10 CapitalPress.com
April 22, 2016
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Idaho
Idaho drafts water sustainability plan
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
ST. ANTHONY, Idaho —
A subcommittee of the Idaho
Water Resource Board has
completed a draft sustain-
ability plan, offering guid-
ance to preserve the state’s
water supply.
Pending approval by the
full board in May, a public
comment period encom-
passing seven statewide
meetings on the plan will
run through the third week
of September.
The board will then con-
template revisions, based on
the public’s input, and the
plan will be submitted for
the state Legislature’s ap-
proval in January 2017.
The draft is three pages
long and will be added to
the state water plan, estab-
lishing broad principles for
leaders to consider in their
water management policies
and decisions.
“It sets an overall state-
wide vision for achieving
sustainability of our water
resources so we have ade-
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Jeff Raybould, a St. Anthony, Idaho, farmer who chairs the Idaho
Water Resource Board subcommittee that created a draft sustain-
ability plan to govern Idaho’s water management, leads an April 12
tour of a canal passing through his farm dug specifically to facilitate
managed aquifer recharge.
quate water supplies to meet
existing and future water
needs,” said Water Board
member Vince Alberdi.
In 2012 Idaho Gov.
Butch Otter directed the
board to create a sustain-
able water policy and high-
lighted the project during
his most recent State of the
State address.
Idaho Department of Wa-
ter Resources senior water
resource planner Neeley
Miller drafted the plan with
the board’s input. Miller
said the board also got ideas
for the draft by meeting
with companies and entities
that have water sustainabil-
ity plans, including the cit-
ies of Meridian and Hailey,
Idaho Power, Clear Springs
Foods and J.R. Simplot Co.
The plan outlines imple-
mentation strategies such as
inventorying Idaho’s cur-
rent and future water needs,
studying water trends, iden-
tifying projects and man-
agement options that opti-
mize water supplies without
impairing quality, working
to enhance surface water
storage, maintaining fund-
ing for aquifer stabilization
strategies and identifying
water conservation mea-
sures for users. The docu-
ment also identifies water
milestones for the state to
meet.
“It’s a big step in the
right direction for the State
of Idaho to take to high-
light sustainability practic-
es that are in place and to
set benchmarks to create a
more sustainable, long-last-
ing water supply for current
and future uses,” said Jeff
Raybould, a St. Anthony
farmer who chairs the sub-
committee assigned to draft
the plan.
The policy will also help
guide how Idaho invests
water sustainability fund-
ing approved during the
recent legislative session,
including $5 million in an-
nual cigarette tax dollars
continuing through 2019,
another $5 million in annual
general fund dollars starting
in the next fiscal year and a
$2.5-million one-time pay-
ment.
IDWR Planning Divi-
sion Chief Brian Patton said
states throughout the West
have been enacting sus-
tainable water plans. Pat-
ton said the development of
Idaho’s plan was furthered
by the recent water call set-
tlement agreement between
Eastern Snake Plain Aqui-
fer groundwater users and
senior irrigators with the
Surface Water Coalition.
The parties have agreed to
take steps toward revers-
ing the aquifer’s declining
levels.
“I do think we are a little
unique in (Idaho) in that we
are really on the verge of re-
solving some of these prob-
lems,” Patton said.
S. Idaho Livestock Hall of Fame honors inductees
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
TWIN FALLS, Idaho —
The Southern Idaho Livestock
Hall of Fame celebrated its
newest inductees at the orga-
nization’s 57th annual ban-
quet on Tuesday evening.
The honored inductees
were cow-calf operators Jim
and Nedra Korte of Buhl,
cattle buyer and feeder Phil
Munsee of Twin Falls, cat-
tle producers and saleyard
owners Bruce and Christine
Billington of Twin Falls and
ranchers Ted and Betty Ann
Higley of Malta.
The Kortes raise 270
cow-calf pairs on about 580
acres in a rotational grazing
operation that utilizes five
pastures, with two addition-
al pastures for replacement
heifers. Converting their
cropland to pastures about
20 years ago and introduc-
ing sprinkler irrigation, they
run a sustainable operation
that utilizes the herd to both
fertilize and harvest the for-
age.
Their forage production
and grazing management,
which minimize soil erosion
and protects water quali-
ty, earned them the 2015
Grassman of the Year award
by the Idaho Association of
Conservation Districts.
Munsee parlayed his ear-
ly start in the packing indus-
try into a career in the cattle
business and his own pack-
ing house and feedlots. His
expertise in cattle slaugh-
tering and eye for quality
animals earned him a rep-
utation as a knowledgeable
buyer and established him
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
Cattlemen and women pose for a photo following their induction into the Southern Idaho Livestock Hall of Fame Tuesday evening at
the Turf Club in Twin Falls. From left are Ted and Betty Ann Higley, Phil and Pat Munsee, Jim and Nedra Korte and Bruce and Christine
Billington.
as a valuable asset in South-
ern Idaho’s packing and
feeder industries.
