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FOCUSING ON BREAST CANCER AND prevention PREVENTION THROUGHOUT OCTOBER Focusing on breast cancer AWARENESS, awareness, EDUCATION education and throughout October FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2017 VOLUME 90, NUMBER 41 WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM $2.00 HARVEST Potato harvest is a unifying social and economic force in Eastern Idaho OF GOODWILL By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press A R MERICAN FALLS, Idaho — Lee Kress spends nearly every morning of potato harvest inside a makeshift food truck, cater- ing to all of the employees of his family’s farm. Kress, 77, has made a point of “staying out of the way” since turning the farm over to his sons, Thomas and Jason. But during a decade of “retirement,” he’s continued working tirelessly during harvest, and his efforts have been appreciated more than ever. Together, Kress and his wife, Judy, prepare daily feasts in their “cook shack” — a trailer con- verted into a kitchen with a grill, roaster, micro- wave, refrigerators and a turkey fryer. For each meal, they fi ll more than 30 to-go boxes with Potato Area in heaping portions of spaghetti, sausage-and-spin- country detail ach pasta, burgers and other house specialties, which potato truck drivers deliver to workers in the fi elds. Kress has come to believe that potato harvest 15 20 is a time to focus on good deeds and service — a . rare event that brings out the best in people and s 28 ry en unites many communities in Eastern Idaho. His 33 S n Rexburg a ke R service to the workers is but one of many exam- 20 ples of cooperation and good community fellow- Idaho Falls 26 26 ship during the “harvest window” from Sept. 9 Shelley American through mid-October. Falls IDAHO Res. Some examples: Pocatello 86 A grower in Idaho Falls digs 6 acres of 89 American Falls spuds every year so community 30 members can harvest them N and stock their pantries 25 miles 15 for free. 84 UTAH Teachers at a Pocatello charter Alan Kenaga/Capital Press school never have trouble fi nding a farmer to let their students glean spuds to donate to the local food bank. Each year, Shelley High School crowns a young woman as Miss Russet to serve the community and celebrate a crop that’s cen- tral to the local economy. Many of the area’s small-scale potato farmers insist they’d be short harvest la- bor if not for area schools scheduling a Turn to HARVEST, Page 12 H WYO. . John O’Connell/Capital Press Judy and Lee Kress, of American Falls, Idaho, prepare meals for the farmworkers in their own food truck. They provide hot meals for the employees every day of potato harvest. TOP IMAGE: Floats celebrating potatoes are featured during the Idaho Spud Day Parade in Shelley. “It’s in our DNA to harvest. I think that’s why it’s enjoyed.” — Grower, Boyd Foster Thinkstock.com NIFA director: Focus research on grower profi tability Ramaswamy praises Perdue, aims to reduce food waste By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press MOSCOW, Idaho – Son- ny Ramaswamy says agri- cultural research programs are thriving under the Trump ODFW expand a kill permit against Harl Butte Pack By ERIC MORTENSON Capital Press administration. Ramaswamy, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and former dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University, particularly praised U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for his commitment to agriculture when he spoke at the University of Idaho. “There is no chaos — there’s a pretty good sense of where this is all going, there’s a pretty good sense of the need for resources,” Ramaswamy said. “My boss, Secretary Perdue, is very single-mindedly focused on those producers. ... Secretary Turn to NIFA, Page 12 Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Sonny Ramaswamy, director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, talks about in- novation in food systems during his presentation Oct. 6 at the University of Idaho in Moscow. A select group of Wallowa County ranch- ers have permission until Oct. 31 to kill four more wolves from the Harl Butte Pack that has repeatedly attacked livestock in the area. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on Oct. 6 announced it had authorized “lethal take” of wolves by either ODFW staff or by livestock producers affi liated with a grazing association. Ranchers are permitted to shoot wolves on public or private land on which their livestock are currently grazing, and there are no restrictions on the age of animals to be killed. They don’t have to be caught in the act of attacking livestock. Todd Nash, a Wallowa County rancher who lost a calf to the Harl Butte Pack this summer and who is wolf committee chair for the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, said no wolves had been shot as of Monday morning. Oregon Wild, the Portland-based group deeply involved in wolf management and other issues, condemned what it called ODFW’s “wolf killing campaign.” The group said the area used by the Harl Butte Pack and other “wolf families” is among the wildest landscapes remaining in Oregon. “If wolves are being killed for eating un- attended live- stock put right in front of them in a place like this, it’s fair to ask if there is anywhere wolves will be allowed to thrive in our state?” the group said in a prepared state- ment attributed to con- servation director Steve Pedery. ODFW killed four pack members in Au- gust after confi rming 10 livestock attacks Turn to WOLVES, Page 12 41-3/100
