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CapitalPress.com
September 15, 2017
Idaho
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IPC welcomes first female grower on board
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
EAGLE, Idaho — The
first woman to ever repre-
sent growers on the Idaho
Potato Commission’s board
of directors has grown ac-
customed to breaking gender
barriers in agriculture.
IPC announced Mary
Hasenoehrl, 60, as its newest
commissioner during the re-
cent Idaho Grower Shippers
Association annual confer-
ence in Sun Valley.
She’s been appointed by
Gov. Butch Otter as just the
second woman to serve on the
board, joining current board
member Peggy Grover, an
official with Rexburg-based
BenchMark Potatoes who
represents fresh shippers.
“It’s important to have
a diverse group of people
because we all come from
different backgrounds and
John O’Connell/Capital Press
Mary Hasenoehrl in Sun Valley, Idaho, where she became the first
woman grower and second woman overall to join the Idaho Potato
Commission’s board of directors.
have a different approach to
things,” Hasenoehrl said.
Hasenoehrl’s IPC district
stretches from Western Idaho
to the Northern Panhandle.
She splits time between liv-
ing in Lewiston, where her
sons lease her dryland native
grass seed farm, and Wilder,
where she helps her husband,
Doug Gross, raise potatoes
and other crops.
Hasenoehrl was raised
on a small farm in Midvale.
When she first started high
school, FFA didn’t allow
girls to formally participate,
so she served as a chapter
“sweetheart.” The organi-
zation opted to include girls
before she graduated, and she
was elected as a state officer
in 1974.
She went on to earn a cer-
tificate in respiratory therapy,
though she admits her dream
was to become an agricultural
teacher and an FFA adviser.
“At the time that was just
unheard of,” she said.
In the mid-1980s, Hasen-
oehrl participated in an orga-
nization that lobbied on agri-
cultural issues such as water
availability and the Farm Bill,
called Idaho Women for Ag-
riculture. She eventually be-
came its president.
She also raised a family
and took University of Ida-
ho classes in marketing and
communications before tak-
ing a job as regional director
for Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Ida-
ho. In 2004, she became di-
rector of advancement with
the UI College of Agricultur-
al and Life Sciences, where
she worked for eight years,
before agreeing to run the
advancement office at Lewis
and Clark State College. She
retired from the college in
2013.
Three months after she
started that job, her first hus-
band was killed in a farming
accident. About a year after
her husband’s death, Gross
lost his wife. Hasenoerhl sent
him a note letting him know
that she understood what he
was enduring and that he was
in her prayers. They were
married in 2014.
“One of the things that
attracted me to him was his
love of agriculture,” she said.
Hasenoehrl was also elect-
ed in 2010 as the first female
commissioner with the Port of
Lewiston, where she contin-
ues working toward restoring
container shipments from the
Port of Portland.
IPC President and CEO
Frank Muir believes Hasen-
oehrl brings the commission
“a wealth of experience in her
background in terms of the
boards she’s served on.” Muir
also noted her perspective is
important as women represent
IPC’s target audience.
Commissioners typically
serve two, three-year terms.
Other current board mem-
bers are Grover, Lynn Wil-
cox, Dan Nakamura, Tommy
Brown, James Hoff, Ritchey
Toevs, Randy Hardy and
Nick Blanksma. Wilcox, with
Wilcox Fresh in Rexburg, is
the new chairman.
Idaho leads West in per capita farm receipts
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho remained
in the No. 3 spot among the 11
Western states for total farm
gate receipts last year, behind
California and Washington.
But Idaho was unchal-
lenged when it comes to farm
cash receipts on a per capi-
ta basis, generating far more
farm income per person than
any other Western state.
“It shows how much our
economy depends on agricul-
ture vs. surrounding states,”
said University of Idaho agri-
cultural economist Ben Eborn,
who compiles the rankings an-
nually.
Eborn said the rankings are
a way to show elected officials
and other state leaders just
how important the farm sector
is to Idaho’s economy.
“Most people realize there
is a lot of farming in Idaho but
they probably don’t realize just
how huge it is,” Eborn said.
Some people think agri-
culture is a dying industry, he
said.
“Well, it’s not dying in Ida-
ho,” he said. “A big part of our
overall economy in Idaho de-
pends on agriculture. It’s pret-
ty much the foundation of our
economy.”
Eborn also ranked all 50
states in terms of farm Gross
Domestic Product as a per-
centage of each state’s total
GDP and Idaho ranked fourth,
behind the big ag states of
South Dakota, Nebraska and
Iowa.
UI Agricultural Economist
Garth Taylor said it’s worth
noting those GDP rankings
only include farm gate receipts
and don’t include the econom-
ic activity generated by food
processing and other agribusi-
nesses, which play a major
role in Idaho’s economy.
Taylor said the GDP and
per capita rankings show that
“farming affects peoples lives
in the state of Idaho.”
The state rankings were
based on USDA Economic
Research Service numbers that
became available for 2016 on
Aug. 30.
California remained No. 1
with $45 billion in farm cash
receipts in 2016, followed by
Washington with $9.9 billion
and Idaho with $7.1 billion.
On a per capita basis, Idaho
generated $4,204 per person in
farm cash receipts, while Cal-
ifornia produced $1,154 per
person and Washington $1,354
per person.
Colorado ranked fourth last
year in cash receipts with $6.3
billion and Oregon was fifth
with $4.6 billion.
Arizona was sixth ($4.1
billion) and was followed by
Montana ($3.7 billion), New
Mexico ($2.9 billion), Utah
($1.7 billion), Wyoming ($1.4
billion) and Nevada ($596 mil-
lion).
