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September 23, 2016 CapitalPress.com 9 Idaho Subscribe to our weekly Idaho email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters New economic development chief resigns By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press The executive director of the Southern Idaho Econom- ic Development Organiza- tion has resigned after just six months in that position. Jeff Hough, who signed on as SIEDO chief in March, is leaving due to personal reasons and without any job prospects, he said. “My family has some issues going on, and I’m going home to take care of my family,” he told Capital Press just after the organization Jeff announced his Hough resignation on Monday. Home is Pocatello, where is wife and one son remained until his son, who is a se- nior this year, finished high school. The Houghs also have three grown children. Hough was hired after an extensive search for a new director to replace long- time director Jan Rogers, who took a similar position in Eastern Idaho last fall. At the time of his hiring, then SIEDO Chairman Mike Schutz said Hough had the combination of skills and experience SIEDO was looking for to “keep the foot on the gas of economic de- velopment.” Prior to SIEDO, Hough was the director of work- force training at Idaho State University in Pocatello and had also served as a business consultant at the university in workforce training. “I am grateful to the or- ganization (SIEDO) for giv- ing me a chance and sad it didn’t work out. But family comes first,” Hough said. SIEDO will name an interim executive director shortly to support the re- gion in attracting business and talent, the organization stated. “We’ve just come off a very successful annual sum- mit addressing talent attrac- tion, and several very prom- ising new projects are being considered for the region,” said Dan Olmstead, SIEDO chairman. “We will be naming an in- terim director soon to assure that our economic develop- ment level of activity does not slow down,” he said. During the last 15 years, SIEDO’s efforts have gen- erated $1.8 billion in cap- ital investments, attract- ed 37 new companies and 21 company expansions and brought 5,000 jobs to the region, gaining na- tional and international attention. SIEDO will be work- ing with its member cities, counties and utilities to de- velop a strategy for hiring a new executive director. UI’s annual farm estimates close to USDA numbers By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press Courtesy photo This corn maze in Meridian, Idaho, will allow people to get inside comedian Jimmy Fallon’s head. Popular corn maze designs around the nation this year include “Star Trek” and “Back the Blue” themes in support of police oficers. Corn maze allows people inside Jimmy Fallon’s head By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press MERIDIAN, Idaho — An Idaho corn maze that has attracted national attention several times in past years has chosen a light-hearted ap- proach this year: The image of comedian Jimmy Fallon. “It’s something a little dif- ferent than what we’ve done before,” said Meridian farm- er Jim Lowe, owner of the The Farmstead Corn Maze & Pumpkin Festival. “We want- ed something that would be light-hearted and playful.” Around the nation, “Star Trek” and “Back the Blue” themes in support of police of- icers are popular designs this year. But Lowe said that with all the serious issues facing the world, he wanted a design that would allow people to escape the seriousness for awhile and remember to laugh. “We just wanted to focus on relaxing, having fun and re- membering the value of being light-hearted in spite of whatev- er is going on around us in the world,” he said. “Sometimes you need that breath of fresh air.” Fallon is a former “Saturday Night Live” star and the current host of the “Tonight Show.” “Maybe, if we can get inside Jimmy’s head, we can all come out a little more light-hearted,” Lowe stated in a news release. The Farmstead’s designs in past years include likenesses of Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama during that elec- tion year, a bumblebee, Abra- ham Lincoln, a trout, and the Statue of Liberty. Some of the designs have been featured in Time maga- zine, “Good Morning America,” USA Today, New York Maga- zine and on the “Today Show.” Two of the nation’s most popular corn maze themes this year are “Star Trek” and “Back the Blue,” according to Maze- play owner Shawn Stolworthy of Idaho Falls, whose business cut 110 mazes around the Unit- ed States this year. After a picture of one “Back the Blue’ maze that Mazeplay created in Georgia was posted on Facebook, it generated more than 1 million views in a few days, Stolworthy said. The “Star Trek” design is in honor of the 50th anniversary of the irst airing of the “Star Trek” TV series. “That one went huge,” Stolworthy said. Eagle, Idaho, farmer Jeff Smith said he chose the “Back the Blue” theme for his corn maze this year because he wanted to bring attention to the important and sometimes un- der-appreciated role that police oficers play in society. His maze features a police oficer holding a German shep- herd next to a squad car, with an “Idaho” silhouette in the back- ground. Smith said he wanted to show