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18 CapitalPress.com January 27, 2017 Industry tackles herbicide resistance worries By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Bureau of Reclamation A proposed study would cost $5.5 million and look at different options for increasing the Treasure Valley water supply, including raising Arrowrock Dam. Bureau of Reclamation backs Boise River system water storage study By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials hope to conduct a major feasibil- ity study that would look at several options for increasing water storage capacity on the Boise River system. “We are interested in doing a feasibility study,” Lorri Lee, the bureau’s Pacific North- west regional director, told Idaho Water Resource Board members Jan. 23. The study would cost $5.5 million and look at different options for increasing the Treasure Valley water supply, including raising Arrowrock Dam 10 feet, Anderson Ranch Dam 6 feet or the Lucky Peak Dam pool 4 feet. Roland Springer, who manages the bureau’s Snake River area office, told Capital Press the study could begin as soon as this year and the agency is already doing some hydrologic analysis. “We would love to get into it this year,” he said. The proposal comes after U.S. Army Corps of Engi- neers officials told the water board in May that the benefits of raising Arrowrock Dam do not equal the costs. A $3.5 million corps study that was half funded by the water board determined rais- ing Arrowrock by 30-70 feet was the best option for solv- ing water supply and flood risk problems in the Boise River system. But the benefits must at least match the total cost for Congress to approve the project. That study has been dis- continued. Since May, officials from the bureau, corps and Idaho Department of Water Re- sources have been meeting to determine if there are other options for increasing water supply capacity on the Boise River system, which provides water for about 330,000 irri- gated acres of farmland in the Treasure Valley. For the proposed study to happen, non-federal partners have to split the cost. Lee said her agency would continue to seek cost-share partners and asked the board to help look for willing part- ners. When the water board found out the corps’ proposed Arrowrock project was not feasible, its members asked the corps and reclamation to work together to see if they had overlapping capabilities to work on possible alterna- tive projects, said Cynthia Bridge Clark, IDWR’s water project section manager. The corps’ primary focus is on mitigating flood risk while the bureau has the authority to do feasibility studies for water supply storage. Clark said it makes sense to have the bureau lead a water storage feasibility study because it evaluates the benefits of storage proj- ects differently than the corps does. “The bureau may interpret those benefits differently and that could allow us to find a more viable project more eas- ily for water supply purposes than we could with the corps,” she said. She said the water board is still interested in determining whether increased storage ca- pacity is a viable way to meet future water supply demand in the Treasure Valley. “So we’ll maintain this working relationship with the bureau to see if we can work with them to identify proj- ects,” Clark said. Cherry growers hear about new varieties By DAN WHEAT Capital Press WENATCHEE, Wash. — Pacific Northwest cherry growers are being encouraged to plant new varieties not only for better cherries but to keep up with the buzz surrounding new apple varieties. The pearl series, four cher- ry varieties released by Cornell University, were highlighted at the Northcentral Washington Stone Fruit Day on Jan. 17 by Oregon State University Ex- tension horticulture professor Lynn Long of The Dalles. B.J. Thurlby, president of Northwest Cherry Growers and the Washington State Fruit Commission in Yakima, said when he was promoting cher- ries to retailers last year, the first thing they all asked was his favorite new apple variety. “I wanted to talk cherries but they wanted to talk apples,” he said. Thurlby encouraged grow- ers to check out the pearl series and said he likes Black Pearl. “Retailers get excited about something new,” he said. James Michael, domestic promotions director of North- west Cherry Growers, said ear- ly cherries have the best market opportunity because there’s less competition from other pro- duce early in the season. Long said the new cherry varieties are all aimed toward producing fruit that is flavorful, large, firm, rain-crack resistant and ships well. PNW growers seem most interest in Black Pearl because it is an early variety, but Ebo- ny Pearl, which matures at the same time as Bing, is a better cherry, Long said. Black Pearl is a fairly recent release developed for West Coast growers and export markets. It