Courtesy of Travis Blacker
Environmental Protection Agency staffers await an aerial application demonstration at Hoff Farms in
Idaho Falls on Aug. 14, during a tour of Idaho potato country.
EPA staffers tour Eastern
Idaho potato production
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
visit Michigan next summer.
NPC also organizes a day-
long tour in the East Coast for
a larger group of EPA officials
once every three years.
“We think it’s a big part of
being partners with EPA and
giving some opportunity for
these folks who are making
decisions on pesticides to see
how chemicals are actually
applied and handled,” Keeling
said, adding that potato indus-
try officials also learn what’s
involved in EPA’s process of
making “science-based deci-
sions.”
Keeling said EPA staff
member Kyle Morford had
been contacting NPC for
information to guide a reg-
istration review for sulfu-
ric acid, used to kill potato
vines before harvest. During
the recent tour, Morford had
the chance to ask his ques-
tions of farmers who use the
product.
“The tour was enlighten-
ing, giving us a better under-
standing of the challenges of
growing potatoes in a des-
ert climate, the significant
pests and strategies to com-
bat them and when pesti-
cides are needed,” Morford
said in a press release.
Keeling said potato in-
dustry leaders also suggested
that any new restrictions on
the use of the vine desiccant
Diquat limit only the total
amount of product allowed
for use, and not the number of
applications, to give growers
greater flexibility.
Travis Blacker, of the
Idaho Potato Commission,
planned the tour’s stops, in-
cluding visits to James Hoff’s
farm, Raybould Brothers
Farm, the Wilcox Fresh pack-
ing plant, Sunrain Potato Seed
Solutions, Idahoan Foods and
Spudnik Equipment.
Blacker said the visitors
were impressed by the ad-
vanced technology and preci-
sion upon witnessing an aerial
application demonstration at
Hoff’s farm. Blacker believes
another key moment came
when an EPA staff member
asked farmer Jeff Raybould if
he always uses the maximum
amount of chemicals allowed
under product labels.
“He said, ‘We never use
the maximum amount. This
stuff is expensive,’” Blacker
said. “I think it really hit home
with them.”
• Grass crops prefer a mixture of both Nitrate and Ammonium
forms of nitrogen.
IDAHO FALLS — Some
of the potato farmers who
make an annual trip to lobby
lawmakers and bureaucrats in
Washington, D.C., know En-
vironmental Protection Agen-
cy staff members by name,
and look forward to having
coffee with them.
Conversely, officials with
EPA are quick to reach out to
potato industry leaders when
they have questions about
“what’s really going on” in
spud fields, said John Keel-
ing, executive vice president
and CEO of the National Po-
tato Council.
Keeling believes the pos-
itive relationship between
farmers and federal regulators
is the result of his organiza-
tion’s longstanding program
to host potato-country tours
for employees of EPA’s Office
of Pesticide Programs. Six
EPA risk managers and rule
writers attended this sum-
mer’s trip to Eastern Idaho
during the week of Aug. 14.
Keeling explained the tour
rotates among states, and the
regulators are scheduled to
• Grass seed set is determined in the Fall, so proper nitrogen
and phosphorous nutrition are essential for maximum yield.
Rewards offered in E. Idaho cattle shootings
DID YOU KNOW?
FACT:
• There is new stabilized dry granular NITRATE form of
fertilizer available.
• NITRATE nitrogen is the fastest acting nitrogen source.
• SAN 30-6 has 30% nitrogen and 6% Phosphate.
• A unique combination of ammonium phosphate and
ammonium nitrate in a homogenous granule.
• SAN 30-6 gets nitrogen to the plant when it needs it. Use for
early, mid and late season applications.
• SAN 30-6 is less volatile than other dry forms of Nitrogen.
No need to add a nitrogen stabilizer.
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
AVAILABLE THROUGH YOUR LOCAL AG RETAILER.
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37-3/101
IDAHO FALLS — The
Idaho Cattle Association is
offering $1,000 rewards for
information leading to arrests
in two recent cattle shootings.
Both incidents occurred
about three weeks ago. ICA
President Jerald Raymond, of
Menan, said his organization
is cooperating with the Bonne-
ville County Sheriff’s Office on
the investigation into the shoot-
ing of eight cows and calves in
the Upper Fall Creek area be-
low Palisades Reservoir.
Raymond said four of five
members of the area’s grazing
association lost cattle.
“These people just shot
these cows and left them to
rot,” Raymond said.
Raymond said some of the
cows were pregnant. Some
nursing calves lost their moth-
ers and some cows lost their
calves, he said. Bonneville
County sheriff’s investigators
couldn’t be reached for com-
ment.
The other shooting occurred
on public land near Blackfoot
Reservoir, about 25 miles east
of Blackfoot. Bingham Coun-
ty Sheriff Craig Rowland said
his office has been cooperating
in the Bonneville County case
but hasn’t formally investigat-
ed the shooting in his county
because the property owners
never filed a police report.
“I got information about
it from my secretary, whose
mother runs cattle up that
way,” Rowland said.
Rowland heard three or
four cows and calves were
killed. Even though a formal
report wasn’t filed, Rowland
said his deputies have in-
creased patrols of Bureau of
Land Management grazing
terrain in the Wolverine Can-
yon area east of Blackfoot.
Increased patrolling will con-
tinue until snowy weather ar-
rives, he said.
Cattle shootings occur spo-
radically and are tough cases
to close, he said.
“Last year and the year be-
fore we didn’t have any, and
then we get a rash of them,”
Rowland said.