police oficers in a pos- itive light to the multitude of kids that go through the maze. BOISE — Annual January estimates by University of Idaho agricultural economists on how the state’s farming industry fared have close- ly matched USDA’s oficial numbers, which are released 10 months later. Each January, UI econ- omists provide members of the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Legislative Economic Out- look and Revenue Assess- ment Committee with an esti- mate of how Idaho agriculture fared the previous year. Legislators use that esti- mate to help them forecast how much revenue the state will take in that iscal year, and that revenue estimate in turn is used during the legis- lative session to set state bud- gets. UI’s 2016 forecast for the 2015 season turned out to be pretty accurate for most com- modities, except for cattle and calves. In the university’s annual “Financial Condition of Ida- ho Agriculture” report this January, UI ag economists Garth Taylor and Ben Eborn estimated that the cattle and calves sector in Idaho brought in $2.2 billion in cash receipts in 2015. Data released Aug. 31 by USDA’s Economic Research Service shows that number at $1.95 billion. But UI’s forecasts for other commodities were close to the USDA numbers, in some cas- es extremely close. UI forecast Idaho potato cash receipts at $871 million for 2015 while USDA shows that number at $873 million, and UI forecast dairy receipts at $2.3 billion while USDA shows them at $2.35 billion. Overall, UI estimated total Idaho farm cash receipts for Sean Ellis/Capital Press Wine grapes are harvested in southwestern Idaho Aug. 19. Annual estimates by University of Idaho ag economists on how the state’s farm industry fared are matching up closely with oficial USDA numbers that are released 10 months later. 2015 at $7.87 billion while USDA has them at $7.46 bil- lion. In their January 2015 re- port, UI economists estimated Idaho farm cash receipts for 2014 at $8.77 billion, while USDA’s data has them at $8.66 billion. “It’s not that far off,” Eb- orn said of UI’s overall fore- cast for Idaho cash receipts in 2015. “The only one we really missed was cattle and calves.” Republican Sen. Steve Bair, a retired farmer from Blackfoot and a member of the Legislature’s economic outlook committee, said he puts put a lot of stock in the UI forecasts. A separate forecast by economists from the state’s three major universities that includes the overall economy “are not nearly as accurate,” he said. “Garth does a great job. He seems to have a good handle on what’s happened in the agricultural sector and what’s going to happen.” Other UI farm commod- ity forecasts for 2015, with USDA numbers in paren- thesis: Wheat, $506 million ($463 million); hay, $485 million ($440 million); sug- ar beets, $300 million ($280 million); barley, $286 million ($261 million). UI forecast $3 billion in total Idaho crop cash re- ceipts for 2015 while US- DA’s total was $2.9 billion. On the animal production side, UI forecast $4.8 billion while USDA had that total at $4.55 billion. Because UI’s estimates are released 10 months before the USDA numbers and agri- culture is so important to the state’s economy, “We just try to give (legislators) a feel for how the year went 10 months before they actually get the numbers from ERS,” Eborn said. PEACH LUGS & 1 1 ⁄ 2 QT. CORRUGATED PEACH BASKETS ISDA to collect unwanted pesticides Capital Press Farmers, dealers, profes- sional applicators and home- owners who have unusable pesticides will have a safe, legal and free opportunity to dispose of them when the Idaho State Department of Agriculture con- ducts its unusable pesticide col- lections this month. Pesticides include herbi- cides, insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides or anything with a “cide” at the end. Unusable pesticides should be taken to the closest collection site be- tween 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the date and location listed below. No fertilizer, micronutrients, paint, solvents, or motor oil will be accepted at the collections. Pesticide collections will be held at: • Twin Falls: Sept. 26, Twin Falls Canal Co., 357 Sixth Ave. • West Gooding: Sept. 27, Gooding Airport, 1945 Airport Road. • Nampa: Sept. 28, Pickles Butte Landill, 15500 Missouri Ave. For updates and addition- al information, contact your nearest ISDA ield ofice or the main office in Boise at (208) 332-8500 or the ISDA website at www.agri.idaho. gov. 503-588-8313 2561 Pringle Rd. SE Salem, OR Call for Pricing. Subject to stock on hand. Delivery Available 39-1/#7 PAINT THE PAPER October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month , and as friends of Capital Press, we’re asking you to help us “PAINT PAINT THE PAPER PINK.” PINK spec-2/T2 You can contribute by purchasing a “Proud Supporter” ad for the month of October. 1x2 color ad in our News Section for the 4 Fridays in October $360 Capital Press will donate 25% of the proceeds to: One out of eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime! 35-1/#17 By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Preventative screening and early detection is of the utmost importance. Be part of the cure. Call us today. 1-800-882-6789 • Susan Hildebrand or Rebecca Beach 39-1/#13
