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10 CapitalPress.com September 22, 2017 Subscribe to our weekly Idaho email newsletter at CapitalPress.com/newsletters Idaho Japan lifts ban on chipping potatoes By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press EAGLE, Idaho — The Jap- anese government has lifted a ban on importing fresh Idaho chipping potatoes that was im- plemented about 11 years ago, officials with the Idaho Potato Commission announced Sept. 13. Japan’s Ministry of Agri- culture, Forestry and Fisheries imposed a ban on importing all U.S. chipping potatoes in April 2006, in response to the dis- covery of a quarantined pest, called pale cyst nematode, in a small area of Eastern Idaho. Trade was restored with other U.S. chipping potato states about a year later, but restrictions on Idaho remained in place. A chipping potato shortage in Japan spurred the action, according to IPC. This spring, IPC officials said Japanese chip makers had to stop sell- ing some of their products fol- lowing a poor harvest in their major potato production area, Hokkaido. Japan will contin- ue to exclude any Idaho chip- ping potatoes from Bonne- ville and Bingham counties, which encompass the PCN quarantine area. John O’Connell/Capital Press File Fresh chipping potatoes are loaded into a truck for shipping at R&G Potatoes in American Falls, Idaho. R&G should be the major beneficiary of a Sept. 13 announcement that the Japanese government will begin to allow Idaho fresh chipping potatoes into Japan, after an 11-year prohibition due to the discovery of pale cyst nematode. Japan produces most of its potato supply domestical- ly but imported about 28,000 tons of chipping potatoes last year, about 3.5 times more volume than five years ago, according to IPC. Japan still won’t allow other types of fresh potatoes from any states to be imported. “It is a step in the right di- rection because you’ll never get the other fresh potatoes in there without getting this restored,” said Idaho Potato Commissioner Randy Hardy, a fresh grower from Oakley. “We’ve been really push- ing for this and they’ve been dragging their feet, but I’m glad to see it get done.” Hardy said he’s toured Ja- pan, and it was clear to him that “they don’t grow near enough potatoes for their own needs, but they’re trying to protect their own market.” The major shipper of Ida- ho chipping potatoes is R&G Potatoes in American Falls, which was also the first U.S. company to ship chipping spuds to Japan prior to the discovery of PCN, IPC Pres- ident and CEO Frank Muir said. “I think R&G will greatly benefit from this,” Muir said. Muir said IPC has been working on restoring the market since access was sev- ered. He and other IPC staff members, as well as Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, have had several meetings about the restriction with Japanese of- ficials who have visited Ida- ho to see its PCN eradication program, Muir said. “We’ve tested over 500,000 samples of soil in Idaho,” Muir said. “We are one state that can definitely say we know where PCN is and where it is not.” Muir said IPC will now shift its focus toward lifting the state’s final PCN-related market-access problem. Mex- ico allows the importation of fresh U.S. potatoes within 26 kilometers of the U.S. border, but mandates that all Idaho fresh spuds undergo a spe- cial PCN test. Muir, USDA and other industry leaders are advocating to change the testing requirement to cover only Bonneville and Bingham counties. Unique system uses tractor exhaust in lieu of fertilizer By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press SODA SPRINGS, Idaho — Dan Lakey raised half of this year’s crops without fer- tilizer and seed treatments, putting his faith in a “hard to grasp” technology he hadn’t previously tested that uses tractor exhaust. As he winds up harvest on his 8,000-acre farm, Lakey be- lieves he’s been rewarded for taking such a big gamble on Bio-Agtive — a trademarked process that cools the exhaust and uses chemicals in it as a seed-treatment alternative and a soil biology stimulant. He explained that ammoni- um phosphate fertilizer tends to kill beneficial soil organ- isms and interferes with plants creating their own nutrients through photosynthesis. The new technology gives the soil formaldehyde, formic acid, hydrogen cyanide and sulfur dioxide to protect plants from pathogens. The system also converts carbon dioxide into a soluble “nano carbon” form that the company claims stimulates photosynthesis and feeds soil organisms that convert di-ni- trogen from the atmosphere into proteins, he said. Farmers who use it say they see improvements over time in plant and soil health, reducing their reliance on pesticides, because they take better advantage of the sun’s energy. In his trial year, Lakey test- John O’Connell/Capital Press From left to right, Dan Lakey, Tim Dusenberry, Gary Lewis and Zachary Lewis stand by Lakey’s tractor, which is fitted with a device that cools tractor exhaust for use as a soil biology stimulant and seed treatment. ed his Bio-Agtive machine — which routes cooled exhaust into his planter’s bin — on wheat, barley, mustard, qui- noa, peas and cover crops. His Bio-Agtive dryland wheat yielded 45 bushels per acre, besting his convention- al wheat by 10 bushels. Ex- haust-treated wheat also beat conventional test weights by 3 pounds per bushel and produced comparable protein levels. Results were even more encouraging on his oilseeds and pulse crops. Yields were extremely poor in a test strip he planted without fertilizer or the exhaust. “Necessity drives change, and that’s what it was for us,” Lakey said. “We were tired of seeing the same (disease) symptoms year after year and feeling hopeless about how to treat them.” Lakey said he has a mar- keting advantage because he doesn’t have to sell his grain “at the worst time of the year” to repay roughly $400,000 in annual loans on fertilizer. Based on his initial success, Lakey said he’s planting all 2,000 acres of his winter wheat using Bio-Agtive this fall. The product’s inventor, Gary Lewis of Alberta, Cana- da, has developed an updated tractor system that also turns exhaust into a nitrate fertilizer solution, as well as a unit that works from the exhaust on a diesel irrigation engine. “Soil with fertilizer gets out of balance,” Lewis said. “Our land is getting organic matter, and if you build or- ganic matter, you grow more nutritious food.” Lewis, who developed the technology for his 600-acre farm in 2002, now works with more than 150 farmers in Canada, the U.S., Austra- lia