mace, director of an anti-dam
group called Save Our Wild
Salmon.
Critics say the dams kill vast
numbers of salmon and steel-
head, and do not provide enough
benefits to compensate for the
losses of those iconic fish.
A look at the arguments on
both sides:
Remove the dams
A coalition of environmen-
talists, Indian tribes and outdoor
enthusiasts want Lower Gran-
ite, Little Goose, Lower Mon-
umental and Ice Harbor dams
breached. The dams were built
in the 1960s and 1970s.
Migrating fish died by the
thousands this summer because
of higher-than-normal water
temperatures in the reservoirs.
In January, a petition con-
taining more than 70,000 signa-
tures asking to remove the dams
was delivered to the Obama ad-
ministration, Mace said.
Those who want the dams
removed argue that they harm
fish and disrupt the food chain
for larger species.
Young fish have trouble ne-
gotiating the reservoirs and can
get lost and die. Longer spawn-
ing journeys also leave fish
exhausted and depleted when
they finally reach the ocean.
Killer whales in the Pacif-
ic Ocean depend on chinook
salmon as a mainstay of their
diets, and would be helped if
the dams were breached, said
Deborah Giles of the Southern
Resident Killer Whale Chi-
nook Salmon Initiative.
Meanwhile, central Idaho
communities that depend on
tourism would benefit if the
dams were removed, as fishing
seasons would expand, dam
opponents say.
Opponents contend that the
shipping traffic made possible
by the dams is in sharp decline
and that the hydropower pro-
duced by the dams can be re-
placed with alternative energy
resources.
The effort to remove the
dams was stymied during the
administration of President
George W. Bush, who visited
Eastern Washington to declare
that the dams would not be re-
moved under his watch.
Save the dams
The four dams have plenty
of supporters, said Kristin Mei-
ra, director of the Pacific North-
west Waterways Association in
Portland, Oregon.
In 2012, 10 percent of all
U.S. wheat exports moved
through the Snake River dams,
she said.
“During the peak fall trans-
portation season, barges and
cruise ships can be seen along-
side salmon fishermen through-
out the Columbia and Snake
River System,” David Doer-
ingsfeld, manager of the Port of
Lewiston, said.
Bill Flory, a wheat farmer in
Lewiston, said the dams are a
vital part of his business.
“The dams give me the abil-
ity to load my grain in Lewis-
ton, and I know without ques-
tion that four days later it will
have been loaded on a ship in
Portland, ready for export,”
Flory said.
A tugboat pushing four
barges is moving 400,000 to
480,000 bushels of wheat,
dam supporters say. It would
take some 538 semi-trucks or
140 rail cars to move the same
amount.
Dam supporters also con-
tend that salmon runs are recov-
ering. The Snake River dams
are equipped with sophisticated
fish ladders that allow return-
ing salmon to reach spawning
grounds.
“We’re seeing more salmon
in the Columbia and Snake Riv-
ers than before Bonneville Dam
was put in place,” Meira said.
In addition, the four dams
produce enough electricity to
power a city the size of Seat-
tle, said Terry Flores of North-
west RiverPartners, a pro-dam
group.
A lot of the younger genera-
tion, they pay attention to what
they consume and what they
put into their bodies.”
Wada Farms planted its first
organic spud crop this spring
and recently harvested 100
combined acres of certified
organic russets, reds and golds
in Eastern Idaho, said Kevin
Stanger, vice president of sales
and marketing. Stanger said
Wada had a good first organic
crop, with yields roughly 60
percent of conventional spuds.
Wada intends to increase to
150 to 200 organic acres next
season, Stanger said.
“We’re trying to diversify
our risk in the marketplace
from growing 100 percent
conventional Russet Bur-
banks,” Stanger said.
Stanger said the addition
of organic spuds is also aimed
at improving customer conve-
nience. “We had a lot of cus-
tomers who would always ask
us, ‘Hey, do you do organics?’
And it’s not like they need a
truckload, just a pallet here
and there,” Stanger said.
Stanger said Wada used
a lot of manual weed control
in its organic acreage, hiring
about 20 Shoshone-Bannock
Tribal members to aid in rogu-
ing fields. Growing organic
potatoes also necessitates that
Wada raise organic rotation
crops in years in which spuds
aren’t planted.
To meet USDA organic
certification, producers must
use only organic-approved
products on their fields for
three years, among other re-
quirements. Shilo Murdoch,
a farm manager with Wada,
said his company has leased
ground that had been left
fallow in recent years and
improved irrigation systems
for organic production. In
addition to the current organ-
ic spud crop, Murdoch said
Wada planted some wheat for
organic flour and mustard as a
cover crop, due to mustard’s
ability to act as a natural fu-
migant in lieu of chemicals
that can’t be used in organic
production. The wheat and
mustard fields will be planted
in organic spuds next season.
“We probably don’t have a
large enough land base for our
organic program right now,”
Murdoch said. “We’re going
to be looking for some more
ground.”
Murdoch said longer rota-
tions between potatoes will be
important in Wada’s organic
production to help break up
disease cycles.
Chamber committee supports
right-to-farm disclosure on land sales
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
CALDWELL, Idaho —
The Nampa and Caldwell
chambers of commerce joint
agribusiness committee is
supporting legislation that
could provide agricultural op-
erations with protection from
nuisance complaints.
It would require a right-to-
farm disclosure on land sales
near farms or ranches.
