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16 CapitalPress.com February 17, 2017 Idaho farm groups oppose ‘sanctuary city’ ban By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — Idaho farm groups will oppose an immi- gration-related bill that would ban “sanctuary cities” because they believe some of its provi- sions could have a chilling ef- fect on the state’s agricultural workforce. A so-called sanctuary city is one that discourages coop- eration with federal immigra- tion agencies. There are cur- rently none in Idaho. House Bill 76 would pro- hibit sanctuary cities in Idaho and allow the state to withhold funding if one was created. But the bill also includes a provision that requires law enforcement officers, in the case of someone who has been arrested but is unable to prove he is in the U.S. lawfully, to hold that person for up to 48 hours until they can determine whether there is a federal immi- gration hold on him. During a Food Producers of Idaho meeting Feb. 1, some members said that could send a message to many in the ag- ricultural industry’s workforce that they are not welcome in the state. Idaho Dairymen’s Associ- ation Executive Director Bob Naerebout said the six-page legislation appears to be a mandate to law enforcement in Idaho and his industry is con- cerned about where it may lead. “The agricultural work- force is already scared and nervous,” he said. “I think it’s time to stand up and say, ‘These are people that are im- portant to our industry.’” FPI members voted unani- mously to oppose the bill. Idaho Grain Producers Association Governmental Affairs Director Rich Garber said industry is still sorting through the language of the bill to understand what its full implications could be. “If this bill plays out the way it appears it could, it could be really devastating to Idaho’s agricultural work- Idaho potato industry makes progress against diseases force,” he said. “We’re very concerned about (it).” The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, told Capital Press his bill is in no way targeted at agriculture and he was surprised the FPI opposed it. “I am very pro agriculture and I understand what their workforce needs are,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for ag- riculture. These aren’t ... the people this legislation is tar- geted at.” He said his bill is targeted at those who seek to obstruct federal immigration law. The part of the bill ag lead- ers are concerned about only relates to someone who al- ready has a hold put on them by U.S. Immigration and Cus- toms Enforcement, Chaney said. He met with Naerebout Feb. 3 to discuss the bill and said that “we agree on more than we disagree on. We will keep talking.” USDA and the U.S. De- partment of Labor estimates put the number of workers in the nation’s agricultural work- force here illegally as high as 70 percent, Naerebout said, and audits that have occurred across U.S. agriculture sug- gest that 70 percent is proba- bly accurate. He said farmers and ag in- dustry companies have to ac- cept certain legal documenta- tion provided by prospective workers. “I’m not going to question whether that documentation is legal,” he said. “That’s not our job. We can’t do that.” The ag industry’s concerns about the legislation represent just one piece of the overall immigration issue, Naerebout said. “The issue is, we don’t have a viable labor force,” he said. “This is just a symp- tom of ... what’s wrong in the whole immigration equation right now. This is a direct re- sult of the failure of Congress over the past decade to ad- dress immigration reform.” Drones’ popularity takes off at Colusa Farm Show By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press By TIM HEARDEN Capital Press IDAHO FALLS — The head of Idaho’s potato seed certification program says growers appear to have made progress in controlling bacteri- al ring rot challenges, and their potato virus Y infection rates seem to have flattened. Alan Westra, area manager of the Idaho Crop Improve- ment Association, based his observations on early numbers from ongoing seed certifica- tion testing. In 2014 — following a ring rot flare-up — Idaho im- plemented rules governing the devastating pathogen, in- cluding mandatory testing of seed lots seeking certification or recertification. The asso- ciation has zero tolerance for ring rot, rejecting any seed lots in which the disease is found. Officials also seek to trace the origin of infections. Westra said ring rot labo- ratory testing and field inspec- tions eliminated 1,700 acres from the certification program in 2015. He said results from 64 percent of 2016 seed lots required to undergo testing are Submitted Photo Bacterial ring rot is among the diseases targeted by the Idaho Crop Improvement Association. in, and just 10 acres have been eliminated. “So far, it’s down consider- ably from what it has been in the last three years,” Westra said. “Hopefully, it’s due to the fact that we’ve been test- ing, plus the industry at large is doing a better job between all of the other testing that’s done outside of the program and a greater attention to san- itation.” The program also calls for swabbing of equipment to gauge effectiveness of sanita- tion. Westra said growers did a good job of sanitizing seed cutters — often implicated in spreading ring rot — but the bacteria was frequently found in unexpected places, includ- ing pilers and conveyors. Ring rot also surfaced often on the rubber belts that move spud piles in potato trucks. He said one commercial