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10 CapitalPress.com July 1, 2016 Subscribe to our weekly Idaho email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Idaho Progress reported toward restoring Idaho chipping potato access to Japan By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press IDAHO FALLS — A source with the Idaho Potato Commission said progress was made toward restoring access for fresh Idaho chip- ping potatoes to Japan during a recent meeting between Jap- anese governmental leaders and USDA oficials. Leaders with USDA’s An- imal and Plant Health Inspec- tion Service and Japan’s Min- istry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries met in Idaho Falls June 1-2 for their annual bilateral plant health negotia- tions. In conjunction with the meeting, leaders from both John O’Connell/Capital Press Potatoes are harvested in Pingree, Idaho, in 2013 in this ile photo. Progress was reportedly made toward restoring access to ship fresh Idaho chipping potatoes to Japan during a recent meeting between Japanese governmental leaders and USDA oficials. countries also visited an East- ern Idaho seed potato farm, a local packing shed and US- DA’s pale cyst nematode pro- Idaho sees 250% gain in mustard acres Capital Press AMERICAN FALLS, Ida- ho — Seth Woodland saw no reason to start out small in his irst season of raising mustard. The Lincoln County, Idaho, grower planted 450 acres of the specialty crop this spring, and based on current pricing, he wishes he’d planted 1,000 acres. Mountain States Oilseeds founder Bill Meadows said mustard prices, at 33.1 cents per pound delivered, are up about 2.5 cents per pound from last year, making it one of the few crops to have increased in value in 2016. Idaho growers have seized the opportunity to plant a proitable crop, leading Meadows to increase his con- tracted acreage by 250 percent from last season, when he con- tracted for about 3,000 acres. “Grain is worthless. What more needs to be said?” Wood- land said. “We want to grow something we can make mon- ey at.” Meadows said Woodland, who farms under irrigation, and irst-year mustard grow- er Ryan Cranney, of Oakley, John O’Connell/Capital Press Martin Sanchez seals a bag of mustard on June 9 at Mountain States Oilseeds in American Falls, Idaho. Owner Bill Mead- ows says his decision to give Sanchez, a bilingual employee, marketing responsibilities for Mexico and South America has helped his company ramp up mustard production. have two of the best looking mustard ields he’s ever seen for the date. Meadows contracts for mustard acres throughout the Snake River Plain, from Ash- ton to Twin Falls. He said 15 of his 36 mustard growers are new this season, and most of the longstanding growers have increased their acres. About 40 percent of his company’s mustard is raised without irri- gation. He’s optimistic dryland mustard will yield more than 1,000 pounds per acre this season, while irrigated will yield between 2,200 and 2,500 pounds. Though Meadows believes growers have a good feel for meeting nutrient needs of mus- tard, he anticipates additional yield gains as they get a better handle on irrigation practices. He said U.S. prices have been strong due to acreage reductions in Canada. Na- tionwide, growers produced 55,000 mustard acres in 2015, compared with 15,000 acres in 2013. U.S. statistics for the current season aren’t available. Meadows anticipates an- other large increase in his own contracted mustard acres for the 2017 season, based on his recent successes in ind- ing new buyers in Mexico and South America. He said attending trade missions orga- nized by the Idaho State De- partment of Agriculture and giving bilingual employees more marketing responsibil- ities have helped spur his re- cent growth. November 2015, and during the recent meeting they “dis- cussed a path forward to per- mit chipping potatoes from approved Idaho counties.” The sides also discussed a U.S. proposal to expand the current shipping window for U.S. chipping potatoes from February through July to year- round, as well as the process of seeking approval for addition- al inland facilities in Japan to receive U.S. chipping spuds. “Oficial communication between both sides in the coming weeks is expected to further advance the progress made during the bilateral,” Kole said. The most current trade numbers, supplied by Pota- toes USA from Global Trade Atlas, show Japan increased its fresh U.S. chipping potato shipments by 75.59 percent from July 2015 through Jan- uary 2016, importing nearly 7,000 metric tons. Japan also increased U.S. dehydrated imports by 59 percent during the irst half of the marketing year to near- ly 20,000 metric tons, and its frozen U.S. potato imports increased by 4.5 percent to about 133,000 metric tons. Potatoes USA Chief Mar- keting Oficer John Toaspern said his organization offers Japan “a full marketing pro- gram for food service and in- gredients for frozen and dehy- drated products.” Filer youth chosen as Fuel Up to Play 60 ambassador By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The Idaho Dairy Council has selected Caitlin Colver, a 17-year-old Filer High School junior, as the Fuel Up to Play 60 state ambassador for the 2016- 2017 school year. Fuel Up to Play 60 encour- ages students to eat healthful food, be active and make pos- itive, wholesome changes in their schools and communities. The National Dairy Council and National Football League founded the initiative in 2010 in collaboration with USDA. More than 73,000 