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January 12, 2018 CapitalPress.com 7 Idaho farm cash receipts up for first time in three years By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press BOISE — Following two years of declines, total farm cash receipts in Idaho are projected to be up 5 percent in 2017. Potatoes, the state’s most famous crop, helped lead the way with an estimated $955 million in cash receipts during the 2017 calendar year, an increase of 13 per- cent over 2016. Total Idaho farm cash receipts reached an estimat- ed $7.45 billion in 2017, up from $7.1 billion in 2016, according to University of Idaho’s “Financial Condition of Idaho Agriculture” report, which was presented to legis- lators Jan. 5. Total net farm income in Idaho during 2017 is estimat- ed to be up 15 percent to $1.9 billion, which reverses three straight years of decline, said UI Agricultural Economist Garth Taylor, one of the an- nual report’s authors. Dry bean revenues were up 33 percent to $83 million last year and hay revenues Sean Ellis/Capital Press Farmworkers harvest wine grapes near Caldwell, Idaho, in September. Total farm cash receipts in Idaho increased last year for the first time in three years, and net farm income increased for the first time in four years. increased 1 percent to $357 million. Because of lower prices for many crops grown in Ida- ho, “Some farmers are flee- ing other crops and putting in dry beans,” Taylor said. But many of the state’s other main crops saw reve- nues decline, including wheat (down 7 percent to $415 mil- lion), sugar beets (down 10 percent to $271 million) and barley (down 1 percent to $265 million). Revenue for all of the state’s other crops combined declined an estimated 3 per- cent to $516 million. “We are up in cash re- ceipts statewide and that’s good news but that doesn’t mean farmers are feeling good,” said UI Agricultural Economist and report co-au- thor Ben Eborn. He said many farmers are barely breaking even. “Idaho agriculture is still strong but there are some individual farmers who are really hurt- ing.” On the livestock side, dairy receipts increased 7 percent to $2.5 billion and cattle and calves increased 5 percent to $1.8 billion. Livestock cash receipts accounted for 62 percent of the state’s total farm-gate revenues. Total livestock re- ceipts increased 7 percent and total crop receipts rose 2 percent. Increased potato revenues were one of the few bright spots on the crop side. Idaho Potato Commission President and CEO Frank Muir said 2018 could be another good year for that industry because of higher prices. “I think the potential is there for 2018 to be even stronger,” he said. “I think it will be a very profitable year.” Although dairy revenue was up in 2017, it was a tough year for many of the state’s 500 dairy farms, said Doug Robison, North- west Farm Credit Service’s senior vice president of ag- riculture in Idaho. “The weak net income within the dairy industry this past year was largely due to the difficult winter of 2016-2017 and an oversup- ply of milk here in the U.S. and the European Union,” he told Capital Press in an email. While “the 2018 year is expected to see con- tinued positive results in the potato industry and steady results within cattle and other (farm commod- ities), the 2018 outlook for the dairy industry is substantially weaker than 2017 based on current ... milk futures,” Robison said. “In 2018, state level cash receipts and net in- come will most likely ex- perience modest declines as a result of weakness in the dairy industry,” he said. Coalition aims to bridge ‘digital divide’ in rural America By GEORGE PLAVEN Capital Press A USDA worker cleans equipment after a poultry flock was destroyed to stop the spread of bird flu May 23, 2015, in Sioux County, Iowa. In a new report, the USDA summarizes financial losses from the worst poultry disaster in U.S. history. USDA Bird flu cost $1.3B in exports; broiler market hardest-hit Capital Press The 2015 bird flu outbreak killed relatively few broilers, chickens raised for meat, but it was that sector of the poul- try industry that suffered the most economically, accord- ing to a new report by the USDA. The virus chiefly struck turkeys and egg-laying chickens. Those sectors as a whole, however, did not lose financially. Fewer eggs and turkeys led to higher do- mestic prices, more than off- setting sales lost in flu-wary foreign markets. Meanwhile, a still-healthy supply of broilers, which couldn’t be exported, lost value. “The broiler industry suf- fered the brunt of the losses, which primarily originated in the egg and turkey indus- tries,” said James Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. The report issued by the USDA’s Economic Re- search Service summarizes the financial fallout from the worst poultry heath disaster in U.S. history. More than 50 million chickens and turkeys were