Capital press., October 27, 2017, Page 11, Image 11

October 27, 2017
CapitalPress.com
11
Idaho
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Decision expected soon on proposed Dry Creek Valley petition
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — A court ruling is
expected soon on a proposed
petition that seeks to halt an
$80 million planned develop-
ment in the Dry Creek Valley
north of Boise.
The development is op-
posed by some farmers and
other residents. It would be
built on 350 acres of irrigated
farmland and 1,050 acres of
grazing land.
A group called the Dry
Wet weather
prevented
114,000 acres
from being
planted
in Idaho
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
BOISE — Idaho farmers
were prevented from planting
an unusually large number
of acres this year due to sog-
gy conditions that hampered
their ability to get into their
fi elds.
Across the state, growers
claimed a total of 114,000
“prevented planting” acres in
2017, according to the Idaho
Farm Service Agency.
Farmers can be eligible for
prevented planting insurance
when weather-related events
stop them from planting a
crop.
Those 114,000 prevented
planting acres are “signifi -
cantly more than we’ve had
in recent years,” said Idaho
FSA Farm Program Manager
Jeff Mitchell.
There are about 20,000
prevented planting acres in
Idaho during a typical year,
he said.
Mitchell said most of those
acres couldn’t be planted be-
cause fi elds were too soggy.
“It was just too wet,” said
North Idaho farmer Rob-
ert Blair, who was unable
to plant about 150 acres this
year, most of it winter wheat.
Almost 69,000 of Idaho’s
total prevented planting acres
this year were wheat.
“There were plenty of
spring wheat acres that didn’t
get planted this year,” said
“Genesee” Joe Anderson, a
North Idaho grower. “It was
too wet for some farmers.”
The prevented plant-
ing acres included 18,000
acres of dry beans, which
include chickpeas, 8,300
acres of canola, 6,500 acres
of lentils, 2,300 acres of
dry peas and 1,000 acres of
potatoes.
North Idaho farmers were
hardest hit, as most of the
state’s chickpeas, lentils and
dry peas are grown there. The
majority of the wheat acres
not planted this year were in
that region as well.
Weather conditions in
North Idaho were particular-
ly rough this year, Blair said.
A heavy snowfall resulted in
a lot of moisture following
melt-off and then a late, cool
spring was followed by heavy
rains.
“It was a tough year
around here,” he said.
Farmers who receive pre-
vented planting insurance get
a percentage of their crop in-
surance payment based part-
ly on their history of planted
acres.
“It never makes them
whole but it does help (reim-
burse) them for their costs,”
Mitchell said.
Blair said the payment “is
enough money just to cov-
er costs. You’re not making
money off of it.”
He said growers have a lot
of costs associated with their
farm ground, whether or not
a crop is planted. That could
include turning it over in the
fall, fertilizer, chemical appli-
cations and rent or taxes.
“Nobody wants to take
prevented planting. There’s
no farmer in the world who
doesn’t want to grow a crop,”
Blair said. “It’s a way to help
growers absorb a very diffi -
cult year.”
Creek Valley Coalition is try-
ing to stop the development
and save the farm ground. To
do that, they hope to use a sec-
tion of Idaho Code that allows
citizens to put a county deci-
sion that is legislative in nature
to a vote during a special elec-
tion.
After Ada County Clerk
Christopher Rich rejected an
initial petition to start the ref-
erendum process, Dry Creek
Valley Coalition founder
Stephanie Rael, a local farm
hand, fi led a lawsuit that seeks
to force Rich to fi le the peti-
tion.
The issue has ended up
in the courtroom of District
Judge Jonathan Medema.
Rael has asked Medema to
issue a writ ordering Rich to
fi le the petition, which would
begin the process that could re-
sult in a special election.
Coalition members want to
ask voters to overturn a Feb.
21 ordinance passed by the
Ada County Board of Com-
missioners that made amend-
ments to the development plan.
They say that because it made
changes to the original 2010
plan approved by the county, it
is legislative in nature and sub-
ject to the referendum process.
Rael’s petition met all the
requirements of Idaho Code,
said Brian Ertz, an attorney
representing the coalition.
“My client is entitled to the
fi ling of that petition,” he said
Oct. 20 during a packed hear-
ing in Medema’s courtroom.
Attorneys for Boise Hunter
Homes, the developer, have
asked Medema to issue a writ
ordering Rich not to fi le the
petition.