His cattle-buying savvy
continues to play an inte-
gral role in the 6,000 head
feedlot he operates with his
sons.
In addition to running
their own cattle, the Bill-
ingtons have owned and op-
erated the Twin Falls Live-
stock Commission Co. since
the 1980s. They have built
the business, with the help
of knowledgeable and loyal
employees, on honesty and
customer service.
The saleyard is one of
the largest of its kind in the
region, drawing about 175
buyers and consigners from
much of Idaho, northern
Nevada and northern Utah.
Weekly sales handle up to
3,000 head of cattle in the
busy season.
The Billingtons also ac-
commodate the region with
sheep, goat, swine and
horse sales and have been
long-time supporters of FFA
and 4-H.
The Higleys have been
ranching in Southern Idaho
since the early 1970s, and
were one of the first opera-
tions in the area to raise An-
gus cattle. They grew their
family operation over the
years to include more farm
ground, a backgrounding
operation, a small feedlot
and a custom hay business.
The Higleys were also
part owners of the Burley
Livestock Auction for five
years, and Ted has served
as president of the Elba
Cattle Association and the
Farm Service Agency coun-
ty committee and served
on the Cassia County Fair
Board for 18 years.
The Hall of Fame ban-
quet was held at the Turf
Club with about 170 people
in attendance and included
a special tribute to early in-
ductees.
Slow
sales for
re-introduced
dry bean
herbicide
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
HOMEDALE, Idaho —
First-year sales of Eptam
20G, an herbicide that was re-
turned to the market last year
at the urging of Idaho’s dry
bean industry, were slower
than anticipated.
Gowan Co. stopped manu-
facturing the product in 2008
for a variety of reasons, in-
cluding reduced demand, but
Idaho’s dry bean industry per-
suaded the company to re-in-
troduce it last year.
Gowan produced 400,000
pounds of the product, which
company officials estimated
to be about a two-year supply,
and the company’s distribu-
tors began selling it again last
spring.
Gowan officials have said
the market’s response to the
product will determine wheth-
er the company continues pro-
ducing it.
While the company still
has high hopes for Eptam
20G, “Our distributors ... are
sitting on a lot of inventory
and they are not particularly
pleased with how the program
turned out last year,” said Ken
Reh, Gowan’s product man-
ager for Eptam.
Some Idaho dry bean
farmers say that Eptam 20G,
which is the granular version
of the herbicide, works bet-
ter in controlling the hairy
nightshade weed than Eptam
7E, the liquid version of the
product.
Nightshade is the Idaho
dry bean industry’s top weed
challenge and costs the in-
dustry about $8 million a
year, according to Idaho Bean
Commission estimates based
on grower surveys.
IBC board member Don
Tolmie said Eptam 20G’s re-
sidual effect is much longer
and suppresses the weed later
in the season than other prod-
ucts.
Eptam 7E has to be re-ap-
plied during the season, while
Eptam 20G is applied once at
planting, which reduces the
need for an additional tractor
trip through the field, said Tol-
mie, production manager of
Treasure Valley Seed Co.
He estimates that Eptam
20G saves growers in areas
with high nightshade pres-
sure between $60 and $90 an
acre, most of that in the re-
duced need for manual weed
control.
Hairy nightshade is a pro-
lific seed producer that emerg-
es throughout the season. As
little as two nightshade plants
per meter of row can reduce
bean yields by 13 percent,
said University of Idaho re-
searcher Mike Thornton.
ISDA plans meeting on food safety rules
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
ONTARIO, Ore. — Ida-
ho State Department of Ag-
riculture officials will pro-
vide an overview of the new
Food Safety Modernization
Act rules and how they will
17-2/#5
impact agriculture during an
April 26 meeting.
FSMA “is widely con-
sidered the most sweeping
change to food safety regula-
tion since the 1940s and will
have a direct impact on many
Idaho growers, processors
and shippers,” according to an
17-4/#7
ISDA press release,
The meeting will be held
from 6-8 p.m. at the Clari-
on Inn in Ontario, Ore. The
southwestern Idaho and East-
ern Oregon farm industry is
closely linked and many pro-
ducers in this area farm in
both states.
The meeting will focus on
FSMA’s produce rule and its
preventive controls for human
food rule.
The produce rule requires
irrigation water to meet min-
imum standards for bacteria,
a provision that is a big con-
cern to onion farmers in this
area.
The produce rule covers
on-farm activities related to
the growing of agricultural
commodities that are con-
sumed raw. The preventive
controls for human food rule
covers food manufacturing.
According to the ISDA
news release, the meeting is
targeted toward small and
mid-sized farms and facilities.
For more information
about the meeting, contact
Candi Fitch, executive direc-
tor of the Idaho Fruit and Veg-
etable Association, at (208)
722-5111.