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14 CapitalPress.com July 14, 2017 New insecticide to remain on market despite ESA violation Cyantraniliprole provides new weapon against spotted wing drosophila in blueberries By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press A new reduced-toxicity pesticide may remain on the market even though its ap- proval violated the Endan- gered Species Act, according to a federal appeals court. Cyantraniliprole, or CTP, was registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2014 as an active ingredient in 14 insecticide brands used on numerous crops. It’s commonly known as Cyazypyr. The chemical provides a new weapon against the spot- ted wing drosophila in blue- berries and the Asian citrus psyllid in citrus crops. Environmental groups — Center for Biological Diversi- ty, Center for Food Safety and Defenders of Wildlife — filed a lawsuit against EPA claim- ing the agency never studied CTP’s potential effects on threatened and endangered species. According to the plain- tiffs, CTP may be “fairly persistent” in an agricultural environment even as it de- grades, raising the possibility the chemical will accumulate over time. The plaintiffs pointed to EPA’s own ecological risk assessment that found the insecticide is expected to be sprayed in areas inhabited by 1,377 endangered species. The U.S. Court of Ap- peals for the D.C. Circuit has now agreed that EPA violated the law by not re- viewing the chemical’s po- tential to affect protected species or consulting about those effects with other fed- eral agencies. However, the EPA did not have “total disregard” for CTP’s possible adverse con- sequences, as shown by the ecological risk assessment, and registered the chemical because it’s likely to replace other insecticides more tox- ic to humans, birds, fish and bees, the D.C. Circuit said. The D.C. Circuit said it’s convinced that leaving CTP’s registration in place while EPA further evaluates the chemical will maintain “en- hanced protection of environ- mental values.” The insecticide’s manu- facturer, DuPont, intervened in the lawsuit, arguing that CTP’s registration fulfilled the fundamental purpose of the Endangered Species Act. The D.C. Circuit reject- ed that argument, ruling that EPA wasn’t excused from the legal requirement to conduct an “effects determination” or consult about the chemical’s impact with other agencies. Senior Circuit Judge Ray- mond Randolph dissented from the ruling because he believes the environmental plaintiffs weren’t injured by the pesticide’s approval and thus lack the legal standing to file the lawsuit. Coors field day draws hundreds By CAROL RYAN DUMAS Capital Press John O’Connell/Capital Press Rob Giesbrecht discusses the growth stages of dry beans at a field he planted near American Falls, Idaho. He is attempting to grow dry beans outside their usual production area. Farmer in Eastern Idaho experiments with dry beans By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho — To keep his small, Eastern Idaho farm financial- ly healthy, Rob Giesbrecht believes pioneering new crops for his region is a saf- er bet than sticking with the status quo. For a second consecutive year, Giesbrecht has planted a 63-acre field of dry beans near American Falls — well outside the crop’s established growing area. And his neighbors have been watching his experi- ment closely. He also plans to try car- rots as he moves toward more high-value specialty vegetables, hoping to earn a profit without having to con- tinuously scale up his opera- tion to spread fixed costs over more acres. “As a smaller grower, it takes volume to be profitable in potatoes,” said Giesbrecht, who farms 1,850 acres. “If I can change my farm, I live to see the future.” Dry beans are a major rotational crop in Idaho’s warmer Magic and Treasure valleys. But officials with the Idaho Bean Commission believe dry beans may be poised to spread into new production areas where they haven’t typically been con- sidered viable, including Northern and Eastern Idaho. “To limit ourselves to the Magic or Treasure Valley in the state of Idaho, I don’t think that’s correct,” said Don Tolmie, an Idaho Bean Commission member who sells bean seed. “If that pro- duction is proven there, you will see that acreage expand very rapidly in places like American Falls.” Tolmie said dry bean pric- es have remained relatively strong despite declines in other commodities because of challenging conditions in other global bean production areas. Giesbrecht, who is re- quired to reduce his ground- water irrigation under terms of a recent water call settle- ment, likes dry beans as a low-water option. Furthermore, they’re typi- cally planted later than other crops, enabling him to bene- fit from spring growth on his cover crops, which are plant- ed to improve soil health. He had to buy a used header to harvest the beans, and he’ll incur greater freight costs to ship his crop to the Magic Valley. But Giesbrecht