8
CapitalPress.com
April 8, 2016
Corn acres up in Northwest
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Water flows through an irrigation ditch near Nampa in Idaho’s
Treasure Valley area last July. A new study projects water demand
in the valley is poised to increase in the coming decades.
Treasure Valley growth projections
worry Idaho water managers
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — A new analysis
prepared for the Idaho Water
Resource Board shows de-
mand for water in the Trea-
sure Valley is projected to
increase substantially in the
coming decades.
The projections are based
on current population esti-
mates for the valley in south-
western Idaho, the state’s
main population center.
Brian Patton, chief of the
IWRB‘s planning bureau,
said the study is intended to
help plan for that growth so
it doesn’t impact senior wa-
ter rights, which in this area
means agriculture.
“We in no way want to
impact the water supplies of
those irrigation districts to
accommodate the growth,”
he told Capital Press. “We
have to figure out how to
bridge this gap without af-
fecting those senior water
rights.”
The study was commis-
sioned by the board and
prepared by SPF Water En-
gineering. Current estimates
by cities and counties show
the valley’s population
growing from 600,000 peo-
ple today to 1.57 million in
50 years.
Based on that growth,
current domestic, commer-
cial, municipal and industri-
al water demand is project-
ed to increase from 110,000
acre-feet per year now to
between 270,000 to 390,000
acre-feet. That’s a growth in
water demand of between
245 and 357 percent.
Based on those projec-
tions, even looking out 10
or 15 years, water demand
in the valley would grow by
50 to 70 percent, which is a
concern to irrigation districts
and water supply managers.
Those water demand
growth projections don’t in-
clude agriculture, which is
by far the biggest water user
in the Treasure Valley.
Tim Page, manager of the
Boise Project Board of Con-
trol, which provides water to
five irrigation districts and
167,000 acres, said his main
question is, “Where’s that
water going to come from?
Where do they intend to get
it from?”
The study says it will be
important to increase water
supplies in the valley through
a combination of measures,
including conservation, in-
creased groundwater pump-
ing, aquifer recharge, more
diversions from the Boise
River, reusing treated water
from sewage plants, increas-
ing reservoir storage capac-
ity and possibly diverting
water from the Snake River.
Clinton Pline, a farmer
and chairman of the Nam-
pa and Meridian Irrigation
District’s board of directors,
said accommodating the new
growth “will take conserva-
tion measures from all who
live here. But, more storage
on the Boise River system
will be necessary if we are
going to grow to the extent
projected in the (study).”
Patton said additional wa-
ter storage is one of the most
promising options and there
are parts of the valley that can
withstand additional ground-
water pumping.
“Conservation certainly
has a part to play in this and
there might be some things
we haven’t thought of yet,” he
said. “I think what will hap-
pen is there will be a mix and
match of all of those things.”
DECLO, Idaho — Mark
Darrington plans to replace
a pivot of wheat with silage
corn this spring, anticipating
he’ll get a better return from
the crop, which isn’t always
part of his rotation.
The Declo grower’s son
also plans to plant field corn.
With commodity prices de-
pressed across the board,
growers say they’re aiming
to make money by planting a
crop that gives them the most
yield per acre.
Corn acres will be up this
season nationwide, according
to a March 31 planting inten-
tions report by USDA’s Na-
tional Agricultural Statistics
Service.
According to the report,
U.S. growers plan to plant
more than 93.6 million acres
of corn this season, up 6 per-
cent from 2015. Idaho grow-
ers say they’ll plant 320,000
corn acres this season, up 14
percent from 2015, but equal
to the state’s 2014 acreage.
Oregon growers anticipate
planting 75,000 corn acres,
up 15 percent. Washington’s
planned 210,000 acres of
corn would represent a 24
percent increase, and Cali-
fornia’s 440,000 corn acres
would be up 2 percent.
“(Corn) is more cash flow
to support the state’s dairy
industry. Marshall said it’s
already clear barley yellow
dwarf virus will be rampant
in fall grains this season.
“We need to talk about
barley yellow dwarf. It’s a
really bad situation,” she
said. “If there’s more corn,
and it’s supposed to be real-
ly hot temperatures this year,
there’s going to be more
head blight and more insect
pressure.”
In Idaho, the increased
corn acreage apparently
won’t come at the expense of
wheat, barley or sugar beet
plantings. Growers in Idaho,
which has been the top pro-
ducing barley state in recent
years, will plant 560,000 bar-
ley acres this season, down
just 3 percent, compared with
Insect-eating
species at risk
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
White-nose syndrome, a
devastating disease for bats, has
made a 1,300-mile leap across
the U.S., showing up in a little
brown bat found by hikers 30
miles east of Seattle, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service an-
nounced Thursday.
The surprising discovery in-
troduces a disease that threatens
a dozen Washington species of
bats that benefit forests and
agricultural crops by eating in-
sects, according to the state De-
partment of Fish and Wildlife.
The disease was previously
detected in 28 states but only
as far west as the eastern edge
of Nebraska. USFWS spokes-
In agriculture, nothing is certain. Your interest rate should be.
We offer competitive interest rates for
your agricultural financing needs:
• FSA Preferred Lender
• Amortizations
up to 25 years
CONTACT: Kevin Arrien, or Joe Lodge
at Joyce Capital, Inc.
Agricultural Loan Agents
(208) 338-1560 • Boise, ID
joe@arrien.biz
per acre with a little better
profit margin,” Darrington
said. American Falls, Ida-
ho, grower Jim Tiede will
plant 150 acres of corn for
high-moisture grain this sea-
son. He said he’d plant more
if he was closer to buyers.
