10 CapitalPress.com
November 25, 2016
Idaho
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New packing plant set to open in March
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
SUN VALLEY, Idaho — A new
beef processing plant in Kuna, Ida-
ho, is just months away from starting
production and giving beef and dairy
producers a much-anticipated pack-
ing facility closer to home.
CS Beef Packers is a $100 mil-
lion joint venture between Tex-
as-based Caviness Beef Packers
and Idaho-based J.R. Simplot Co.
Discussions on the partnership be-
gan in 2014, resulting in the new
300,000-square-foot facility.
Family-owned and -operated
Caviness had been looking to grow
its operations for three or four years,
but the options were lacking. A lot
of facilities were outdated, Caviness
President Trevor Caviness told the
Idaho Cattle Association convention
this week.
The company’s visions for growth
aligned with the Pacific Northwest
and Intermountain West, but it had
no expertise in this area, he said.
“We found a very good partner in
Simplot,” he said.
Like Caviness, Simplot is a
global agribusiness company, fami-
ly-owned and -operated and with a
mission of sustainable, environmen-
tally friendly production, he said.
That sustainable focus fits well
with Caviness and is one reason the
companies are aligned, he said.
“The facility will be the most
modern, greenfield beef plant ever”
and is based on Caviness’ proven
model in Texas, he said.
Caviness’ Texas operation pro-
cesses 1,800 head daily in a system
that also includes hide processing
and rendering. The animal-welfare
system at its plants in Hereford and
Amarillo were designed by animal
care expert Temple Grandin, he said.
“We have advanced technology
to provide suppliers with the highest-
quality carcass, yield and grade,” he
said.
The new plant will process cull
cows and bulls to produce boxed
beef but will also have the ability
to process niche fed beef, such as
grass-fed cattle. Down the line, the
operation could add ground-beef
processing.
“The first phase will be beef
packing 101, with new employees
and a new facility,” Caviness said.
The new facility will process
1,800 head a day, buying cattle
within a 600-mile radius and selling
beef products into the foodservice,
quick-service and retail markets.
Products will carry Caviness’ ex-
isting brands, with a plan to add new
regional brands in the future, he said.
Caviness’ business is built on re-
lationships with producers and the
community, and that culture will be
the foundation of CS Beef Packers as
well, he said.
“We fully believe in supporting
the community and the people who
work for us,” which also aligns with
Simplot, he said.
The company embraces trans-
parency and welcomes visitors. The
new plant is being built so producers
or other visitors can view the entire
process through windows, he said.
“The more information we can
share about our process, the better
for us,” he said.
Managers for the new plant have
already been hired and are training at
Caviness’ Texas operation. CS Beef
Packers expects to employ 700 peo-
ple, he said.
“We look forward to growing in
Idaho and the region,” he said.
Idaho Fish and Game push
aims to protect farmers’ hay
Hungry deer, elk
ravaged crop last year
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Courtesy of John Guthrie/Idaho Department of Fish and Game
A new stack yard protects hay in Idaho’s Magic Valley. The state
Department of Fish and Game has significantly stepped up its
efforts to build fenced enclosures to protect hay from big game
following last winter, when growers experienced significant losses
of their crops..
typically spends much less —
between $50,000 and $70,000
per year — on materials to
give growers building stack
yards with 8-foot-tall wire
fences.
They’ve been effective.
Montpelier rancher Randy
Lancaster, for example, said
stack yards he built a few
years ago with IDFG materi-
als have eliminated problems
in trouble spots, and he plans
to apply to build two more.
The department also deliv-
ers temporary plastic fencing
or wire panels to those without
permanent structures, collect-
ing the temporary enclosures
during the following spring.
Last winter, Guthrie said
elk were routinely breaking
through temporary barriers,
and he received more than 50
depredation complaints from
Blaine County alone, prompt-
ing the department to set up
four elk feeding stations to
curb pressure on growers.
Generally, the department
provides designs for stack
yards but requires growers
build them. This season, how-
ever, Guthrie and a group of
growers secured a $40,000
grant from Blaine County to
cover 75 percent of construc-
tion costs. The county funding
will cover construction of 14
of the region’s 21 structures.
“We’ve got two construc-
tion crews running up there
now,” Guthrie said, adding
IDFG also invested $85,000
to give growers in his region
materials.
Duston Cureton, with the
IDFG’s Upper Snake region,
said the department usually
provides materials for a cou-
ple of stack yards in his terri-
tory each season, but funded
13 this year.
“We’ve been doing this
since the late 1980s, but not
on this magnitude,” he said.