was pleased with last season’s bean crop, until heavy rains complicated his harvest. He said his current crop is also progressing nicely, but a bit slower than Magic Valley beans. Giesbrecht said his buy- er isn’t yet looking for ad- ditional Eastern Idaho bean growers and asked to remain anonymous, wanting to test the potential for raising beans in the region to be prepared for greater market demand in the future. Tolmie said the commis- sion is funding a Northern Idaho dry bean trial this season in Genesee. They’re working with the Pacific Northwest Cooperative, us- ing short-season navy bean varieties. “The last report was they’re on schedule and do- ing great,” Tolmie said. Andi Woolf-Weibye, the commission’s executive di- rector, said she’s heard more inquiries lately from grow- ers mulling bean production outside traditional grow- ing areas, including from an Eastern Idaho grower in Grace. She attributes the recent interest to short-sea- son varieties, and that “ev- erybody is always look- ing for something new to add.” BURLEY, Idaho — It seemed a mutual-admiration celebration at the Coors field day and grower appreciation lunch on July 6. Though tem- peratures reached 100 degrees, about 400 people showed up — and taps were flowing with cold Coors brews. Pete Coors, vice chairman of Molson Coors Brewing Co. — the parent company of MillerCoors, its U.S. division — told growers, “It is so hum- bling to be amongst you who work so hard to make the best barley in the world.” Molson Coors is the third-largest brewer in the world, and great barley is what this is all about, he said. “We used to believe great beer is made in the malt house, but … really, great beer is made in the barley field,” he said. Coors’ focus is constant improvement of its beer. Its breeding research develops the best lines to achieve that goal and provide viable varieties for growers, he said. The company owes much thanks to its growers who “work hard to make sure we get good barley, and the results are in the can,” he said. Wade Malchow, Coors se- nior manager of global barley, said Idaho growers produce one-third of Coors’ barley — two cans out of every six-pack, with the average-sized Idaho grower’s contract representing 1.5 million cases of beer annu- ally, he said. In 2017, Idaho growers planted about 60,000 acres of Coors’ Moravian barley, with an expected production of 8 million bushels, he said. The Burley facility has a storage capacity of 9 million bushels, receiving barley from growers nearly year-round and shipping to four malting hous- es, including Coors’ own in Golden, Colo., once a week. An investment in excess of $12 million in 2016 doubled its Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press Bob Brunick, Molson Coors manager of barley breeding, center, talks about developing breeding lines and shows research plots at the Coors facility in Burley, Idaho, on July 6. Behind him is Pete Coors, vice chairman of Molson Coors Brewing Co. Coors barley growers enjoy a grower appreciation lunch at the Coors facility in Burley, Idaho. receiving ability from 10,000 bushels an hour to 20,000 bush- els an hour, he said. Handling at the storage fa- cility is “all about making a lot of one thing really well,” so that the first shipment of barley to go out is the same as the last, he said. If things are done right at the storage facility, it makes the maltster’s job easier and provides a consistent product to the brew house. Consistency is important so that Coors’ beer is the same anywhere in the world, he said. At the heart of that consis- tency is seed, and the Burley facility has storage capacity for 500,000 pounds of registered seed for its seed growers and 12.5 million pounds of certified seed for its malt barley grow- ers, said Brent Wolf, Coors ele- vator supervisor at Burley. Coors’ seed varieties are all developed at its research green- houses at Burley, where breed- ers plant about 20,000 seeds a year, making 300 to 350 cross- es. The process requires four generations for the genes in the seed to become stable, said Mont Stuart, Coors’ manager of malt operations. That seed ends up in test plots at 14 field sites in Idaho, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Alberta, Canada, where researchers grow it out and ob- serve it or carry the resulting barley through to quality and malting testing, said Bob Bru- nick, Coors’ manager of barley breeding. The company screens about 23,000 breeding lines a year, and only about one in 100,000 lines becomes commercially viable. The whole process takes about eight to 10 years to re- lease a variety, he said. The objective is to “position ourselves to have a proprietary supply chain,” he said. In addition to breeding for quality and agronomics, the company is also focused on sustainability. For example, if the company can develop a variety that ripens quicker, the crop would use less water. Along the same vein, the com- pany is also trying to develop varieties that are