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!
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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
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