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CapitalPress.com
January 13, 2017
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Idaho
Idaho farm cash receipts drop $290M from 2015
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Total farm gate
cash receipts in Idaho during
2016 were down an estimat-
ed $290 million, or 4 percent,
from 2015.
Total cash receipts for
six of the state’s top eight
farm commodities decreased
in 2016 when compared to
2015, according to the Uni-
versity of Idaho report, “The
Financial Condition of Idaho
Agriculture: 2016.”
“Last year wasn’t a rosy
year for just about all” of the
state’s top ag commodities,
UI Agricultural Economist
Garth Taylor told lawmakers
Jan. 5 while presenting the
report’s highlights. “Sugar
beets is really the only bright
spot we had in the ag econo-
my in 2016.”
In their annual report,
Taylor and UI Extension
Ag Economist Ben Eborn
project that farm cash re-
ceipts totaled $7.17 billion
in 2016, down from $7.46
billion 2015.
That follows a 15 percent
decline in 2015 that stopped
a four-year streak of record
farm cash receipts in Idaho
that began in 2011. Cash
receipts peaked at a record
$8.77 billion in 2014.
Yield records were bro-
ken for several of the state’s
main crops in 2016 and total
production was up signifi-
cantly for many crops, Tay-
lor said.
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Dry beans are harvested near Nampa, Idaho, last September. Farm cash receipts in Idaho totaled $7.2 billion in 2016, down 4 percent
from 2015, according to projections by University of Idaho ag economists.
“The fault is prices,” he
said.
According to the report,
the dairy industry brought
in $2.3 billion in milk cash
receipts in 2016, a 1 percent
decline from 2015. Milk
production increased 4 per-
cent over 2015 but prices av-
eraged 5 percent lower.
Cattle and calf prices
were off 37 percent in 2016
but the beef cow inventory
was up 11 percent and cattle
and calf cash receipts totaled
$1.7 billion in 2016, down
11 percent.
Potatoes remained the
state’s top cash crop with an
estimated $851 million in
cash receipts during 2016, a
2 percent decline from 2015.
Potato production was up
7 percent thanks to record
yields of 430 hundredweight
per acre but the average price
in 2016 was down 4 percent
to $6.80 per hundredweight.
Wheat revenues totaled
$412 million, off 11 percent
from 2015, as a 14 percent
increase in production (102
million bushels) was off-
set by prices that averaged
24 percent lower ($4.33 per
bushel).
Cash receipts for hay last
year are projected at $403
million, an 8 percent de-
crease from 2015. Produc-
tion increased 11 percent to
5.4 million tons but the aver-
age price dropped 20 percent
to $139 per ton.
Barley revenues in-
creased a projected 16 per-
cent to $304 million. Aver-
age yield of 107 bushels per
acre was up 10 bushels over
2015 and the average price
was 2 percent higher.
Sugar beet revenues are
projected at $284 million
in 2016, up 2 percent from
2015.
Beet prices averaged
$42.67 per ton, down 6 per-
cent, but production was
up 1 percent to 6.7 million
tons thanks to record yields
that averaged 39.2 tons per
acre.
Dry bean cash receipts in
Idaho totaled $68 million in
2016, a 9 percent decrease
from 2015.
Adjusted for inflation,
2016 farm cash receipts in
Idaho are 35 percent higher
than the 37-year average.
Study will develop model of Treasure Valley aquifer
BOISE — The Idaho De-
partment of Water Resources
is teaming up with the U.S.
Geological Survey to create
a detailed flow model of the
aquifer system that underlies
the rapidly growing Treasure
Valley.
The five-year project will
provide water managers with
a tool they can use to help
ensure the valley’s urban and
agricultural areas continue
to receive the water they
depend on in this desert cli-
mate in southwestern Idaho.
“We’re trying to figure
out how much water we have
and where it’s going,” said
IDWR Hydrology Section
Manager Sean Vincent.
The Treasure Valley is
home to 38 percent of the
state’s 1.63 million people,
as well as 8,000 farms.
The region’s population
has expanded rapidly, to
650,000 people, and shows
no signs of slowing.
COMPASS, a southwest-
ern Idaho planning organi-
zation, projects the Treasure
Valley population will top 1
2-1/#14
million by 2040.
Creating a detailed and
reliable aquifer flow model
will be “a way to help water
managers allocate the water
so that everyone gets their
water,” Vincent said.
The model, which will
evaluate how groundwater
and surface water interact,
will help ensure there is
enough water for the hun-
dreds of thousands of new
residents expected in the
valley over the coming de-
cades, said USGS Hydrolo-
gist Jim Bartolino.
But there are also more
than 350,000 acres of irri-
gated farmland in the Trea-
sure Valley and those land-
owners need to continue to
receive the water they have
the rights to.
“Groundwater is used for
irrigation in the Treasure
Valley as well,” Bartolino
said. “By getting a better
handle on what the ground-
water supply is and how it’s
moving ... that will help ag-
ricultural supplies as well.
I think it’s something we’re
going to get a lot of use out
of when it’s done.”
There is a significant
amount of existing data
about the Treasure Valley
aquifer, Vincent said, but
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
The Boise River in June. Idaho Department of Water Resources and
the U.S. Geological Survey will develop a detailed groundwater flow
model of the Treasure Valley aquifer. The state will contribute $2.5
million toward the five-year project and USGS will provide federal
matching funds.
the aquifer is a complex
one and more information is
needed.
One of the data gaps
the study will fill is how
much shallow groundwa-
ter is discharged from the
aquifer through several ag-
ricultural drains along the
Boise River from Eagle to
Parma.
To measure that, the
USGS this fall installed 10
new stream gauges on the
drains.
Knowing how much
water is coming out of the
drains and into the Boise
River “is going to be one of
the biggest improvements in
this model,” Bartolino said.
The Idaho Water Re-
source Board will provide
$2.5 million over five years
toward the study and USGS
will provide federal match-
ing funds for a portion of the
work.
The model, which is ex-
pected to be completed in
2021, “will provide water
users, the (IDWR) and plan-
ners with an additional tool
to evaluate where water is
available in the Treasure
Valley, how deep wells need
to be and where there are
limitations on the supply of
groundwater,” IWRB mem-
ber Albert Barker said in a
news release.
IDWR and USGS will
create a technical advisory
committee to gather input
from stakeholders and share
information.
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