schools nationwide participate. As state ambassador, Colv- er will lead Idaho’s FUTP 60 program, which engages youth directly as grassroots leaders to increase access to nutrient-rich foods and 60 minutes of phys- ical activity at school. Active in many extracurric- ular activities, Colver has been involved in FUTP 60 since her freshman year. “What I love about the pro- gram is that it makes our school a more fun environment and it causes everyone to see how eating and being active will help us stay healthy and happy throughout our lives,” Colv- er said in a press release from United Dairymen of Idaho. Courtesy of Caitlin Colver Caitlin Colver, a 17-year-old Filer High School junior, bottom row fourth from left, poses with the Filer High School Fuel Up to Play 60 chapter. “As an aspiring doctor, I think that’s really important,” she said. Colver plans to pursue a career as a neurosurgeon and hopes to attend Yale School of Medicine or Stanford Universi- ty School of Medicine. Selected after a statewide search and extensive applica- tion process, Colver will attend the national FUTP 60 Student Ambassador Summit at Pur- due University this summer. The event provides state am- bassadors with an opportunity to meet their fellow leaders and help sculpt the program, which relies on input and participation from students to evolve. The ambassadors will also meet NFL players, participate in unique physical activities and visit the agritourism attrac- tion Fair Oaks Farms. “Caitlin has already demon- strated such impressive leader- ship skills, and we can’t wait for her to play a more import- ant role on our team,” Crystal Wilson, UDI vice president of health and wellness and a reg- istered dietitian, said in the re- lease. “She’s an incredible student who’s shown a great passion for Fuel Up to Play 60, and we’re delighted she continues to inspire her peers and com- munity to eat healthy and get active,” she said. In addition to national sup- port for FUTP 60, the Idaho Dairy Council provides dozens of grants each semester to par- ticipating schools in Idaho to help them jumpstart and sustain healthy nutrition and physical activity improvements — a total of $730,000 since the initiative launched six years ago, accord- ing to UDI. Boise Project Board of Control irrigators will have good water year By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — Farmers who get their irrigation water from the Boise Project Board of Control will have a plenti- ful supply this year. The project uses 1,500 miles of canals and drains to supply water to four irriga- tion districts in Southwest- ern Idaho and one in Eastern Oregon. Together, those ive districts provide water for 167,000 irrigated acres. The project has set its annual allotment for water users at 2.6 acre-feet. That’s how much water irrigators will receive from the sys- tem’s reservoirs. The BPBC has already provided 1.06 acre-feet of water to irrigators through natural low from the Boise River. That means project pa- trons will receive 3.66 acre- feet this year. “That is a pretty good wa- ter year,” said BPBC Manag- er Tim Page. He said snowpack was good this winter and snow- melt occurred at an ideal pace. River in-low levels going into the system’s reservoirs exceeded 5,000 cubic feet per second two days last year, Page said. This year, lows were above that level almost the entire spring and they ex- ceeded 7,000 cfs some days. The project starts the year providing irrigators with all of their water from the Boi- se River. Once the amount of ROP-32-52-2/#17 By JOHN O’CONNELL gram facility in Idaho Falls. Japan imports no fresh U.S. ta- ble potatoes and has restricted access to Idaho chipping pota- toes due to the 2006 discovery of pale cyst nematode in East- ern Idaho. PCN is known to exist in the U.S. only within a 7.5-mile radius in Idaho’s Bonneville and Bingham counties. USDA is treating 2,897 infested acres and has placed special sanita- tion requirements on another 7,032 acres with known asso- ciations with infested ields, with the goal of eradicating the pest. Pat Kole, IPC’s vice presi- dent of legal and governmental affairs, said Japanese oficials visited the PCN program in 27-4/#4n water leaving the reservoirs exceeds the amount going in, the project starts using water stored in its reservoirs. That happened on June 15 this year. The allotment is then set based on how much water is left in the reservoirs. Last year, BPBC patrons received a total of 2.95 acre- feet of water during the entire year. “It’s been a couple of years since we had this kind of water year,” Lauren Boel- hke, secretary-treasurer of the Boise-Kuna Irrigation District, said. “It is a really good water year.” Diane Paulsen, secre- tary-treasurer of the Wilder Irrigation District, said it’s been three years since the district’s patrons had this much water. “When you have an ample water supply, you don’t need to hunt for excess water to purchase,” she said. “It’s go- ing to be a good water year.” The board also supplies water to the Big Bend Irriga- tion District, a small district that provides water to 1,800 acres near Adrian in Eastern Oregon. Ben Witty, a farmer who gets his water from Big Bend, said soils in that area are lighter than in other ar- eas in the region and water goes down faster and the soil dries out quicker there. That means he and other farmers who furrow irrigate usually need to purchase extra water from somewhere else, even in good years. “It’s a good year, but a good year is adequate at best for this area,” he said.
