July 14, 2017
CapitalPress.com
5
Governor’s office nixes proposed ban on soybean production
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — A proposal to
ban the planting of soybeans
in parts of Idaho where dry
beans are grown has been
nixed by the governor’s of-
fice.
The Idaho-Eastern Ore-
gon Seed Association and
Idaho Bean Commission
proposed a rule that would
prohibit soybeans from being
grown in southcentral and
southwestern Idaho, where
the state’s dry bean industry
is centered.
Those groups say soy-
beans have the potential to
bring in diseases that could
significantly harm the state’s
$70 million dry bean indus-
try.
Soybean acres in Idaho
have fluctuated between a
few dozen and a couple hun-
dred over the past decade, but
some people believe it’s only
a matter of time before they’re
planted in large numbers be-
cause of the state’s large and
growing dairy industry.
The groups had asked
the Idaho State Department
of Agriculture to initiate
rule-making that would have
led to the prohibition but the
ISDA recently sent them a
letter saying the idea was not
approved by the governor’s
office.
The letter from ISDA Dep-
uty Director Brian Oakey
states that the reasons given
included, “current rules are
in place to sufficiently pre-
Associated Press File
A farmer holds soybean seeds. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has rejected a plan to ban the cultivation of soybeans in parts of the state.
vent disease and that banning
a crop is not an appropriate
role for an ISDA rule.”
Jon Hanian, spokesman
for Republican Gov. Butch
Otter, a rancher and farmer,
told Capital Press that the
governor needs a lot more in-
formation about the rationale
for the proposed ban.
“Something that serious
needs to be reviewed thor-
oughly,” Hanian said. “We
need a lot more information
before we start talking about
bans.”
The seed association and
IBC members will discuss
their options during an Au-
gust conference call.
During the IBC’s quar-
terly meeting June 29, com-
missioners discussed the pos-
sibility of taking soybeans
under the purview of the
commission.
Idaho is the nation’s lead-
er in dry bean seed produc-
tion because of strict testing
guidelines that require bean
seed to undergo serology
testing and be certified as
disease-free.
Having soybeans fall un-
der the IBC would ensure the
crop follows the same testing
rules and regulations that dry
beans do.
Some IBC commissioners
embraced that idea.
“I think we should jump
on it ... because soybeans are
coming to Idaho,” said IBC
Commissioner Monty Ham-
ilton.
But others still support a
ban on soybean production
in bean-producing regions of
Idaho.
“We’re talking about an
industry that might come in
versus an industry that has
been here for 100 years,”
IBC Commissioner Don Tol-
mie told the Capital Press. “I
have to side with the indus-
try that has been here for 100
years. I think it’s short-sight-
ed ... to deny this at first
glance.”
Roger Batt, executive di-
rector of the seed association,
said the groups’ two main op-
tions appear to be legislation
that protects the bean indus-
try or placing soybeans under
the IBC umbrella.
”The bean industry is a
$70 million industry in Ida-
ho,” he said. “The last thing
we need is to have (a soybean
disease) impacting our bean
industry. This is something
we definitely need to get
ahead of.”
Trials investigate potential quinoa herbicides
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Workers harvest blackberries July 6 in Ridgefield, Wash. With the
harvest underway, growers report a cold winter and heat wave in
June have sharply reduced the crop.
SW Wash. blackberry crop
falls short of low expectations
Slim pickings start
after Fourth of July
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
RIDGEFIELD,
Wash.
— Southwest Washington’s
blackberry crop may be even
smaller than expected, ac-
cording to growers.
Several weeks ago, berry
farmers predicted low yields
from freeze-damaged plants.
But hopes that the bushes
would at least yield half the
average amount of berries
now look too optimistic, said
grower Jerry Dobbins, a re-
ceiver of fruit from several
farms.
“Everyone who delivers
fruit here is of the same opin-
ion,” he said July 6. “Pretty
much everybody is in the
same predicament.”
In May, growers and crop
consultants in Washington
and Oregon reported seeing
widespread freeze damage in
blackberry plants. The dam-
age reportedly varied from
field to field and may have
been particularly severe in
southwest Washington, the
northern end of the U.S. com-
mercial blackberry region.
Dobbins said plants there
were further harmed by a
three-day hot spell in late
June. High temperatures
around Clark County’s berry
fields were about 25 degrees
above average, according to
the AccuWeather website.
“The heat didn’t hurt the
berries, but it just made a
weak plant fall apart,” Dob-
bins said.
Other types of berries have
apparently weathered the cold
and heat better. The USDA
crop report issued July 5 re-
ported that Oregon’s raspber-
ry harvest was in full swing
and blueberry fields were pro-
ducing average yields. Dob-
bins said that in southwest
Washington strawberries ap-
peared to be least affected by
the weather.