ripens seven days before Bing, is 70 percent 9 row and larger and is low in cracking and pitting, he said. Contrary to older early va- rieties such as Tieton, Black Pearl has good taste, he said, is a heavy producer and is “one we need to think about.” “Ebony Pearl is probably the best tasting of the Pearl va- rieties. It has excellent strong flavor but with that tang that Burgundy Pearl lacks,” Long said. Ebony is 94 percent 9 row and larger and has good firm- ness and low rain cracking, he said. “If you are looking for something in Bing timing that’s larger than Bing and better in cracking resistance, Ebony might be something you want to consider,” he said. Radiance Pearl is the fourth of the pearl series. Long also talked about several of the Royal cher- ries of Zaiger Genetics of Modesto, Calif. Royal Hazel is an ear- ly cherry that requires only 500 chilling hours during winter and early spring bud development versus 1,000 to 1,500 chilling hours for most cherries grown in Washing- ton, Long said. First bloom is seven days before Bing. PASCO, Wash. — Pacific Northwest agriculture indus- try members say they want to figure out how best to stop the growing number of weeds developing resistance to the herbicides designed to get rid of them. A listening session in Pas- co, Wash., was the third of seven discussions held across the country. The listening sessions are in response to concerns over increasingly abundant her- bicide resistant weeds, said Phil Stahlman, weed scien- tist at Kansas State Univer- sity, representing the Weed Science Society of America, which hosted the meeting. “With all the efforts put in to herbicide resistance man- agement over the years, we are still losing the battle,” Stahlman said. Resistance can build in weeds if the same herbicide is used on them year after year. Greg Dean, manager of agricultural services for the Amalgamated Sugar Co., said problems are still rela- tively new, but require a pro- active approach. Resistance in sugar beets will be increased by grower apathy, Dean said. He won- ders how to go about chang- ing that mindset. “They know it’s out there, they know it’s coming, but they’re not doing anything active about it,” he said. “It’s just grower stewardship — getting them to realize there are no solutions coming up behind them. As they lose this technology, there’s noth- ing behind it.” Changes in crop rotations are necessary to increase the tools available, said Bruce Palmer, research agronomist for the McGregor Co. “The problem is a lot of these crops are not profitable, but those are the only tools we’ve got,” he said. Cal Barta, with Ag Enter- prise Supply Inc., said one of the biggest challenges is tim- ing applications. Applying chemicals in the fall instead of the spring will be key, even though farmers are typi- cally ready to be done for the year at that time, Barta said. “There are only so many spray days, there’s only so many custom applicators,” he said. Washington State Univer- sity weed scientist Ian Burke said he sees a need for sim- ilar meetings aimed at spe- cific crops. Those meetings will likely include a list of problem weeds and ones to keep an eye out for, he said. Recommendations for growers included a willing- ness to experiment, using or increasing crop rotations and considering long-term im- pacts beyond an immediate need. A final report from all seven sessions is slated to be made available in the sum- mer, Stahlman said. Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Anthony Riassetto, Minerva Garnica and Bo Li of Ag World Support Systems in Moses Lake, Wash., race to peel the most potatoes during the annual potato peeling contest Jan. 24 at the Washington-Oregon Potato Conference in Kennewick, Wash. Peeling contest kicks off potato conference Winning group credits victory to teamwork By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press KENNEWICK, Wash. — It ain’t really a competition until there’s blood on the spuds. Those competing in the annual Potato Peel-Off at the Washington-Oregon Potato Conference gave more than their fair share. But the four teams competing in the annu- al event didn’t let a few nicks and cuts slow them down. They just powered through to the end, then wrapped their fingers in bandages in hopes of advancing to the next round. Minerva Garnica, of win- ning team Ag World Sup- Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Washington State Potato Com- mission executive director Chris Voigt has fun emceeing the an- nual potato peeling competition Jan. 24 during the Washing- ton-Oregon Potato Conference in Kennewick, Wash. port Systems in Moses Lake, Wash., has competed all three years. Her team emerged vic- torious the first year of the competition, too. What keeps Garnica com- ing back? It’s not exactly by choice. “We get signed up for it,” she said with a laugh. “It’s fun.” Garnica and teammates