April 21, 2017
CapitalPress.com
11
Idaho
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Magic Valley carving carrot seed niche
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
Change to Idaho’s field
burning program heads
to EPA for approval
Capital Press
BOISE — A proposed
change to Idaho’s field
burning program has been
approved by state regula-
tors and lawmakers and will
now go to the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency for a
final OK.
The change, which is
meant to avoid a major re-
duction in allowable burn
days for farmers, is opposed
by some environmental and
public health groups but
supported by farm organiza-
tions.
Farmers testified in fa-
vor of a bill that makes the
amendment during Idaho’s
recent legislative session
and lawmakers supported it
by a combined vote of 91-
12.
Sen. Mark Harris, a Re-
publican rancher from Soda
Springs, said he didn’t be-
lieve opponents’ claims that
the change would endanger
public health. He said it
would actually increase the
number of allowable burn
days, which would spread
field burning over a longer
period and thus help protect
public health.
“I think it will be ben-
eficial to everybody who
burns crop residue across
the state,” Harris said. “It
gives growers more days to
burn their crop residue and it
gives (the Idaho Department
of Environmental Quality)
more days to manage their
program.”
Idaho farmers burn about
40,000 to 50,000 acres a
year.
DEQ can approve a burn
request only if ozone and
small particulate matter (PM
2.5) levels aren’t expected to
exceed 75 percent of the na-
tional standard for those air
pollutants.
But the federal standard
for ozone was tightened in
October 2015, which will
reduce the number of allow-
able burn days in Idaho by
33-50 percent, according to
DEQ estimates.
To avoid that, DEQ has
proposed loosening Idaho’s
ozone threshold to 90 per-
cent of the federal standard.
Environmental and pub-
lic health advocate groups
wanted to tighten the state’s
PM 2.5 threshold to offset
the loosening of the ozone
standard.
DEQ
officials
said
the science doesn’t sup-
port tightening the PM 2.5
threshold.
“If we thought this rule
was endangering public
health, we would not have
proposed the change in the
first place,” said Tiffany
Floyd, who manages DEQ’s
air quality division.
In response to DEQ’s
proposal, three members
of the state’s crop residue
burning advisory committee
that represent conservation
and safe air groups resigned
from the committee.
They included Austin
Hopkins of the Idaho Con-
servation League.
“The efficacy of sitting
on a board that doesn’t really
consider your input wasn’t
deemed worth the time,” he
told Capital Press. Hopkins
said the members who re-
signed also didn’t want their
representation on the board
to be misconstrued as sup-
port of DEQ’s proposal.
Farm groups hailed pas-
sage of the bill that imple-
ments DEQ’s proposal.
“We looked at that as a
huge win for our industry
because we got to preserve
field burning as a tool,” said
Roger Batt, executive direc-
tor of the Idaho-Eastern Ore-
gon Seed Association.
The change must now be
approved by EPA and DEQ
officials are preparing a
technical modeling demon-
stration to prove to the
agency that the change will
not result in field burning
in Idaho exceeding national
air quality standards, Floyd
said.
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farm as far as profitability
seemed attractive,” Bing-
ham said.
Brian Beckman, a field
representative with the Mon-
santo subsidiary Seminis
Vegetable Seed, estimates
500 to 600 acres of seed car-
rots are raised in Magic Val-
ley and 800 to 1,000 acres
are produced in Treasure
Valley. Prices vary wide-
ly, from $4.50 per pound to
about $32 per pound, de-
pending on the variety.
“It’s definitely a high-
er-risk crop,” Beckman said.
“The yield isn’t as stable as
a dry bean or field corn crop
or some of those other ones,
but at the same time, the
price has held.”
The Magic Valley’s cool
nights have enabled its
growers to carve a niche by
producing some valuable
and tough-to-raise Europe-
an varieties, such as Nantes.
Brett Lolley, Idaho produc-
tion manager with Seminis,
said his company has grown
from about 30 acres in Mag-
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have carrot seed research
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lard said Bejo plans to de-
velop independent research
capabilities in Magic Valley.
Pollard said Bejo now
cleans carrot seed in a Magic
Valley facility developed for
other purposes and hopes to
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Courtesy of Cody Bingham
Workers for Jerome, Idaho, grower Cody Bingham prepare to plant carrots to produce seed. Carrot
seed production has been gaining traction as an alternative crop in Magic Valley.
503-588-8313
ROP-40-42-4/#17
By SEAN ELLIS
16-2/#7
Courtesy of Idaho DEQ
A farmer burns his field after harvest to clear it of pests and dis-
ease. Idaho is seeking approval from the Environmental Protection
Agency for a plan to regulate field burning.
JEROME, Idaho — Cody
Bingham is trying a new
cash crop this season that’s
labor-intensive to raise, but
is nonetheless gaining a
foothold in the Magic Val-
ley.
The Jerome-area grow-
er chose to raise carrots for
seed as a replacement for
sweet corn, having lost his
buyer for that crop.
His workers recently
hand-planted a 36-acre car-
rot field — one of the larg-
est crops of carrots for seed
in the state. Idaho has three
major carrot seed buyers —
Monsanto, Bayer Crop Sci-
ence and Bejo Seeds, Inc. An
average field for their grow-
ers is 8 to 10 acres.
Carrot seed has been
raised for decades in South-
ern Idaho from Magic Val-
ley through Treasure Valley,
but Bejo — an Oceano, Ca-
lif.-based subsidiary of the
Northern Holland compa-
ny Bejo Zaden — has been
seeking to grow its Magic
Valley presence lately.
“I see substantial growth
potential for Bejo in carrot
production in (Magic Val-
ley),” said Richard Pollard,
with Bejo. “Our growth is
driven by our sales and by
our expanding product line.”
Bingham said he decided
to try the crop at the sugges-
tion of a friend who works
for Bejo. Carrots require a
winter vernalization period
to produce seed the follow-
ing season. Some growers
plant true seeds in the fall,
which elevates the risk of
winter kill. Bingham opted
to plant stecklings — tiny
carrots raised in Arizona
and chilled in a cooler to
mimic overwintering. Sugar
beet seed can be produced
through a similar process.
Carrot tops are swathed
and left to dry in rows for
pickup, and the roots are left
to decompose in the soil.
Bingham said seed carrots
require less fertilizer than
potatoes, but more than sug-
ar beets and corn.
“With other markets as
far as wheat, corn and even
sugar being a bit softer and
tighter, the potential for this
being a good addition to the
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16-2/#5