Woodland, Wash., farmer
George Thoeny started har-
vesting blackberries July 5.
“The quality of the fruit
is fine — just no tonnage,”
he said. “It’s worse than I
thought.”
U.S. blackberry produc-
tion, dominated by Oregon,
was 58.4 million pounds last
year, a 14 percent increase
over the year before, accord-
ing to the USDA.
The average price, how-
ever, fell to 45 cents a pound
from 74 cents in 2015. As a
the result, the value of 2016’s
robust crop was $26.3 mil-
lion, compared to $38 million
for 2015’s smaller harvest.
Thoeny said he expects
blackberry prices to rise,
but not enough to offset low
yields.
“We’re just trying to man-
age our losses,” he said.
Dobbins also started har-
vesting blackberries July
5. A five-worker crew ma-
chine-harvested about 2,000
pounds, but in a normal year
they would have picked
10,000 to 12,000 pounds, he
said.
The next day, Dobbins re-
duced the crew to three be-
cause the volume didn’t jus-
tify having two more workers
to cull green berries shaken
from the canes.
Dobbins said he may
change plans and resort to
more-expensive hand-picking
to get every berry possible.
“Whatever is the best way
to salvage some of that crop,”
he said.
Last year, his fields yield-
ed about 5 tons an acre. This
year, he said, they might yield
2 tons an acre.
Dobbins said he has been
growing Black Diamond
blackberries for 12 years and
has never had the crop fail.
“I think, when everything is
said and done, this will be a
failure.”
ABERDEEN, Idaho — A
weed scientist has found a few
promising leads in her field tri-
als to identify herbicides that
can be used in quinoa produc-
tion.
University of Idaho Ex-
tension weed specialist Pam
Hutchinson explained U.S.
growers currently have no her-
bicides labeled for weed con-
trol in the high-protein, glu-
ten-free specialty grain.
Production of quinoa —
which contains every amino
acid and is regarded as a health
food — is on the rise in Eastern
Idaho, where it’s proven to be
a good fit in potato rotations.
The buyer who has contracted
for all of the region’s quinoa
acreage, Jeremiah Clark, has
opened a quinoa processing
facility in Idaho Falls and is
already considering plans for
expansion.
Hutchinson, who is in the
second year of her quinoa rep-
licated herbicide trials at UI’s
Aberdeen Research and Ex-
tension Center, has expanded
the number of herbicides she’s
testing this season. Hutchinson
said a challenge with finding
an effective quinoa herbicide
is that the crop is a close rel-
ative of the common weed
lambsquarters. Products that
control lambsquarters are also
likely to kill quinoa.
Hutchinson has found sev-
eral products that kill quinoa
to help growers clean their
fields and prevent the crop
from escaping and becoming
a weed. She’s also evaluated
herbicides that are known to
effectively control lambsquar-
ters and some that offer only
moderate control.
Hutchinson said she’s
found three products that are
safe for quinoa and may con-
trol a host of weeds, while at
least offering some degree of
lambsquarters control.
Hutchinson said Syngen-
ta’s Dual Magnum can be
used both pre-emergence and
post-emergence without harm-
ing quinoa.
Hutchinson has also had
success with two older herbi-
cides that were used in sugar
beets before the release of ge-
netically modified beets that re-
sist glyphosate herbicide, ren-
dering other products obsolete.
Hutchinson said the beet prod-
ucts that tested well in quinoa,
Ro-Neet and Norton, could be
tough to find.
Clark, who supplied seed of
his own proprietary quinoa va-
rieties for Hutchinson’s trials,
said his growers under contract
planted 1,600 acres this season,
and will likely plant more next
season. He’s optimistic that
Hutchinson’s efforts will lead
to special-needs or permanent
labels for quinoa herbicides.
The absence of labeled herbi-
cides has been a “big stumbling
block” for growers, Clark said.
“A lot of farmers stay on
top of their weeds, and if they
go one year without controlling
their weeds, they’ve got weed
seed in the ground for several
years,” Clark said.
Clark said many of his
growers have kept weeds in
check by increasing quinoa
seeding density.
Hutchinson said a federally
funded program that seeks to
modify product labels to ben-
efit minor crops, called Inter-
regional Research Project No.
4, has also expressed interest in
her trial results.
UI agronomist Xi Liang, is
in the third year of trials in both
Aberdeen and Tetonia investi-
gating quinoa agronomic prac-
tices, including planting date
and row spacing. Liang said her
trials aren’t working well this
season because of challenging
early season conditions, but she
said it appears yields are higher
in Tetonia, where the weather is
cooler, and early season plant-
ing is preferable.
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