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CapitalPress.com
June 30, 2017
Idaho
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Wheat budget: $210K for falling number research
Commission aims to
solve issues with five
research projects
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — The Idaho
Wheat Commission’s fiscal
year 2018 budget is down
slightly from fiscal 2017 but
provides $210,000 for five
projects aimed at helping
growers solve the low falling
number issue.
The IWC’s five-member
commission set the fiscal
2018 budget at $3.18 mil-
lion, down 6 percent from the
$3.38 million budgeted for the
current fiscal year.
The 2018 budget includes
$1.43 million for various re-
search projects. This is the
first time a significant amount
of money has been included
for falling number research.
Falling number tests mea-
sure wheat quality and grow-
ers get less money for test re-
sults below 300.
IWC Executive Direc-
tor Blaine Jacobson said the
smaller budget this year is
due to the commission hav-
ing paid its final installment
toward two $1 million Uni-
versity of Idaho research en-
dowments.
Accounting for that, the
budget actually increased
$100,000 and most of that ad-
ditional money went toward
research, he said.
“Research is very vital
to our industry,” said IWC
Commissioner Jerry Brown, a
Southeast Idaho grower. “The
only way we’re going to be
competitive in the world mar-
ket is by spending some mon-
ey on research.”
In 2014 falling number
problems in Eastern Idaho
were caused by pre-harvest
sprouting due to heavy rains.
Last year they were caused
by late-maturity amylase in
Northern Idaho.
“...We’ve got projects that
are addressing both of those,”
Jacobson said. “Hopefully,
we can make some significant
progress on this issue ... and
get some solutions put togeth-
er.”
There’s a lot the indus-
try doesn’t know or under-
stand about the phenomenon,
Brown said.
“Low falling number is
getting to be a real issue, es-
pecially if you’re impacted
by it,” he said. “It can be very
painful ... if it happens to you.
That’s an area ... we are going
to continue to put some em-
phasis on down the road.”
More research dollars were
also directed toward pest man-
agement projects this year,
including $48,000 for a new
wireworm control project.
The new budget includes
$805,501 for market develop-
ment.
That includes $25,000 to
send sample containers of soft
white wheat to millers in Peru
as part of a cooperative proj-
ect between Idaho, Oregon
and Washington to encour-
age Latin American millers to
blend soft white wheat with
hard red wheat when making
tortillas.
More money was budgeted
this year to host international
trade teams. The commission
is expecting five and possibly
six teams to visit the state this
year, up from three or four
during an average year.
Commissioners approved
$833,000 for projects and
programs listed under grower
communication and educa-
tion, including $20,000 for a
digital marketing specialist
to revamp the commission’s
website and Facebook pages,
produce video clips and de-
velop digital platforms such
as Twitter.
The budget includes
$36,000 to help UI’s Moscow
breeding station purchase a
new head row planter and
$37,500 to help research-
ers in Aberdeen purchase a
GPS-controlled auto pilot so
their planting and harvesting
can be more precise, Jacobson
said.
Proposed Idaho rule
results in closer wheat
commission-industry
working relationship
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — A proposed
rule change by the Idaho
Wheat Commission, which
has been opposed by some
elevators, has resulted in the
commission working more
closely with the industry.
The IWC has proposed
amending its enabling leg-
islation to require first pur-
chasers of Idaho wheat to
submit the names and con-
tact information of all wheat
producers in the state to the
commission.
The commission argues
this is needed to enable it to
fulfill its statutory duty to
communicate with, inform
and educate wheat growers
in Idaho.
Most elevators in the state
already submit that informa-
tion but some don’t and they
say they should be able to do
that voluntarily if their grow-
ers OK releasing that infor-
mation.
The IWC held five nego-
tiated rule-making meetings
last year and one of the re-
sults of those discussions has
been a closer working rela-
tionship between the com-
mission and industry.
At the request of the in-
dustry, the commission be-
gan inviting two industry
members to its regular meet-
ings. That has resulted in dis-
cussions with elevator rep-
resentatives that otherwise
wouldn’t have occurred.
“I appreciate the indus-
try interface we have had
today,” IWC Commission-
er and North Idaho wheat
farmer Bill Flory said during
the commission’s quarterly
meeting last week. “It’s al-
ways good to hear from our
industry partners. I think it’s
time well spent.”
Ken Blakeman of CHS
Primeland and BoDee Udy
of J.C. Management attend-
ed last week’s meeting and
joined the discussion on sev-
eral issues.
J.C. Management Own-
er Clark Johnston said Udy
gained a lot of insight at the
meeting.
“He got to meet some
people he didn’t know before
and he said (the commission-
ers and IWC staff) are really
knowledgeable,” Johnston
said. “I think it’s a good thing
to have people get together
and get to know each other
so nobody’s the enemy.”
Another suggestion that
arose during last year’s nego-
tiated rule-making meetings
was that the IWC host a ce-
real school in southwestern
Idaho. The commission of-
fers cereal schools in North
and East Idaho, where most
of the state’s wheat is pro-
duced, but has never held one
in southwestern Idaho.
During the IWC’s regular
quarterly meeting last week,
commissioners
approved
funding for a cereal school in
that part of the state starting
in 2018.
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
Essie Fallahi, who heads the pomology program at the University of Idaho’s Parma Research and Extension Center, speaks about some
of the many fruit-related research projects conducted there June 21 during the Parma center’s first all-station field day in a decade.
Parma research station hosts first
all-station field day in a decade
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
PARMA, Idaho — About
80 people attended the first
all-station field day in a de-
cade at University of Idaho’s
Parma Research and Exten-
sion Center June 21.