killed by the virus or destroyed to stop the disease from spreading. Foreign countries reacted by restricting the importation of U.S. eggs and poultry. The USDA found that export rev- enue in 2015 was $1.3 billion lower than the year before. The virus appeared in the U.S. in a wild duck in Wash- ington state. The first back- yard flock infected was in Or- egon, and the first commercial poultry farm struck was in California. The disease, how- ever, claimed 87 percent of its victims in Iowa and Minneso- ta. The virus, spread by mi- gratory waterfowl, reduced the egg-laying population by 12 percent. Egg prices surged. Even though the U.S. export- ed 45 percent fewer eggs in 2015, the industry saw annual revenues increase by 32 per- cent, according to the USDA. Bird flu reduced the turkey population by 12 percent, and exports dropped 41 percent. But turkey prices at home rose, and the industry’s over- all revenues increased by 8 percent. The USDA report notes that the higher egg and turkey prices did not change consumer buying habits. The disease affected less than 0.01 percent of the broil- er population, according to the USDA report, but that segment of the industry alone lost $1.1 billion in exports. Domestic prices fell and rev- enues were down 12 percent from the previous year, ac- cording to the USDA. The bird flu outbreak end- ed in June 2015. Sumner said export markets have not fully returned. Some foreign food- makers found substitutes for eggs, and some U.S. exporters in 2015 gave up foreign mar- kets to fill the shortage in the U.S. And while other countries have lifted restrictions, Chi- na has been closed to U.S. eggs and poultry since Jan. 9, 2015, because of the bird flu outbreak. “We’re hoping that chang- es in the near future, but there’s not necessarily any positive indication that will be the case,” Sumner said. “We don’t think (the closure) has any validity.” In 2014, before the out- break, China was 7 percent of the U.S. export market for turkeys and 4 percent for broilers. rural broadband to flourish — namely by using what are known as “TV white spaces.” TV white space refers to unused channels in television broadcasting, which act as interference buffers between active channels. The spectrum ranges from 470 to 790 mega- hertz, similar to what is used for 4G wireless networks. If the FCC agrees to leave at least three white space channels vacant in every market, it may lead to more capital investment in rural high-speed internet service, Cikanek said. 8:45-9:00 9:00-10:00 Robert Rebholtz Jr., Chief Executive Office & President, Agri-Beef Co., Inc. 10:00-10:45 “ Jeff Van Lith, National Retail Sales Manager, Agri-Beef Co., Inc. 10:45-11:15 (provided by sponsors) 11:15-12:00 Brett Stuart, Founding partner of Global AgriTrends 12:00-1:00 (provided by sponsors) 1:00-1:45 Dr. Matt Spangler, Associate Professor, University of Nebraska 1:45-3:00 Dr. Deb VanOverbeke, Interim Assist Dean, Oklahoma State University; Jesse Fulton, Associate Director – Producer Education, NCBA Note: For more information, please contact Kim McKague at (541) 562-5129 ext 21 http://oregonstate.edu/dept/eoarcunion FREE! No pre-registration required. Lunch Included! 1-4/108 By DON JENKINS During his speech Monday at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Nashville, Tenn., President Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at im- proving broadband internet access in rural America. A new coalition based in Washington, D.C., is also building local partnerships across the country to lay the regulatory foundation for bridging what it calls the “digital divide.” Connect Americans Now, which launched Jan. 2, believes it can pave the way for high-speed internet in every market nationwide by 2022. That would be a big deal for Northwest farm- ers and ranchers looking to adopt web-powered preci- sion irrigation tools, such as real-time soil moisture monitors, to increase yields while reducing costs. “As any farmer will tell you, it takes more than grit and determination to be suc- cessful in today’s market,” said Zachary Cikanek, a national spokesman for the coalition. “We need to let farmers access modern tech- nologies.” Several Oregon counties and farm groups, including the Oregon Farm Bureau and Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, have joined the coalition in recent days. Roughly 16 percent of the state population lives in ru- ral areas, according to the USDA Economic Research Service. More than 34 million Americans are without ac- cess to affordable, reliable broadband service, Cikanek said. Of those, 23.4 million live in rural communities. “This gap is something we think we can bridge in the next five years if we roll out the right combination of tech- nology,” Cikanek said. The coalition recently an- nounced it will work with the Federal Communica- tions Commission to estab- lish policies that will allow 2-2/100