“All things considered,
you can probably do better
on corn versus $5 wheat,”
Tiede said. With increased
corn acreage comes in-
creased disease pressure
for grain growers, warned
University of Idaho Exten-
sion cereals pathologist Ju-
liet Marshall. She said corn
hosts Fusarium head blight,
barley yellow dwarf virus
and wheat streak mosaic
virus, and disease pressure
has risen in Idaho as grow-
ers have planted more corn
Bat disease jumps from Nebraska to Washington
Joyce Capital, Inc.
• Term agricultural loans
(purchases & refinances)
John O’Connell/Capital Press
High-moisture corn grain is harvested Oct. 2 near Pocatello, Idaho.
More Northwest farmers are planting corn this year because of its
higher yields compared to other crops.
a 12 percent national decline.
Idaho’s anticipated 1.221
million wheat acres in 2016
will be up 2 percent, com-
pared with a 9 percent U.S.
decline, and Idaho’s planned
102,000 acres of sugar beets
will be up 2 percent, while
the U.S. beet acreage will
remain flat.
Blaine Jacobson, exec-
utive director of the Idaho
Wheat Commission, said
barley acres are down slight-
ly because the malting com-
panies had a strong crop in
2015 and had enough carry-
over to relax their contract-
ing. He said the national
reduction in planted wheat
acres could help strength-
ened wheat prices in the fu-
ture, especially if major U.S.
growing areas don’t have
ideal weather, and Idaho’s
slight wheat acreage increase
represents incremental prog-
ress in returning the state to
production levels prior to a
2014 season in which grow-
ers experienced widespread
sprout damage.
Jacobson said corn is the
“big story” in the crop re-
port, however.
“None of the crops are re-
ally attractive, but if a grow-
er is trying to come as close
to break-even as possible,
corn, with its higher yield, is
more attractive than most,”
Jacobson said.
15-2/#17
Courtesy of Steve Taylor, University of Illinois/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
A little brown bat exhibits signs of white-nose syndrome, a disease
detected in March in a little brown bat in Western Washington. The
disease had not previously been found west of Nebraska. The U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service says the disease threatens insect-eating
bat species that aid agricultural crops.
woman Catherine Hibbard said
it’s unknown how white-nose
syndrome jumped to Washing-
ton and that having the disease
appear without warning was
unusual.
Elsewhere, the fungus that
causes white-nose syndrome has
been detected two or three years
before sick bats appeared. Find-
ing the diseased bat suggests the
fungus has been in Washington
for awhile, Hibbard said.
White-nose syndrome has
killed 6 million insect-eating
bats in North America since it
was first detected in 2007 in
eastern New York, according to
USFW.
“We are extremely con-
cerned about the confirmation
of (the disease) in Washington
state,” USFWS Director Dan
Ashe said in a written state-
ment. “Bats are a crucial part
our ecology and provide essen-
tial pest control for our farmers,
foresters and city residents.”
The disease is usually
spread from bat to bat, but peo-
ple can carry fungal spores on
their clothing, shoes and gear,
Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife veterinarian
Katie Haman said.
Hikers found a bat on the
ground that was unable to fly
March 11 near North Bend
and took it to the Progressive
Animal Welfare Society. The
bat had symptoms of a skin
infection common in bats with
white-nose syndrome and died
two days later, according to
USFW.
The animal society sent the
bat to the U.S. Geological Sur-
vey’s National Wildlife Health
Center in Madison, Wis., for
testing.
“And boom. We found the
disease,” USGS microbiologist
David Biehert said.
The USGS has been testing
samples collected from bats
west of Nebraska, but the sam-
ples have been too few — in
the “low thousands” — to give
researchers confidence that dis-
ease hadn’t spread to the West,
Biehert said.
The fungus may be hard-
er to detect in states, such as
Washington, where bats do not
hibernate in large numbers in
caves, he said.
White-nose syndrome is
not known to pose a threat to
livestock, humans, wildlife or
pets, but it’s nearly always fatal
to many bat species, including
little brown bats, a common
North American species. The
disease is named for the fuzzy
white fungal growth sometimes
seen on the muzzles of infected
bats.
The fungus invades the skin
of hibernating bats, damaging
wings, disturbing hibernation,
depleting fat reserves and caus-
ing dehydration and death.
“The bat found near North
Bend most likely had been
roused from hibernation and
was attempting to feed at a time
of very low insect availability,”
Haman said in a written state-
ment. “At this point we don’t
know where the infected bat
may have spent the winter, but
it seems likely that it was some-
where in the central Cascades.”
WDFW will spearhead the
search for more diseased bats
in the area. The department
Wednesday set out devices to
record bat sounds overnight
to pinpoint where the depart-
ment will try to catch live bats
to sample, WDFW wildlife di-
versity division manager Penny
Becker said.
WDFW also encouraged
people to report — but not
touch — dead bats or bats act-
ing strangely, such as by flying
during the day or in freezing
weather.
“The next couple of months
will be pretty important in find-
ing out the prevalence of white-
nose syndrome,” Becker said.
The best hope for stopping
the disease rests with people
who venture into bat caves. Of-
ficials urged them to be careful
about spreading the fungus.
Biehert said a vaccine
against white-nose syndrome
is being tested. Researchers
also are studying why some
bat species are more vulnera-
ble to the disease than others
in hopes of finding ways to
halt its spread.
15-4/#18
15-4/#5