Individual researchers at
the southwestern Idaho agri-
cultural research station have
held crop-specific field days
for members of industry over
the last decade but the center
hadn’t held an all-station tour
for members of the public and
industry for 10 years, said su-
perintendent Jim Barbour.
“We have some new fac-
ulty on station now and it
seemed like a good time to do
this field day again,” he said.
The 200-acre center focus-
es on research and extension
activities related to vegeta-
bles, cereals, forages, hops,
Sean Ellis/Capital Press
mint, fruit and seed crops.
Researchers presented field
day participants the highlights
of projects they are working
on.
Barbour, an entomologist,
gave an overview of a project
designed to help alfalfa seed
growers deal with the lygus
bug, one of the crop’s main
production challenges, with-
out also killing the bees need-
ed to pollinate the crop.
Lygus attack the plant at
the same time bees are polli-
nating it, making it difficult to
kill the former without harm-
ing the latter, Barbour said.
“If you lose a crop because
you have lygus or because you
don’t have bees, it’s the same
loss,” he said. “We are looking
at ways to spray and chemi-
cals to use to help control ly-
gus without killing the bees.”
Barbour also shared the lat-
est results of a research project
looking at ways to help hop
growers control spider mites,
which move rapidly and can
destroy a hop crop quickly if
not dealt with properly.
“We have a lot of miti-
cide studies going on right
now looking at different
modes of action so we can
rotate through chemistries so
we don’t run into a situation
where the mites develop resis-
tance to a (certain chemistry),”
he said.
Saad Hafez, a nematolo-
gist, discussed his research
aimed at finding alternatives
to fumigation to manage
nematodes in mint. His past
research has already resulted
in grower recommendations
for using green manure crops
such as mustard and oil seed
radish as natural fumigants to
control nematodes in potatoes
and sugar beets.
“It’s cheaper and it’s bet-
ter for the soil because you’re
adding that much organic
matter and you don’t need to
add as much fertilizer because
you get natural nitrogen out of
(those crops),” he said.
Plant scientist Mike Thorn-
ton shared the results of a just
completed two-year study that
showed that heavy thrips dam-
age and the resulting infection
with iris yellow spot virus in-
creased the susceptibility of
onion bulbs to decay in stor-
age.
While the exact reason for
the increase in decay is un-
known, it appears to be asso-
ciated with premature death
of the plant before the necks
soften and fall over naturally,
Thornton told Capital Press in
an email.
Thornton is testing several
new fungicide formulations
this year to see if they can re-
duce the incidence of decay.
Tour offers update on research progress
CHS Primeland General Manager Ken Blakeman, second from
left, participates in the Idaho Wheat Commission’s quarterly
meeting June 6 in Boise. A proposed rule change by the IWC
has resulted in a closer working relationship between the com-
mission and industry.
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
ROP-40-42-4/#17
Capital Press
KIMBERLY, Idaho —
About 120 growers, field men,
chemical company represen-
tatives and researchers turned
out for the recent University
of Idaho Snake River Pest
Management Research tour at
the Kimberley Research and
Extension Center.
The weather was hot and
so were the topics, ranging
from weed-control trials, in-
sect management studies and
irrigation research.
Most of the results of this
year’s trials will be shared lat-
er this summer, but research-
ers wanted to update industry
members on what’s taking
place at the research center
this season.
Don Morishita, UI weed
scientist and superintendent of
the research center, explained
trials on broadleaf weed,
wild oat and foxtail control in
spring wheat comparing dif-
ferent herbicides.
So far, broadleaf weed con-
trol looks “pretty darn good”
although kochia control with
Quelex is not as good as ex-
pected. Combining it with an
adjuvant is showing a big ben-
efit, however, he said.
Some differences are being
seen in wild oat control, with
a Rimfire Max mix visually
looking the best at this point,
but the plots didn’t have a lot
of wild oat pressure this year,
he said.
Another study is looking at
the potential hormetic effects
of four herbicides on sugar
beets. The trials are focused
on the beneficial effects of low
doses of herbicides that would
be toxic at higher doses.
As sugar beet yields con-
tinue to increase, sugar facto-
ries are about to hit the amount
of biomass they can handle.
The trials are looking at the
use of low doses of herbicide
to increase sugar content with-
out adding biomass.
“We hope we can improve
sugar yield more than the bio-
mass or the roots,” Morishita
said.
With no new herbicides for
sugar beets coming down the
pike in the near future, another
research project is looking at
sugar beet tolerance to etho-
fumesate and herbicides not
registered for sugar beets.
In bean research, trials are
continuing on the effects of
adjuvants on Basagran, as well
as weed control in dry beans
using narrow rows, different
seeding rates and different till-
age methods. Researchers are
also looking at the effects of
tillage and irrigation on gar-
den seed bean production and
herbicide tolerance in two gar-
den seed bean varieties.
Research is also continuing
on hairy vetch control in cov-
er crops, and new research is
looking at safflower tolerance
to sulfentrazone.
The tour also highlighted
insect-management studies,
including the timing and de-
velopment of zebra chip in-
fection in potatoes; evaluation
of potato psyllid insecticides;
and potato psyllid behavioral
response to resistant potato
germplasm.
Insect studies are also
being done on the response
of sugar beet germplasm to
sugar beet root maggots and
the effects of aphids on sugar
beets. Wireworm resistance
and preference in crops and
the use of trap crops and bio-
logic controls are also being
studied.
Research continues on fi-
nal irrigation timing and the
effects of polymers in sugar
beets and potatoes, as well as
the effects of irrigation with
different irrigation methods
and rates, different tillage
methods and the use of cover
crops in dry beans.