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10 CapitalPress.com December 11, 2015 Idaho Subscribe to our weekly Idaho email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters 2016 could be tough year, but there are silver linings By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press NAMPA, Idaho — Farm commodity prices are likely to face continued downward pressure in 2016. But gross farm and ranch income in the United States is expected to be near $400 billion next year and that will provide plenty of opportuni- ty for good operators to make money. That was the message Mi- chael Swanson, an ag econo- mist and senior vice president for Wells Fargo, delivered to a couple hundred people Dec. 2 during the Idaho-Eastern Ore- gon Seed Association’s Winter Convention. USDA forecasts that total net farm income in the U.S. will be about $58 billion in Sean Ellis/Capital Press Corn is harvested in a field near Homedale, Idaho, in October. Ag economists say 2016 could be a tough year for U.S. agriculture but there are silver linings and farmers and ranchers are in a better position now than they were during the 1980s farm crisis. 2016. That’s down significant- ly from the past few years and a little above the $56 billion total in 2006, he said. The good news, Swanson said, is that gross U.S. farming and ranching revenue in 2006 totaled $275 billion while it is expected to be close to $400 billion next year. “That gives you a lot of opportunity if you are a good operator,” he said. “It’s about executing in the environment you find yourself in.” There is a wide gap in cost structure among farmers and ranchers, he said, and produc- ers should focus on improving their performance. “If you adopt and adapt technology faster than your competitor, you will out-cost them,” Swanson said. If the Federal Reserve raises interest rates, as many people expect it to during its Decem- ber meeting, that will affect for- eign exchange rates, which will in turn have an impact on U.S. agricultural exports, he said. A stronger U.S. dollar would make it “more difficult for us to export and easier for us to import,” Swanson said. “That will have an impact on everyone in this room.” China’s economic growth, U.S. policy on ethanol, and a tightening labor force that is putting inflationary pressure on wages, are other major fac- tors to keep an eye on in 2016, he added. Next year will be anoth- er tough year for agriculture overall but U.S. farmers are in a much better position to weather this downturn than they were during the 1980s farm crisis because their bal- ance sheets are stronger, said University of Idaho Agricul- tural Economist Garth Tay- lor. “Nationally, farmers have extremely good balance sheets,” he said. “They are tremendously better than they were in the ’80s.” Taylor said that according to USDA’s Economic Re- search Service, U.S. farmers’ average debt-to-equity ratio was at about 28 percent in 1985. That ratio is currently at 15 percent. Doug Robinson, North- west Farm Credit’s senior vice president for Western Idaho, agreed with Taylor’s assessment. Continued weakness in commodity prices is going to put more pressure on farm income in 2016, Robinson said. But, he added, “Farmers are in a much better position coming into this downturn” than they were in the 1980s. Idaho Farm Bureau elects new president Idaho Farm Bureau adds PCN policies Priestley loses bid for 10th term Capital Press By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press FORT HALL, Idaho — Shelley potato farmer Bryan Searle has defeated incumbent Frank Priestley to become the first new Idaho Farm Bureau Federation president in 18 years. Farm Bureau delegates elected Searle, a member of their board for the past 24 years, as their 14th president during the 76th annual meeting on Dec. 3. Searle, 54, described Priestley, a Franklin farmer, as his mentor. “We’ve spent our life in Farm Bureau together with Frank and his wife,” Searle said. “Eighteen years is phe- nomenal. The hours he has committed to the organization, it’s even hard to comprehend all that he’s done.” In turn, Priestley, who was running for his 10th term as president, said Searle and Mark Trupp, of Teton County, who was re-elected as the organi- zation’s vice president, were the top two men in his “inner circle,” and he’d hoped they’d take over Farm Bureau’s lead- ership following his own ten- ure. “Bryan, I hope you love it as much as I have, and I think John O’Connell/Capital Press Bryan Searle, a Shelley, Idaho, potato farmer, speaks on the morning of Dec. 3 after being elected as the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation’s new president. Searle defeated Frank Priestley, who has served as the organization’s president for the past 18 years. you will,” said Priestley, who won his first election by a sin- gle vote. “Where would we be without Farm Bureau in our fight for every issue?” Farm Bureau delegates also re-elected board members Tom Daniel, of Boundary Coun- ty, Chris Dalley, of Bingham County, Rick Pearson, of Twin Falls County, and Tracy Wal- ton, of Gem County. Stepha- nie Mickelsen, of Bonneville County, was elected as a new state board member. During an endorsement speech prior to voting, Twin Falls County Farm Bureau President Elizabeth Kohtz de- scribed Searle as forward-think- ing, skilled at building grass- roots support for agricultural issues and a leader willing to challenge the status quo. By contrast, Tim Lowry, an Owyhee County rancher, likened Priestley to a veter- an workhorse, paired with a younger horse to train it while contributing to a smooth jour- ney. When wildfires ravaged grazing land in his county last summer, Lowry said Priestley was on the ground assessing how Farm Bureau could help. But Lowry was most impressed by Priestley’s constant attention to more mundane issues, ad- dressed behind the scenes. Searle, a third-generation farmer, and his wife, Mary, have five children. Searle now farms about 5,500 acres with his brothers but plans to soon break off from them and farm 2,200 acres with his son. He raises mostly spuds, grain, al- falfa and hybrid canola seed on his farm but said he strives to try new things. For example, his farm raised 7 acres of car- rots for a Chicago food bank this season. Yields and quality both exceeded expectations, but harvesting was a challenge. He envisions Idaho growers could raise two carrot crops in the same