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CapitalPress.com
May 5, 2017
Idaho
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Peas take hold in East Idaho rotations
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
RIRIE, Idaho — Growers
near this small Eastern Ida-
ho city have started planting
green peas to diversify their
limited crop rotations.
The buyer, George F.
Brocke & Sons Inc. of Ken-
drick, Idaho, sees a couple of
major advantages to adding
Ririe to its production base,
despite the added cost of
hauling the peas to Northern
Idaho.
Dirk Hammond, the com-
pany’s administrative ser-
vices manager, explained
growers near Ririe face no
problems with weevils —
which are a major pea pest
John O’Connell/Capital Press File
elsewhere — due to the Clark Hamilton, front, and his son, Logan, check a field of peas in Ririe, Idaho. Hamilton’s experiment with
high elevation. Furthermore, commercial pea production has resulted in an increasingly popular rotation crop for growers in his area.
adding a new growing area
Ririe grower Clark Ham- his trial year in 2014 and has
spreads risk. The compa- consistent quality and yields.
“It’s a relationship I think ilton made the initial pitch increased his pea crop this
ny’s Eastern Washington,
Northern Idaho and Montana we both want to continue to to Brocke & Sons. He was in spring to 270 acres. Hamilton
growers raise peas without ir- pursue and expand,” Ham- need of a crop to break up his said there’s been some limited
rigation, and their results can mond said. “We’re both learn- grain rotation in some of his production of peas for seed in
vary based on precipitation. ing what works well for each fields that are too rocky for his area in the past, but rais-
The Eastern Idaho growers, other, and it’s an educational raising spuds. He planted 120 ing commercial peas is a new
acres for the company during trend.
who use irrigation, provide process.”
Clark has also hosted
grower meetings to make his
neighbors aware of the op-
tion. This spring, 10 Eastern
Idaho growers will raise about
1,000 acres of peas.
Growers are paid 10.5
cents per pound, and can
produce from 3,000 to 5,500
pounds per acre under irri-
gation. Area growers say the
return is slightly less than soft
white spring wheat, but peas
require fewer inputs and they
fix a bit of nitrogen. Hamilton
said he has produced some of
his best grain crops following
peas.
“Every crop we’ve had so
far behind the peas shows a
definite health advantage,”
Hamilton said. “We’re not
getting wealthy, but we feel
over time we’ll have a health-
ier rotation.”
Ririe grower Brigham
Cook raised 80 acres of peas
in his first crop last season,
but he has about 600 acres
that are poor for spuds and
could benefit from adding
peas to the rotation. Cook be-
lieves low wheat and barley
prices have made peas more
attractive.
“It’s a crop that apparently
fits the area well,” Cook said.
“Marketing appears to be the
issue.”
Eastern Idaho growers
raise Banner, a pea variety
that Hammond said is popular
with customers and stands up-
right, producing peas on the
upper half of the plant. This
enables growers to harvest
their peas with wheat headers.
Hammond said Brocke &
Sons exports about 70 percent
of its peas. He anticipates pea
prices will increase slightly
before harvest, as challenging
conditions limited last sea-
son’s production, and spring
planting appears to be down
this year.
According to USDA’s Na-
tional Agricultural Statistics
Service, 1.382 million acres
of dry, edible spring peas
were produced in 2016 in the
U.S., including 29,000 acres
in Idaho. Washington growers
raised 90,000 acres, and the
top pea state, Montana, pro-
duced 610,000 acres.
NRCS issues more local disaster
declarations as Idaho flooding spreads
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
POCATELLO, Idaho —
With rivers already spilling
beyond their banks and heavy
snowpack remaining in the
mountains, USDA’s Natural
Resources Conservation Ser-
vice has issued local disaster
declarations making 33 more
Idaho counties eligible for
flood-recovery aid.
Curtis Elke, NRCS state
conservationist, said his April
25 declaration applied to all of
the counties that weren’t cov-
ered under recent emergency
declarations issued by Pres-
ident Donald Trump. Coun-
ties covered by the presiden-
tial declaration — Bingham,
Cassia, Elmore, Franklin,
Gooding, Jefferson, Lincoln,
Minidoka, Twin Falls and
Washington — still have the
best odds of obtaining as-
sistance, through the Feder-
al Emergency Management
Agency, Elke said.
