10 CapitalPress.com
July 22, 2016
First potato psyllids arrive in Eastern Idaho
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
KIMBERLY, Idaho — Po-
tato growers throughout East-
ern Idaho are starting insecti-
cidal programs to protect their
crops from zebra chip disease
following the recent conir-
mation of potato psyllids in
the region.
The tiny, winged insects
can harbor the Liberibacter
bacterium that causes zebra
chip — a crop disease that
forms bands in tuber lesh that
darken during frying.
The University of Idaho
has conducted an extensive
potato psyllid scouting pro-
gram since 2012, which was
the season after the disease
irst surfaced in the Paciic
Northwest.
During the week ending
July 2, UI Extension entomol-
ogist Erik Wenninger, who
administers Idaho’s moni-
toring program, said psyllids
were found in a quarter of the
97 ields where sticky traps
have been deployed to capture
the pests.
The cards contained 48
psyllids, including from a
ield in Bingham County and
a ield in Power County in
Eastern Idaho, where psyllid
pressure has been light com-
pared with other parts of the
state.
The monitoring program
also detected psyllids in a
dozen ields in Canyon Coun-
ty, three ields in Payette
County, two ields in Owyhee
County, two ields in Twin
Falls County and one ield
each in Elmore County, Ada
County and Malheur County,
Ore.
“I know a lot of growers
have been waiting until we re-
port psyllids in their area until
they start spraying, which in a
lot of cases has saved growers
a lot of sprays,” Wenninger
said. “If a grower is inclined
to start spraying when we
detect psyllids in their area,
I think that’s a reasonable
course of action.”
Wenninger said infect-
ed psyllids were conirmed
from Canyon County samples
in late May, but all samples
tested since then have been
negative for Liberibacter. Test
results have not been returned
from the most recently cap-
tured psyllids.
It takes about three weeks
from infection for zebra chip
symptoms to surface — in-
cluding aerial tubers, leaf roll-
ing, purplish discoloration,
yellowing leaves and swollen
nodes.
“It was a little bit surpris-
ing to see (psyllids) show up
that early in Eastern Idaho,
but not terribly surprising,”
Wenninger said.
Wenninger said the recent
hot, dry weather has favored
psyllids. During last season,
which was also unseasonably
hot, the irst psyllids also ar-
rived during the irst week of
July.
Aberdeen, Idaho, grower
Ritchey Toevs applied insecti-
cide in-furrow at planting and
plans to move up his irst fo-
liar insecticide spray by nine
days to July 11, due to the
recent detection of psyllids in
Eastern Idaho.
“With my next fungi-
cide application I’ll need
to add (insecticide),” Toevs
said.
WSDA: Yakima and
Whatcom dairies show
progress in reducing nitrates
Hundreds attend
manure workshops
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Jay Byrne, president and CEO of v-Fluence Interactive, a public relations agency that tracks issues in agriculture, speaks about the grow-
ing inluence of conservation organizations and others who oppose conventional agriculture during the National Potato Council’s summer
meeting in Park City, Utah. Byrne said he believes future attacks on agriculture will center on water and climate issues.
Ag opponents plan attacks
using water, climate issues
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
PARK CITY, Utah —
Future attacks on conven-
tional agriculture will focus
on water and climate, an
analyst who tracks activist
groups predicts.
Jay Byrne, president
and CEO of the intelli-
gence-gathering
agen-
cy v-Fluence Interactive,
told the National Potato
Council’s summer meet-
ing that agriculture’s op-
ponents are working to-
gether more closely than
ever and spending large
sums to convey their
messages.
Byrne said their cam-
paigns are beginning to
shift from labeling genet-
ically modified organisms
to water quality concerns
— especially algae blooms
and “dead zones” in water
bodies.
“This is the most intense
advocacy period we’ve seen
in over 20 years of track-
ing,” Byrne said. “Today in
the U.S. it’s GMO labeling.
Very quickly, that’s going to
turn around and be issues as-
sociated with water, and it’s
going to affect every aspect
of conventional production.”
Byrne said a “trial bal-
loon” lawsuit filed in Iowa
alleges farming is creating
downstream environmental
challenges, and opponents
are already lining up liti-
gants for future cases.
Byrne estimates the
groups tracked by v-Fluence
have increased spending by
50 to 100 percent annually
since 2012.
In 2011, opponents in
North America spent $2.5
billion campaigning against
GMOs and conventional ag-
riculture, v-Fluence estimat-
ed.
Globally,
advocacy
groups targeting agriculture
are likely to spend more than
$10 billion this year, he said.
Charlie Cray, research
specialist with Greenpeace
USA, agrees water and cli-
mate will undoubtedly be
key issues heading into the
future. He questions Byrne’s
financial estimates, howev-
er.
“I don’t think the entire
environmental
movement
has that much money,” Cray
said. “I would love to see
him break (his estimates)
down.”
Supported by “black mar-
keters” seeking to increase
organic sales by discrediting
conventional competitors,
Byrne said opponents have
relied on a relentless “ghost
army” of baseless research
claims published in “pay-to-
play” journals.
Cray agrees the organic
sector supports campaigns to
point out the benefits of the
production system relative
to conventional agriculture,
but he disagrees that they’re
being covert.
V-Fluence estimates wa-
ter-centric attacks on agri-
culture have increased by
110 percent during the past
year, Byrne said
He believes opponents’
messages resonate with con-
sumers because they craft
stories with regulators as
the heroes, consumers as the
victims and big agriculture
as the villain.