trailer that was swabbed also tested pos- itive for ring rot, indicating growers shouldn’t assume ring rot originates from seed and that it is truly an “indus- try-wide problem.” The certification program also plants tubers from Ida- ho seed lots in Hawaii to test for PVY, which is spread by aphids. Of the 2015 seed, half of the lots had no confirmed PVY. Westra said 67 percent of acres were eligible for recerti- fication through the program for having less than 2 percent PVY. COLUSA, Calif. — When it comes to their popularity in agriculture, drones are taking off. Unmanned craft that look like miniature helicopters can take images from the air and gather information that helps farms with such things as pre- cision irrigation and chemical treatments, experts say. “We’re still finding ways to apply them,” said Dennis Ryan, principal engineer for the Redding, Calif.-based Ver- tical Sciences Inc., which was displaying a DJI S100 Plus rotary octacopter at its booth at the Colusa Farm Show on Feb. 7-9. The 2-year-old compa- ny uses the camera drone to do mapping and imagery for growers, and Ryan and his business partner, Jim Bi- anchin, see plenty of room for growth in the industry. “I think it’s huge,” Ryan said of the potential for drones in agriculture. “We don’t even know what they’re capable of at this point.” Tim Hearden/Capital Press Dennis Ryan, right, of Redding, Calif.-based Vertical Sciences Inc. discusses the use of a drone for taking aerial pictures with passers-by Feb. 7 at the Colusa Farm Show. Ryan says drones will make a big impact on agriculture in coming years. This was Vertical Scienc- es’ second year at the Colusa show, and Ryan said interest among growers has picked up significantly. Nearby, Scott Gregory of Oroville, Calif.-based Ag One Solutions gave a presentation on all the uses of aerial imag- ery from drones. “You can see a lot from the air that you can’t see from the ground necessarily,” Gregory said, adding that software in- terprets lots of data from still photos. Images in infrared and oth- er light spectrums can help a farmer determine if nitrogen is distributed evenly in soil, if irrigation system leaks are causing plant stress in tomato fields and if dodder — a par- asitic plant — is sucking the nutrients out of alfalfa, Greg- ory explained. Software applied to a high-resolution photo that spots every tomato plant in a field can provide a plant pop- ulation count and estimate plant loss, he said. “This can be pretty useful for a grower when you’re try- ing to estimate your yield,” he said. With GPS technology, an iPad and information from an aerial photo, a grower can go out and find trouble spots in a field or orchard and treat them without having to traverse the entire farm. “This is the epitome of precision agriculture, in my opinion,” Gregory said. Western businesses using drones for agriculture are poised for significant ex- pansion this season after the Federal Aviation Adminis- tration last summer eliminat- ed a requirement that drone operators also be licensed pilots. The new rules allow those without a pilot’s license to take a 16-hour course and pass a test to get a remote pi- lot’s certificate. Even before the rule change, about 2,100 compa- nies and individuals had fed- eral permission to fly drones for farming, according to the drone industry’s Association for Unmanned Vehicle Sys- tems International. Bill would clarify solid waste disposal rules for ag By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press 7-2/#14 Western lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the federal Solid Waste Dis- posal Act to help farmers understand which manure management rules they’re supposed to follow. HR 848, the Farm Regu- latory Certainty Act, would reaffirm and clarify Con- gress’ intention regarding manure management un- der the Resources Conser- vation and Recovery Act of 1976, also known as the Solid Waste Disposal Act. The new legislation would also prevent farmers who are already engaged in legal ac- tion or making a “diligent attempt” to work with state or federal governments to address manure management issues from being targeted by citizen lawsuits, according to the lawmakers. Manure runoff has been a concern in Skagit, Whatcom and Yakima counties in Wash- ington state. In early 2015, a federal judge in Washington applied solid waste disposal rules in the RCRA to dairy farms in the Yakima Valley. The Envi- ronmental Protection Agency and Congress “clearly” never intended RCRA for that pur- pose, Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse told the Capital Press. “They were not to target farmers, dairies, livestock producers,” Newhouse said of the rule. “(Farmers) ended up having to comply with a rule they had no idea they were subject to.” The new legislation will provide farmers with clarity so they know which rules ap- ply to them and can get better environmental results, New- house said. “We’re not talking about letting anybody off the hook when it comes to being re- sponsible for the environ- ment,” Newhouse said. “We just want to make sure it’s clear which rules they need to follow.” Newhouse and fellow Washington Rep. Cathy Mc- Morris Rodgers, both Repub- licans, and Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., introduced the bill. It has 27 additional spon- sors, including Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., former chairman of the House Agri- culture Committee, Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., and Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.