“I have personally wit-
nessed other areas in the state
that are also needing some
John O’Connell/Capital Press
The Portneuf River overflows its banks April 26 in Sacajawea Park
in Pocatello, Idaho.
type of assistance — technical
assistance or financial — for
flood relief,” Elke said.
Elke said he’s witnessed
flood damage, or signs that
damage may be imminent, in
Bonner and Boundary coun-
ties, along the Boise River
and in the Weiser area.
“I really don’t think we’ve
seen the worst yet,” Elke said,
adding he’s pulling NRCS
staff off other projects to fo-
cus on flooding assistance.
According to the National
Weather Service, flood warn-
ings were in effect April 27
for the Portneuf River from
Pocatello to Inkom, the Hum-
boldt River at Battle Mountain
and the Boise River through
Ada and Canyon counties. A
flood advisory was in effect in
the Pegram and Dingle areas
of Bear Lake County, due to
flooded low-lying farm fields.
The Portneuf was listed at
1.3 feet above flood stage. Jim
Guthrie, of Inkom, said about
125 acres of his family’s farm
land has been covered by up
to 3 feet of flood water.
“I think it will be June be-
fore we can ever get on the
ground,” said Guthrie, who
still hopes to plant forage on
the flooded ground and sal-
vage a bit of feed production.
NRCS water supply spe-
cialist Ron Abramovich said
most of Idaho had already
received its usual April pre-
cipitation as of April 26, with
snowpacks still well above
normal in many basins — 209
percent in the Little Wood,
205 percent in the Big Wood,
194 percent in the Big Lost
and 159 percent in both the
Boise and the Upper Snake
basins above Palisades Res-
ervoir.
“The runoff from April
through July is going to
be well above average,”
Abramovich said.
Elke said counties includ-
ed in his declaration are eli-
gible for assistance through
the Emergency Watershed
Protection Program, aimed
at protecting water quality.
The program, which requires
a third-party sponsor and that
a natural disaster poses an im-
minent threat to life or proper-
ty, covers up to 75 percent of
funding toward certain con-
servation practices.
Eastern Idaho dryland farms off to slow start
Capital Press
ARBON VALLEY, Idaho
— Eastern Idaho farmers with
irrigation have reported tall
and thick winter grain stands,
but most of the region’s dry-
land growers say their fall
crops are well behind normal.
The start of last fall was
dry, which posed no problem
for growers with irrigation but
delayed planting for the re-
gion’s dryland farmers. Major
storms ultimately arrived to
support germination, but cold
weather came early, and dry-
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land fall crops entered winter
after a short growth window.
On April 28, Arbon Val-
ley dryland grower Twain
Hayden walked along a field
of short, soft white winter
wheat plants dusted by early
morning snow flurries, ex-
plaining his fall grain had yet
to break dormancy, due to the
cold spring.
Wet weather had also pre-
vented Hayden from planting
any spring grain, aside from
a few patches of winter kill
he over-seeded in fall grain
fields.
“Our average time for
starting to plant over the last
30 years is April 19, and our
average finishing time is May
11,” Hayden said.
University of Idaho report-
ed the discovery of stripe rust
on volunteer wheat in Parma
on April 24, and Hayden said
moist conditions can lead to
trouble with fungal diseases.
Hayden also noted moist soils
can lead to vigorous plant
growth, but insufficient root
systems for when the weath-
er turns hot and dry, and late
planting can cause grain to
head at the hottest time of
year.
But Hayden said he’s hap-
py to endure any challenges
associated with an abundance
of soil moisture, having expe-
rienced too many extremely
dry seasons in recent years.
“We had a combination of
a wet (late) fall, a wet winter
and a wet spring, and usually
all three of them don’t go to-
gether,” Hayden said. “Dry-
land farmers just have a really
hard time complaining about
moisture.”
