March 17, 2017
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Idaho
Wet weather delays planting in much of Idaho
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
DECLO, Idaho — Last
year, Mark Darrington was
busy planting barley by ear-
ly March.
This year, near the end
of a wet and cold winter,
the Declo farmer still has
snowbanks in his fields, and
the soil remains mucky and
cool.
A lot can happen during
the course of a growing sea-
son, but it’s already clear
to growers across South-
ern Idaho that they won’t
benefit from the early start
to spring planting that
contributed to last year’s
bumper grain and potato
crops and record sugar beet
harvest.
“It’s certainly reasonable
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Winter kill resulting from flooding is evident in a winter wheat
field near American Falls, Idaho. Growers from the Magic Valley
through Eastern Idaho anticipate widespread winter kill of fall grain
because of flooding and delays because of the lingering wet and
cool weather.
to say (grain planting) de-
lays of two to three weeks
at this point are not an un-
realistic expectation,” Dar-
rington said.
Darrington noted sur-
rounding mountains are still
snow-covered, and current
soil temperatures aren’t con-
ducive to growth.
“Last year was the best
emergence I’d ever seen,
and we had warm tempera-
tures headed into March,”
Darrington said. “Just look-
ing at the current weather
forecast and conditions out
there, I would expect that
emergence would be a little
slower.”
In addition to soggy
soil, American Falls grower
Kamren Koompin believes
the season’s start will be de-
layed by replanting of win-
ter kill in fall grain resulting
from flooding.
He also expects growers
may wait on custom fertiliz-
er applications, as farmers in
areas that normally plant at
different times might have to
plant simultaneously.
“Right now, the best-
case scenario in the Pleas-
ant Valley area would be
a week behind,” Koompin
said, adding delayed plant-
ing of spring grain could
have a “domino effect” and
push back potato and beet
planting.
University of Idaho
Extension cereal pathol-
ogist Juliet Marshall ad-
vises growers to use seed
treatments on spring grain
planted in cold and wet
soils. She also recommends
that they have seed avail-
able for replanting winter
kill.
Marshall said challenging
conditions may not be over
for some farmers, as some
fields near Idaho Falls re-
cently flooded again.
“I do think we’re going
to be late planting because
of the wet, cold conditions
and extra snow that’s been
here,” Marshall said. “We’re
looking at a couple of weeks
we could be delayed very
easily.”
The weather has been
warmer and somewhat drier
in southwest Idaho, enabling
growers to start planting
spuds.
“Our
neighbors
are
planting (potatoes), and
we’re going to be planting
Monday,” Mountain Home
grower Jeff Harper said on
March 9.
Harper said the manag-
er of his Twin Falls County
farm told him wet field con-
ditions will significantly de-
lay planting there.
Value of Idaho ag exports falls 8 percent in 2016
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
Connie Stopher, the new executive director of the Southern Idaho Economic Development Organization,
talks with SIEDO chairman Dan Olmstead during the board’s quarterly meeting in Twin Falls on March 9.
Economic development
director settles in
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
TWIN FALLS, Idaho —
The new executive director of
the Southern Idaho Economic
Development Organization,
Connie Stopher, is busy getting
to know her new community
and meeting with the people
behind its success.
The first order of business
is visiting with city and county
officials in the region, as well
as local economic development
groups and businesses to find
out their vision for the future,
she said.
In that mix is the agricultur-
al sector.
“Certainly it’s been a criti-
cal component of the economic
success the Magic Valley has
seen,” she said.
She’s eager to work with
the ag community on ways to
continue that success and learn
about the innovations being
made by agribusinesses, she
said.
She has long been im-
pressed with the success the
Magic Valley has been able to
build through agriculture and
food science and is excited to
come to the community and
continue working in that realm.
Stopher comes to the new
position after having served
since 2014 as executive direc-
tor of the South Coast Develop-
ment Council in Coos Bay, Ore.
In that position, she was
responsible for launching the
council’s business retention
and expansion program and
assisting with numerous busi-
ness start-ups, expansions and
relocations, which have added
hundreds of new jobs through-
out the region.
Coos Bay is surrounded by
agricultural communities and
while agriculture there is a lit-
tle different from the Magic
Valley, it was always a strong
component of the area’s suc-
cessful economic development
strategy, she said.
She and her husband, Pat —
an aircraft mechanic by trade
but working as a park ranger in
Oregon — are both natives of
Idaho and wanted to get back,
she said.