BHH attorney Geoffrey
Wardle said the ordinance
passed by the commissioners
is quasi-judicial and not legis-
lative and thus not subject to a
referendum.
“The key issue is wheth-
er or not Ordinance 864 is in
fact eligible for a petition for
referendum,” he said. He said
the ordinance is a “technical
update and a revision of an
ordinance that was adopted a
long time before.”
“The reality is that ordi-
nance is quasi-judicial” and a
clerk has no authority to fi le a
petition for a referendum on an
act that is not legislative in na-
ture, Wardle said.
BHH owner Jim Hunter has
told Capital Press that all farm-
ers and landowners in Idaho
should be concerned about this
case because if the referendum
were to move forward, people
could use that process to undo
any land-use decisions made
by city councils and commis-
sions.
Ag production value down 6 percent in 2016; rebound likely
By SEAN ELLIS
Capital Press
Rank/item
BOISE — The total value
of Idaho agricultural produc-
tion decreased 6 percent last
year compared to 2015 and
it was down 18 percent com-
pared to 2014.
But farm economists ex-
pect a slight increase in 2017.
Idaho agricultural produc-
tion totaled $7.25 billion in
2016, down from $7.75 bil-
lion in 2015 and $8.8 billion
in 2014, according to USDA
National Agricultural Statis-
tics Service.
While the value of milk,
Idaho’s top farm commodi-
ty, increased 0.2 percent to
$2.36 billion in 2016, the
value of several other of the
state’s main farm commodi-
ties was down, some signifi -
cantly.
The value of cattle and
calves fell 17 percent last
year to $1.39 billion, hay
production was valued at
$674 million, also down 17
percent, and wheat value was
down 6 percent to $422 mil-
lion.
The value of potato pro-
duction increased 6 percent
to $968 million, and spuds
remained the state’s highest
1................ Milk
Value of production
($ millions of dollars)
2,361.1
2. .. Cattle/calves
1,392.3
˘˘˘˘˘
968.3
3......... Potatoes
4................. Hay
673.6
5............. Wheat
421.5
6............. Barley
322.1
7..... Sugarbeets
301.9
8.....Corn (grain)
83.7
9....... Dry beans
69.3
10. ............ Hops
51.1
valued fi eld crop.
Barley production was
down 2 percent to $322 mil-
lion and sugar beet produc-
tion was up slightly at $301
million.
Hops entered the top 10
of Idaho farm commodities
for the fi rst time and in a big
way. NASS valued Idaho hop
production at $51 million in
2016, up 66 percent from
2015 and 168 percent from
2014.
“Idaho has made a big
move in hops,” said Uni-
versity of Idaho Agricultur-
Top 10 Idaho
agricultural
commodities,
2016
Source: USDA NASS
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
al Economist Garth Taylor.
“The strength of the hops
market has had an amazing
effect on Idaho.”
Corn for grain production
was valued at $84 million,
a 23 percent increase over
2015, and jumped one spot
to No. 8.
“The growth in Idaho’s
grain corn production was
signifi cant in 2016, largely
due to supportive weath-
er conditions resulting in
a bumper crop of corn...,”
Doug Robison, Northwest
Farm Credit Services’ senior
Sean Ellis/Capital Press File
Wheat was the No. 5 crop in Idaho, according to the National
Agricultural Statistics Service. The total value of Idaho agricul-
tural production in 2016 fell 6 percent compared to 2015 and
18 percent compared to 2014. But economists expect Idaho ag
production value to be up slightly this year.
vice president for agriculture
in Western Idaho, told Capi-
tal Press in an email.
Dry edible beans, which
include chickpeas, took the
No. 9 spot with $69 million
in production, down less than
a percent.
Onions dropped out of the
top 10 last year with $28 mil-
lion in production, a 44 per-
cent decrease.
With the price of many of
Idaho’s main farm commod-
ities up slightly in 2017, ag-
ricultural economists expect
Idaho farm production value
to rise this year.
“The value of Idaho’s ag
commodities will increase in
2017,” Robison said. “While
producer margins and profi t-
ability remain a challenge in
many industries, the prices
for most of Idaho’s ag com-
modities have been higher in
2017 than the previous two
years.”
Taylor believes Idaho ag
production value will be up
slightly to unchanged this
year, and UI Agricultural
Economist Ben Eborn be-
lieves it will be up slightly.
ROP-42-7-1/HOU