season. Searle said seeking to build trade markets will be a top pri- ority as he heads forward with Farm Bureau. “A lot of times, the excess is 2 percent, 4 percent or 6 per- cent. As a potato grower it takes the price maybe from break- even to way below production costs,” Searle said. “We have to look constantly at markets.” Idaho Farm Bureau Federation backs Boise irrigators By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press FORT HALL, Idaho — The Idaho Farm Bureau Fed- eration has formally com- mitted its support to a group of Boise area water users in- volved in a dispute over stor- age water rights. During the organization’s 76th annual meeting on Dec. 2, members of Farm Bureau’s House of Delegates unani- mously approved the policy. It was among a host of new or revised Farm Bureau poli- cies touching on topics such on good science, stakeholder participation and minimal impact to grower opera- FORT HALL, Idaho — tions.” The third new resolu- The new president of the tion applicable to PCN sup- Idaho Farm Bureau Feder- ports amending the state’s ation and the organization’s Plant Pest Act to prohibit lone new board member are the Idaho State Department both potato farmers who of Agriculture from inspect- have dealt with a pale cyst ing farms “without probable nematode quarantine and say cause.” helping farmers who have The Mickelsens were struggled due to the pest will among the growers in- be part of their agenda. volved in the PCN program Idaho Farm Bureau elect- who filed a lawsuit seeking ed Bryan Searle as president changes. Among their con- and Stephanie Mickelsen to cerns, they allege the choice its state board on Dec. 3. by USDA’s Animal and Plant The tiny worm, which Health Inspection Service to feeds off potato roots and fumigate cysts with meth- hatches from cysts yl bromide has “The only that can remain vi- caused toxicity in able in soil for up subsequent forage to 30 years, was organization crops. found in the Shel- Mickelsen be- that has ley area in 2006. lieves the “best It remains the only helped PCN science” hasn’t known PCN infes- growers since been followed in tation in the U.S. the PCN program and now includes this problem thus far, and af- 2,897 infested fected growers acres under quar- broke out, the haven’t had an ad- antine in an area only voice that equate voice in the of Bonneville and program. Bingham counties. would advocate In response to Another 7,734 growers concerns, for us was Idaho State De- acres are regulat- ed, with special Idaho Farm partment of Ag- phytosanitary re- riculture formed Bureau.” quirements and an advisory com- other restrictions, mittee, which in- due to associa- Stephanie Mickelsen, cludes Searle and Idaho Farm was scheduled for tions with infested Bureau board a Dec. 8 meeting fields. Searle stressed in Idaho Falls, to that PCN is just one of many consider other alternatives, important issues on Farm though APHIS officials ac- Bureau’s radar and certainly knowledged they’re com- won’t be the organization’s fortable with how the current top priority. program is progressing. “I see the PCN issue as no Mickelsen said Farm different from the fires this Bureau’s clout has already summer or anything else,” helped facilitate PCN dis- Searle said. “Every person cussions with regulatory in this state has a challenge, agencies and should con- and I didn’t run to be presi- tinue to affect outcomes, dent to say I have a personal though she agrees PCN is agenda or I need some atten- just one of many important tion to it.” issues for the organization. On Dec. 2, Idaho Farm “When you have an issue Bureau’s House of Delegates where people end up being approved three new policies harmed and damaged, I think pertaining to PCN. The orga- that’s part of the (board’s) nization now officially sup- role, to be an advocate for ports removing PCN from those people,” Mickelsen the world quarantine list, said. “The only organization where it’s been since 1918. that has helped PCN growers Another new resolution since this problem broke out, reads: “We support a feder- the only voice that would al and state pale cyst nem- advocate for us was Idaho atode program that is based Farm Bureau.” By JOHN O’CONNELL as national parks, Planned Parenthood, executive orders, federal nutrition guidelines, alternative energy and feder- al trade agreements. Seventy county Farm Bureau leaders voted. Farm Bureau leaders con- tend the Idaho Department of Water Resources has sought to change the interpretation of state policy, seeking to count flood-control releases from Lucky Peak Reservoir against senior water right holders by allowing junior users to ac- cess their water before the reservoir refills from releases. H-B SYSTEM 2000 HORIZONTAL BALE CUTTING SAW “We feel like it’s important to get Farm Bureau Federation behind the effort to prevent the takings of water rights,” said Sid Freeman, of Canyon County. “We have collective support from all of the mu- nicipalities up and down the Boise River. This isn’t just an agricultural issue.” IDWR Deputy Director Mat Weaver said IDWR’s policy has been the same since 1986, and only once — in 1989 — has any injury re- sulted to senior users by more water than necessary being evacuated for flood control. In 2013, the Idaho Su- preme Court ruled storage rights in federal on-stream reservoirs entitle users to a single fill, leaving the defini- tion of a fill to the IDWR di- rector. IDWR Director Gary Spackman ruled this fall, in interpreting what constitutes a fill, that senior users are not entitled to refill shortages stemming from flood control. Just prior to Spackman’s decision, a special master determined in a recommen- dation to Idaho District Judge Eric Wildman that no water rights should be permitted on the second fill, disagree- ing that flood-control releas- es should count as part of a first-fill water right given that irrigators can’t put the water to use. The heavy duty, hydraulically powered horizontal Bale Reclaim system, with “Vertical cut positioning” SALVAGE ED BALES CONTAMINAT COST- QUICKLY AND EFFECTIVELY • The HB System 2000 comes complete with hydraulic cylinder and controls for powered cut depth adjustment through the cut. • Automatic bar oiler system is a standard feature on this unit. 50-4/#8 • This saw splits bales using an L-M DE-68 inch saw bar running .404 pitch chain designed for parallel cutting through any type of hay or straw. 50-4/#4x 50-4/#4x