Jason Beck, with IDFG’s
Southeast region, said 15
structures have been built in
his area since August, sparing
the Department the Trans-
portation temporary fencing
costs.
IDFG wildlife biologist
Craig White said the depart-
ment will also consider land-
owners when it begins setting
hunting quotas in January.
White said cow elk popula-
tions now meet or exceed de-
partment objectives in 16 of
the 22 hunting zones.
Local, state and Mill 95 officials break ground on a hop pellet facility Nov. 17 near Wilder, Idaho. Mill
95 will be Idaho’s first hop pellet plant, which will give growers the opportunity to have their hops
processed in-state. It’s also designed to foster a closer relationship between hop growers and the craft
brewing industry.
State will have its first
hop pellet plant next year
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
WILDER, Idaho — By
this time next year, Idaho will
have its first hop pellet facili-
ty, which is designed to foster
a closer relationship between
Idaho hop growers and craft
brewers.
Hops are turned into pellets
for the beer brewing process
but because Idaho currently
lacks a processing plant, Idaho
hops are sent out of state to be
turned into pellets.
The new facility will pro-
vide Idaho hop growers with
the opportunity to have their
hops processed in-state.
The facility, called Mill 95,
will include a hop pellet mill,
two cold storage facilities and
a pilot brewery aimed at bring-
ing the region’s hop farmers
and brewers closer together,
said co-founder Jamie Scott.
“Our goal is to build a fa-
cility that not only brings a
crucial part of the brewing
process — pelletizing hops
— closer to Idaho farmers
and brewers but also creates a
place for them to collaborate
and innovate together,” she
said during a groundbreaking
ceremony Nov. 17.
She said the facility “is an
opportunity to really put Idaho
on the map as a world-class
hop region and keep hops in
the state from start to finish
rather than shipping them out
to be processed as we do now.”
Scott said the facility will
increase the value and reputa-
tion of Idaho-grown hops.
Idaho is the nation’s third
leading hop producer, behind
Washington and Oregon, and
Mill 95 is being built just north
of Wilder in the heart of Idaho
hop country.
The state’s hop acres have
exploded in recent years, from
3,743 in 2014 to 4,863 in
2015 and 5,586 this year. That
growth has been fueled most-
ly by demand from the craft
brewing industry.
Scott hopes the facility will
foster a stronger relationship
between the craft brewing in-
dustry and farmers.
Mill 95 is “meant to cre-
ate more synergies between
growers and brewers,” she
said. “We’ll try to be a better
line of communication to what
the brewers are interested in
and what the growers can pro-
vide.”
Mill 95 Operations Man-
ager DJ Tolmie said work on
the facility begins Nov. 21 and
the plant should be finished by
August 2017.
The 20-acre site will in-
clude a 17,000-square-foot
pellet facility, 40,000 square
feet of cold storage capacity
and a 6,400-square-foot brew-
ery with space for events.
“I think it’s going to be a
big thing for the local hops
growing community here to
open up another pathway to set
up some deals with some other
brewers rather than having all
of the hops leaving the state,”
Tolmie said.
The addition of Mill 95 to
the state adds a valuable piece,
processing, that has been miss-
ing from the hop industry, said
Skylar Jett, a trade specialist
with the Idaho State Depart-
ment of Agriculture’s market
development division.
48-1/#14
BOISE — The Idaho De-
partment of Fish and Game
has invested $500,000 to
help hay farmers statewide
build fenced enclosures to
protect their harvested crop
from deer and elk, following
a bad 2015-2016 winter for
depredations.
Growers hadn’t reported
much trouble with hay loss-
es during the preceding four
years, as mild winters enabled
big game herds to find plenty
of natural forage on higher
ground.
However, IDFG offi-
cials say the string of mild
winters also reduced winter
kill of calves, allowing un-
gulate populations to build.
Simultaneously, low feed
prices prompted growers to
hold onto a lot of hay, and
more typical winter weath-
er pushed game into the
valleys.
“It was brutal over here
in Blaine County,” said John
Guthrie, with the depart-
ment’s Magic Valley region.
IDFG Farm Bill Coordi-
nator Sal Palazzolo said dep-
redation payments to farm-
ers were also up last winter,
though many growers didn’t
bother with the hassle of ap-
plying. He said last winter’s
payments totaled $310,000,
compared to $245,000 during
an average year.
Heading into this winter,
IDFG officials say grow-
ers should be in much better
shape, thanks to between 80
and 100 new protective stack
yards farmers built this fall, or
are now completing, with ma-
terials donated by the depart-
ment. Tapping funding from
hunting tags, the department