People who purchase prop-
erty near an agricultural op-
eration would be required to
sign a disclosure form saying
they are aware that a variety
of farming-related activities
may occur in the area that
could be inconvenient to them
or cause them discomfort.
That includes the use of
chemicals, dust, odors, noise
from tractors and other ma-
chinery and harvesting and
planting.
The disclosure would let
the purchaser know these ac-
tivities are protected by the
state’s Right to Farm Act.
It would be required to be
signed at closing and the doc-
ument would be included with
the property’s deed.
“It’s really an educational
process as much as anything
else,” said former state Rep.
Darrell Bolz, who added the
wording to the committee’s
position statement after being
contacted by a former Wash-
ington resident who told him a
similar disclosure has helped
farmers in Skagit County,
Wash.
The Skagit County Right-
to-Manage Natural Resource
Lands Disclosure tells people
who buy homes near natural
resource operations that they
“should be prepared to accept
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Corn is harvested in a field near Homedale, Idaho, on Oct. 6. An Idaho chamber of commerce
committee is supporting legislation that could provide farmers and ranchers a buffer from nuisance
complaints.
“If we could just educate people about
what’s happening with agriculture,
that would be helpful.”
Former state Rep. Darrell Bolz
such incompatibilities, incon-
veniences or discomfort from
normal, necessary natural re-
source land operations when
performed in compliance with
best management practices
and local, state and federal
law.”
Support of such legisla-
tion in Idaho was added to the
agribusiness committee’s ag-
riculture position statement,
which is sent to every state
legislator.
“If we could just educate
people about what’s hap-
pening with agriculture, that
would be helpful,” Bolz said.
“I think it’s a good idea,”
said ag lobbyist Roger Batt,
who guided the last major up-
grade of the state’s Right to
Farm Act through the Idaho
Legislature in 2011.
Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell,
chairman of the Senate Agri-
cultural Affairs Committee,
said the idea was worth ex-
ploring.
“I’d give it a hearing in the
agriculture committee,” he
said.
The person who recom-
mended the idea to Bolz told
him in an email that the dis-
closure form has worked well
in Skagit County, where many
farmers and ranchers are fac-
ing the same rapid develop-
ment pressure as farmers in
Idaho’s Treasure Valley.
“I can tell you that this
procedure has served the ag-
ricultural interests in Skagit
County well to date,” he stat-
ed. “I hear complaints about
the difficulties non-ag folks
buying houses in the rural ar-
eas of Canyon County are cre-
ating. This is a partial solution
that has withstood the test of
time.”
Salvage logging sales offered following wildfires
BOISE, Idaho (AP) —
Idaho officials are offering
15 salvage logging sales fol-
lowing a summer of wildfires
and are looking at recovering
$13.7 million in firefighting
costs for two blazes possibly
started by negligence.
The salvage sales total
about 88 million board feet,
officials with the Idaho De-
partment of Lands told the
Idaho Land Board Oct. 20.
The 15 salvage logging
sales are the most state offi-
cials could recall. Such sales
produce about 50 to 60 per-
cent of the revenue of what
would have been expected
had the trees not burned.
43-2/#14
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Money from state timber sales
mostly goes to public schools.
The Idaho Land Board also
went into a closed session to
discuss potential litigation
to recover firefighting costs
from two northern Idaho fires.
“They’re still investigating
to see how successful we can
be in pursuing those,” Gov.
Butch Otter said after the
meeting.
Another fire listed as hu-
man-caused currently burning
about 40 miles northeast of
Boise was also discussed in
the open portion of the meet-
ing as one that state officials
might seek reimbursement
for from a potential negligent
party. That fire, which started
Oct. 10 and destroyed three
cabins, is listed at 100 per-
cent contained, with crews on
Tuesday doing mop-up work
and rehabilitation.
Overall, Idaho taxpayers
are on the hook for about $60
million in firefighting costs so
far year.
Idaho State Forester Da-
vid Groeschl told Land Board
members that the amount
of Idaho Endowment Land
burned this year was about
six times the 20-year average.
A low snowpack in north-
ern Idaho combined with the
month of June being 11 de-
grees above normal set the
stage with tinder-dry forests,
state officials said.
Early predictions indicate
that next year’s wildfire sea-
son in northern Idaho could
be similar, Groeschl said. He
also said the state’s fire sea-
son was getting longer, with
the historical end in Sep-
tember more often now in
October.
Land Board member Bran-
don Woolf, the state controller,
asked Groeschl if this year’s
type of fire season could be
expected more often in future
years. “As far as if this is the
new norm, we’re planning as
if it will be,” Groeschl told the
board.
After
the
meeting,
Groeschl said that meant state
officials planned to work with
local fire entities to get quick
responses and have more
pre-positioned
firefighters
heading into the season. Also
after the meeting he said that
an individual and a compa-
ny are the entities the state is
looking at to seek reimburse-
ment from for the $13.7 mil-
lion.
Sometimes companies or
their insurer are able to pay,
Groeschl said. For individ-
uals, he said, the state looks
at such things as assets and
whether an individual’s home
owner’s insurance could pay.
Despite it being late Oc-
tober, Groeschl wasn’t ready
to declare the state clear of
potential new wildfires, not-
ing a large rain or snowstorm
hadn’t yet occurred. “We ha-
ven’t had a season-ending
event,” he said.