viable for dry- land farming, Pete Coors said. Sustainability is a “key fo- cus of the program now,” he said. Open house showcases drones, precision agriculture By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press Farmers will see demonstra- tions of the latest in drone and precision agriculture technol- ogy during an upcoming open house. Washington State Univer- sity’s Center for Precision and Automated Agricultural Sys- tems will host an Agricultural Technology Day at 1 p.m. July 31 at the Ag Technology Build- ing, 24016 N. Bunn Road, Prosser, Wash. The event showcases the university’s efforts, focusing on unmanned aerial vehicles and precision irrigation, said Lav Khot, assistant professor of precision agriculture. Displays and short demon- strations on the agenda include robotic weeding, precision pol- lination, mechanical pruning, direct root-zone deficit irriga- tion, robotic apple harvesting and high-throughput crop phe- notyping technologies. Khot welcomes feedback. “What we do has to make sense in terms of how growers use it,” he said. He is also looking for col- laborators to help him test the technology, he said. The university offers the event every other year, Khot said. It’s anyone’s guess how far along the tech will be when the event is held again in 2019. “It is advancing at a rapid pace,” Khot said. Certified crop advisor con- tinuing education units for soil and water management, crop management and integrated pest management are available. The event is free but reg- istration is required. Contact Khot at 509-786-9302 or lav. knot@wsu.edu or Linda Root at 509-786-9235 or lsflem- ing@wsu.edu Idaho leads nation in personal income growth because of strong farm earnings By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — Idaho led the nation in personal income growth during the first three months of 2017, economists say, and the gain was driven largely by strong farm earn- ings. The state’s seasonally ad- justed personal income grew by 1.6 percent during the first quarter of 2017 compared to the fourth quarter of 2016, ac- cording to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal income grew by 1 percent nationwide. Florida, Louisiana, Michigan and Tex- as tied for second in personal income growth, at 1.3 percent. Personal income in Idaho totaled $67.6 billion in the first quarter, up from $66.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2016. The gain was driven by farm earnings, which grew by $239 million, or 17 percent, to $1.65 billion. According to state Depart- ment of Labor officials, farm earnings accounted for 36 percent of the state’s personal income growth during the first quarter. Agricultural and state economists cautioned that the quarterly data are often revised, sometimes signifi- cantly, but they also said the growth in farm earnings in Idaho is a positive sign. The first quarter growth in farm earnings marked the first time since the third quarter of 2015 that farm income in- creased in the state. Idaho farm income peak- ed at $1.8 billion in the third quarter of 2015 and dropped every quarter after that until Sean Ellis/Capital Press A wheat field near Meridian, Idaho, on June 28. Strong farm earn- ings were the major factor in Idaho leading the nation in personal income growth during the first quarter of 2017. the first quarter of 2017. “The bottom line is it’s up and that’s a lot better than be- ing down,” said Garth Taylor, a University of Idaho agricul- tural economist. Derek Santos, chief econ- omist for the state Division of Financial Management, cau- tioned against getting too ex- cited about one quarter of per- sonal income data, but he also said the significant increase in farm earnings is a good sign. “A quarter doesn’t make a trend but the direction is positive and hopefully it will hold,” he said. The total value of Idaho agricultural exports reached positive territory during the first quarter of 2017 after de- clining for two years. The record or near-record yields many Idaho crops ex- perienced last year may have played a role in the strong first-quarter farm earnings. Doug Robison, Northwest Farm Credit Service vice president of agriculture for Western Idaho, told Capital Press that in addition to high- er values for key Idaho com- modities, such as beef and milk, 2016 was also an excel- lent production year for many farm commodities. That resulted in above-av- erage inventories from 2016 being sold in the first quarter of 2017, he said in an email. “Prices were somewhat higher, but much of the (first quarter personal income) gain was due to the higher yields and total production values realized with the sale of these commodities,” he said. It’s unlikely there will be a repeat this year of those above-average yields ”that helped support the increases we saw in the first quarter,” Robison said. “Without in- creased commodity prices, we may even see farm income de- cline modestly once the 2016 inventory gains work their way through the system.”