Luther Markwart, exec-
utive vice president of the
American Sugar Beet Grow-
ers Association, believes
farmers should respond with
their own narrative.
“Activists have demon-
ized the technology, and
farmers can’t leave it to
anybody else to educate the
American public,” Markwart
said.
By contrast, Cray advises
farmers to respond to mount-
ing criticisms by being more
transparent about their water
usage and “reduce petro-
chemical intensity of their
production systems to show
they recognize and are ad-
dressing any contribution
they make to greenhouse
gases.”
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Don Jenkins/Capital Press
A lagoon holds manure at a dairy in Whatcom County, Wash. A
new Washington State Department of Agriculture report shows
fewer acres at dairies in Whatcom and Skagit counties have nitrate
levels that “need attention.”
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Nearly 350 people this year
have attended state-funded
workshops on judiciously ap-
plying manure, while the per-
centage of acres with elevated
levels of nitrates has declined
in two dairy-rich counties, ac-
cording to a new report by the
Washington State Department
of Agriculture.
The report, released July
11, draws no connection be-
tween the workshops and
reduced levels of nitrates,
though a WSDA spokesman
said the report suggests dair-
ies are improving their man-
agement of manure.
The Washington State
Dairy Federation hailed the
report as evidence farmers are
embracing training and reduc-
ing the risk of groundwater
contamination.
“This is real environmental
protection,” the federation’s
policy director, Jay Gordon,
said.
At the federation’s urging,
state lawmakers in 2015 gave
WSDA a two-year $575,000
appropriation to offer ma-
nure-management workshops
with the help of conservation
districts and Washington State
University. WSDA also hired
two more inspectors to advise
dairy farms.
The federation lobbied for
the funding as part of a push
to respond to concerns about
dairies polluting groundwater.
The report updates law-
makers on how WSDA has
spent the money so far and
what the latest soil tests show.
Since the beginning of the
year, conservation districts in
eight counties have hosted 15
training sessions attended by
347 people.
Besides dairy farmers, the
workshops have been attend-
ed by berry growers, ranchers,
other farmers, crop consul-
tants and manure applicators.
Average attendance at each
workshop in the winter ex-
ceeded 30. Fewer have attend-
ed workshops in the spring
and early summer. Gordon
said he suspects attendance
declined as ield work in-
creased.
“Any extension agent on
the planet will tell you that if
they get 30 farmers to show
up at a meeting, they’d do
back lips,” he said.
A four-hour workshop in
Whatcom County drew 81
people.
“I think it shows farmers
in this area are trying to be
proactive,” said Whatcom
County Conservation nutrient
management specialist Nichole
Embertson.
Embertson last year orga-
nized
manure-management
workshops in Whatcom and
Yakima counties. The work-
shops were well-attended and
built momentum for a larger
continuing-education program.
WSDA also reported that
the percentage of acres with
elevated levels of nitrates is
dropping at dairies in Yakima
and Whatcom counties, where
concern about manure pollut-
ing groundwater has been the
highest.
In Yakima County, WSDA
tested more than 28,000 acres
in 2016. The percentage of
acres that “needs attention”
dropped to 6.6 percent from
11.9 percent in 2014. In What-
com County, WSDA tested
about 29,000 acres. The per-
centage that needs improve-
ment dropped to 2.9 percent
from 4.4 percent in 2014.
Gordon said the test re-
sults relect adjustments dairy
farmers have made over the
past several years when ap-
plying manure.
“These are wonderful
numbers. They’re heading in
the right direction,” he said.
Statewide, WSDA tested
more than 176,000 acres at
nearly 400 dairies. The per-
centage of acres that needs
attention was 3.1 percent,
virtually unchanged from 3.2
percent in 2014.
WSDA also reported that
the percentage of dairies in
compliance with their manure
management plans was 92
percent as of March 31. The
compliance rate on the same
date two years ago was 87
percent.
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30-1/#5
Oregon State Universi-
ty’s College of Agricultural
Sciences has named David
Stimpson, who has spent
the past 20 years working in
seed science and technology
for Dow AgroSciences, as its
new seed laboratory manag-
er.
Stimpson will start in his
new position July 29.
He replaces Adriel Garay,
who retired Dec. 31 after 19
years as the lab’s manager.
Dan Curry, director of
seed services for OSU, said
he has known Stimpson for
15 years through their par-
ticipation in the Society of
Commercial Seed Technolo-
gists. Stimpson currently is
vice president of the organi-
zation and is in line to be its
president next year.
“He is a good guy,” Curry
said. “A lot of people are tell-
ing me, ‘You picked the right
person.’ We feel pretty good
about it.”
“Dave has extensive ex-
perience in seeds, seed in-
dustry development, seed
physiology, seed analysis and
commercial seed quality and
compliance,” said Jay Noller,
head of the college’s Crop
and Soil Science Department.
Curry, who has been serv-
ing as interim director of the
lab since Garay’s retirement,
said he is anxiously awaiting
Stimpson’s arrival.
“My arms are open for
Dave to get here,” Curry said.
“We need a full-time manag-
er, and we are really happy
that Dave has decided to take
the job.
“He is the right person,
and we are anxious for him to
get started,” Curry said.
Curry said the college
conducted an international
search to ill the position.