Anthony Riassetto and Bo Li didn’t practice for the event. Garnica chalked up their vic- tory to “working as a team.” Any advice for future would-be peelers? “Be careful not to cut yourself,” she said. Mark Stalham of NIAB CUF in Cambridge, England, didn’t specifically make the trip to compete. He’s present- ing at the conference. But he saw a good opportunity to get new graduate student Simon Smart involved, too. Warden, Wash., farmer Eli Wollman volunteered last-minute to round out their team. “We were actually going to do it by Skype, because we’ve got a professional peeler back home, but they wouldn’t al- low us to do that,” Stalham said. “It brings fun to the event. It’s a bit of competi- tion, everybody enjoys it.” Stalham admitted his team fared poorly. “We went for quality rath- er than speed, and clearly, the name of the game is to get the potatoes peeled,” he said. Fans of the event need to sign up next year if they want to see it continue, said Ryan Holterhoff, director of market- ing and industry affairs for the Washington State Potato Com- mission. Two teams this year were comprised of commis- sion board members and staff. “We’d like to see nine, 12 teams signed up,” Holterhoff said. “We think it’s a fun thing to do, just to get people in- volved in the trade show.” Researchers program drone to hunt PVY in potatoes By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press POCATELLO, Idaho — Researchers say they’ve pin- pointed individual spud plants infected with potato virus Y with 90 percent accuracy by using hyperspectral cameras mounted on drones. Donna Delparte, an assis- tant professor of geosciences at Idaho State University, and graduate student Mike Grif- fel have successfully tested a “computer-learning” algo- rithm they developed to tease out PVY from spectral imag- ing “background noise,” such as field variability and unre- lated crop stress. “Our premise was to look at all of these wavelengths of light the human eye can’t see and look for differences between healthy plants and plants infected with PVY,” Griffel said, adding their im- ages had leaf-scale resolution. Griffel said the project detected disease well be- fore potato crops reached the row-closure stage, far earlier than people can spot symp- toms of PVY by scouting fields. To develop their algorithm, they compiled crop data in fields over three seasons, end- ing in 2016. The researchers first analyzed fields from the ground with a high-tech cam- John O’Connell/Capital Press Donna Delparte, an assistant professor of geosciences at Idaho State University, shows the large drone built by ISU’s robotics and communications program to support heavy cameras she’s acquired for evaluating causes of yield declines in potatoes and sugar beets. She and J.R. Simplot Co. will partner on the research. era capable of recording 100 bands of the light spectrum. After studying the imag- es, they selected the 15 most useful bands for identifying PVY based on its unique light reflection. Delparte pro- grammed more basic hyper- spectral cameras mounted on drones to detect those bands while surveying the same po- tato fields from the air. They developed the al- gorithm based on common spectral signatures among sick plants. Their software “learned” to ignore field vari- ability based on comparisons of sick plant signatures with signatures reflected from ad- jacent healthy plants. PVY, vectored by aphids, is a major disease affecting potato seed growers and is the primary target of Idaho’s annual winter grow-out in Hawaii, which evaluates the health of certified seed lots. The researchers shared their findings with seed growers during the Idaho Seed Potato Growers seminar Jan. 17 in Pocatello. “We feel like we’re right on the cusp of taking this to a really fast, efficient way of detecting the virus,” Delparte said. The first three years of research were funded with grants from USDA and the Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission. Delparte said she’s seeking additional funding from seed growers and indus- try sources to leverage more grants and continue the work, delving into other diseases and crops. “Our hope is in another round of research and testing, we can tighten that work flow so we get faster and faster and get results back quickly to the grower,” Delparte said. Griffel envisions the tech- nology will eventually enable drones to text GPS coordi- nates of sick plants to field agronomists, or direct drones to spray and kill sick plants upon detection. “I think this type of data would give Idaho a marketing bump,” Griffel said. Griffel said cameras com- monly mounted on drones by companies providing data for agricultural producers and other industries aren’t sensi- tive enough to pick up PVY. However, he said his re- search findings could aid in development of simpler cam- eras, recording only bands of importance to PVY.