Hayden believes the key
to a successful season will
still be avoiding prolonged
spells of 100-degree weather
in June.
On his dryland acres in
Lava Hot Springs, grower
Kevin Koester said alfalfa
that should be a foot tall by
now is about 3 inches tall.
Koester added, “This fall
wheat is really struggling.
It needs some sunshine, but
we’ve had an incredible
amount of moisture.”
Koester said he’ll have to
“force the issue” in planting
spring grain into cold, wet
soil, which could hurt germi-
nation. But he also won’t wor-
ry about an important variable
— moisture — this season.
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By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press File
The sentencing and restitution hearing for a Jerome, Idaho, ranch-
er has been set for June 5.
Judge delays sentencing
in cattle theft case
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
JEROME, Idaho — Judge
Eric Wildman on Monday de-
layed sentencing Jason David
Anderson — who in March
pleaded guilty to one count of
grand theft for selling 99 head
of cattle belonging to a Cali-
fornia man — until the parties
agree on restitution.
Wildman said full resti-
tution to the victim is “para-
mount” and he wants a good
idea of what that restitution is
without significant disagree-
ment between the parties be-
fore sentencing Anderson.
The judge has now com-
bined sentencing with the res-
titution hearing, with both set
for June 5.
“I am focusing on the de-
fendant’s ability to pay resti-
tution,” he said, adding that
he wants assurance that resti-
tution is going to be paid and
directing the parties to set up a
schedule of payments.
Anderson’s attorney, Doug
Nelson, said the restitution
hearing was going to be com-
plicated because the victim
owes his client money and he
would need at least a three-
hour slot for that hearing.
There is “money this guy
owes Jason,” he said. “It real-
ly is not simple.”
The victim said he was not
surprised by Anderson’s alle-
gations.
“He probably figures af-
ter all this is done, I owe him
money,” Gary Marchi said in
a phone interview from his
California home.
By Marchi’s calcula-
tions, Anderson owes him
more than $450,000, and
that doesn’t take into account
what the cattle were worth at
the time Anderson sold them
or the cattle he sold for which
there is no record, he said.
In his plea deal, Anderson
agreed to pay restitution to
Marchi at a value to be deter-
mined for 43 cows, 17 calves
and one bull he sold in 2012
and the sale of 18 calves born
in 2012 and 20 calves born in
2013.
Anderson — a Jerome
rancher and owner of Snake
River Bull Test LLC and
Rocky Mountain Ultrasound
& Genetics LLC — was
initially charged with eight
counts of grand theft, six
counts of obtaining a brand
certificate with false informa-
tion and one count of unlaw-
ful branding by the Jerome
County prosecuting attorney
in July 2016, according to
court documents.
The activity took place
between the fall of 2011 and
January 2015 and involved
Marchi’s shorthorn cattle.
Marchi, who raises pas-
tured cattle for beef, said he
sent the majority of his cat-
tle to Anderson in Idaho in
June 2011 because he lost all
his rental pasture in Califor-
nia when the land was sold.
He had never met Anderson
but made his acquaintance
through another cattleman.
Anderson’s failure to ship
steers to California after sev-
eral requests by Marchi and
his eventual contention that
Marchi’s cattle had been con-
fiscated by a deputy sheriff
due to a lien against the cattle
resulted in an investigation,
launched by the Idaho State
Police in November 2014, ac-
cording to court documents.
Marchi said Anderson nev-
er sent him a bill but he paid
him regularly, about $37,000
in total.
Marchi’s registered herd
was the result of a long-term
breeding program, which
earned recognition for quality
and consistency, he said.
“All my life, I worked for
this. And in one swift mo-
ment, he (Anderson) tears the
whole thing apart. It’s hard to
believe this is even happen-
ing,” he said.
In a letter to the court,
Marchi said he had been de-
veloping his beef-produc-
ing shorthorn herd since the
1970s and loss of that line has
caused him financial and emo-
tional stress, sending him into
depression and causing him
sleepless nights and stomach
issues.
“Anderson didn’t just steal,
rebrand and sell some cows.
He stole my life’s work,” he
said.