“It takes leaving to realize
how great Idaho is,” she said,
adding that Oregon is great,
too, but here they’ll be closer to
family.
She wanted to remain work-
ing in economic development
and is thrilled to have the op-
portunity to work with SIEDO,
she said.
In her new position, Stopher
will be responsible for leading
the economic development
activities in southern Idaho to
develop and grow the region by
working closely with SIEDO’s
executive board, member cities
and counties, the College of
Southern Idaho, Business Plus
(a regional private business
nonprofit organization), region-
al and state agencies and site
selectors.
She will focus on talent
attraction and business re-
cruitment, expansion and re-
tention.
“The region has seen tre-
mendous success over the last
several years, and I’m excited
to be working with the talent-
ed individuals and communi-
ties that have supported that
growth,” she said.
Stopher brings extensive
skills in all areas of econom-
ic development, having run a
successful similar organization
in Oregon, said Dan Olmstead,
SIEDO chairman.
“She offers the ability to
develop a vision for the region
to move the organization and
economic successes in southern
Idaho forward,” he said.
Stopher has also served as
an economic development spe-
cialist for Bannock Develop-
ment Corp. and human resource
workforce training instructor at
Idaho State University.
She received a master’s de-
gree in public administration
and a bachelor of arts degree in
political science from ISU.
BOISE — The value of
Idaho agricultural exports to-
taled $724 million in 2016,
down 7.7 from 2015 and 28
percent from the record year
of 2014.
The decline in value is tied
to a decrease in commodity
prices, and the strong U.S.
dollar relative to other major
currencies isn’t helping, said
Laura Johnson, who manages
the Idaho State Department of
Agriculture’s marketing divi-
sion, which tracks the numbers.
During a global export out-
look event sponsored by ISDA
March 8, keynote speaker Jo-
seph Glauber said a strong U.S.
dollar would continue to be an
issue that weighs on exports for
the next three or four years.
“A strong dollar ... presents
a challenge for U.S. goods sold
abroad because that means
those goods are more expen-
sive,” said Glauber, a senior
research fellow at the Interna-
tional Food Policy Research
Institute.
According to ISDA data,
Mexico was the top destination
for Idaho food product exports
in 2016.
A total of $176 million
worth of Idaho ag products
were sold in Mexico last year,
a 7 percent decline from 2015.
About $171 million worth of
Idaho ag products were export-
ed to Canada in 2016, a 10 per-
cent increase.
China ranked third at $54
million, a 12 percent decline
from 2015.
South Korea was fourth at
$37 million (down 34 percent),
followed by the Netherlands
($30 million, up 15 percent),
Japan ($30 million, down 21
percent) and Spain ($24 mil-
lion, up 19 percent). During the
outlook event, Fabiola McClel-
lan, Idaho’s trade office manag-
er in Mexico, said that country
remains a promising market
for the type of innovative food
products Idaho produces.
Consumer confidence and
employment are both up and
the initial uncertainty over
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Cows feed at a southwestern Ida-
ho dairy in this 2016 photo. The
total value of Idaho agricultural
exports in 2016 was down almost
8 percent compared to 2015.
Idaho dairy product exports were
down 30 percent.
what the new U.S. presidential
administration might mean for
trade between the two nations is
subsiding, she said.
“Mexico is in a very healthy
situation right now to continue
bringing in Idaho products,”
she said.
A total of $137 million
worth of Idaho dairy products
were exported last year, a 30
percent decline from 2015 and
a 61 percent decrease compared
with 2014, which was a record
year for Idaho dairy exports.
However, Idaho exports
under the “sugars” category,
which is mostly dairy lactose,
were up 18 percent to $24 mil-
lion.
Idaho exports under the
“miscellaneous grain and seed”
category totaled $127 million
in 2016, a 4 percent increase,
and “vegetable” exports totaled
$116 million, up 0.4 percent
over 2015.
Exports under the “milling,
malt and starch” category to-
taled $94 million, a 13 percent
decrease from 2015, while
“preserved food” exports were
down 12 percent to $79 million.
Exports under the “miscella-
neous food” category increased
16 percent to $31 million.
University of Idaho Ag-
ricultural Economist Garth
Taylor said U.S. farm exports
are facing several challeng-
es, including the strong U.S.
dollar, Russia’s embargo on
some food products and re-
cord high crop production in
many countries.
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