and Africa. Montana State University researchers have corroborated the technology’s efficacy. “We don’t need artificial energy to support the land- scape,” Lewis said. “We have the sun and the sky, and we have to use them.” 38-3/106 Ag committee chairs push farm commission leaders to talk about challenges By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — The chairs of the Idaho Legislature’s House and Senate ag committees are encouraging the directors of the state’s commodity com- missions to do a better job talking about the issues and challenges their industries face when speaking to law- makers. During every legislative session, farm commodity di- rectors and administrators are invited to speak to the agricul- tural affairs committees. Some of the presentations are more on the “here’s what we did last year” side and not enough on the “here are the issues our industry is strug- gling with” side, said Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell, chairman of the Senate Agricultural Af- fairs Committee. Rice said he is trying to push those commission lead- ers to share their challenges so legislators can figure out how to help them or at least not get in their way. “Some of the presentations seem too much of cheerlead- ing presentations and we don’t talk enough about the challenges that they’re facing, the things that are causing their industry problems,” he said. “I’m trying to ... make sure that we improve those presen- tations by addressing prob- lems, challenges, areas where we may be falling behind or where we are headed down a road that’s going to be a prob- lem,” Rice said. Rice said he will expand that effort during the 2018 legislative session, which be- gins in January. “This isn’t a criticism,” he said. “I want to know where there’s a challenge or if we’re doing something that’s cre- ating a problem. It’s actual- ly about finding solutions, about making sure that we’re doing the things that allow agriculture and business to prosper.” Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Mid- vale, chairwoman of the House Agricultural Affairs Committee, said that’s some- Sean Ellis/Capital Press File Idaho’s Capitol reflects off a nearby building. The chairs of Idaho’s House and Senate ag committees are pushing farm commission directors to share with legislators the challenges their industries face. thing she’s also trying to do. “We want to know what the issues they are facing are,” said Boyle, a rancher. “That’s really the value of commis- sions to the legislature.” Boyle said she has told commission leaders to share their challenges and encour- aged them to bring their growers and commissioners and let them speak as well. “Come and tell us if there are regulations that are harm- ful or obsolete,” she said. “Tell us about the issues you’re facing or the regula- tions that don’t make sense or get in the way.” Boyle said she’s also told commission heads not to just hand the committee a finan- cial statement and then read straight from it. “Those (types of) things put you to sleep and make you want to cry,” she said. “We want to know what your issues are and how we can help you.” Idaho Potato Commission President and CEO Frank Muir said the potato commis- sion always seeks to commu- nicate with legislators about the major issues the industry faces, and he’s glad Boyle and Rice are pushing for even more relevant details so they can help agriculture if possi- ble. “I don’t have a problem at all with what (they’re) try- ing to do,” he said. “I would welcome that. We’re not shy about talking about what our issues are.” Improvements to Cold Connect train annnounced By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press KETCHUM, Idaho — Of- ficials with Union Pacific and collaborating railroads say they’re making major invest- ments in a refrigerated train that expedites food shipments from the West Coast and Idaho to the East Coast. They say the improvements should make regional rail ser- vice far more competitive with trucking, and should be espe- cially beneficial to the Idaho potato industry. The service originates in Wallula, Wash., passes through Oregon and makes its first stop in Pocatello, Idaho, where it picks up additional refrigerated cars filled mostly with Idaho potato products, delivered by Eastern Idaho Railroad and UP short-line rail routes. The next stop is in Chicago, where Mid- west shipments are unloaded. There, the train merges with another UP refrigerated train out of Delano, Calif., and CSX Transportation rail crews take over operations. Potatoes are unloaded in Syracuse, N.Y., where they’re picked up by other rail routes, before the train reaches its final destina- tion in Rotterdam, N.Y. Originally called the Food Train when it was launched more than a year ago, UP re-branded the service as Cold Connect after purchasing the facilities in Delano and Wallula where the trains are loaded, as well as the Rotterdam facility, where UP rail cars supply indi- vidual trucks with a wide vari- ety of food pallets, rather than a single commodity, for retailers’ convenience. In addition to deliver- ing spuds to Syracuse, Sam Hughes, UP’s assistant vice president of food and refriger- ated products, said UP plans to start hauling Idaho potatoes to Rotterdam. The move should add more variety to inventories on the trucks and create new markets for Idaho potato ship- pers. “One of the first things we wanted to do was incorporate Idaho production,” Hughes said. Hughes said Cold Connect runs three trains per week, and the partners are investigating ways to increase the frequency to four or five trains. Hughes explained the full trek takes eight to nine days — about four days faster than conventional rail service, in which trains are broken apart and reconfigured in rail yards along the way. The service has also proven to be more consis- tent, and the trains have grown in length throughout 2017. Hughes said the service has had 18 percent growth in Idaho potato shipments this year. A Cold Connect partner, Watco Companies, which runs Eastern Idaho Railroad, believes it has revolutionized the design of refrigerated rail cars. Stefan Loeb, with Wat- co, explained the car is 72 feet long — 22 feet longer than conventional refrigerated spud cars — and was designed by the company that innovated technology used by Federal Express for loading freight on airplanes. Throughout the past year, Watco has tested a single car with rollers on the floor to easily move produce and racks that allow shippers to lock po- tato pallets in place without the use of packaging material.