June 29, 2018
CapitalPress.com
7
Sugar beet growers get pest alerts
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press File
David Weller, research leader
for the USDA wheat health,
genetics and quality research
unit in Pullman, Wash.,
hopes to advertise soon for
a researcher to study starch
damage. Weller says the hir-
ing process will take roughly
six months.
USDA to
add another
researcher
for falling
numbers
‘A-Team’ working
to solve starch
damage problem,
leader says
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
The USDA will fund a new
researcher to tackle a starch
damage problem that in the
past has cost Pacific North-
west wheat farmers tens of
millions of dollars.
In the Omnimbus appro-
priations bill last April, Con-
gress approved $1 million for
falling number research at the
USDA Agricultural Research
Service.
Wheat growers and com-
missions in Idaho, Oregon
and Washington requested
funding for the position.
The new researcher will
help develop new wheat va-
rieties resistant to starch dam-
age, as well as study envi-
ronmental factors that trigger
the problem and improve the
falling number test, said Da-
vid Weller, research leader for
USDA’s wheat health, genet-
ics and quality research unit in
Pullman, Wash.
Many factors can lead to
low falling number test re-
sults, Weller said, including
wheat variety, temperature
fluctuations and weather.
Further research will hope-
fully lead to a model to help
growers and industry mem-
bers determine when condi-
tions cause starch damage.
Weller hopes to advertise
the new job soon. He esti-
mates the hiring process to
take roughly six months.
The search for the re-
searcher will be nationwide,
he said, and include an ad-
visory committee to screen
candidates, who will visit the
Washington State University
campus, deliver a seminar and
meet with faculty and com-
mission members.
In 2016, low falling num-
ber test results hit a large por-
tion of the Pacific Northwest’s
wheat crop, costing growers
between $30 million and $130
million in discounts.
The hope is for the fund-
ing to continue in the future,
Weller said. “This is not
something we’re going to
solve in a few months.”
Weller called the group
of “world-class” researchers
working on the project from
USDA, WSU, Oregon State
University and the University
of Idaho the “A-Team of fall-
ing number.”
“We are all working as a
team in a seamless effort to
address all aspects of this par-
ticular problem,” he said. “We
are working night and day, as
hard as we can, to find solu-
tions.”
The Pacific Northwest Pest Alert
Network in late June notified sugar
beet growers in southwest Idaho and
eastern Oregon about powdery mil-
dew, cercospora leaf spot and loopers.
The advisories did not worry Wen-
dell Robinson, agricultural manager
for grower-owned cooperative Amal-
gamated Sugar’s western region.
“At this point, everything is man-
ageable and treatable,” he said.
Robinson said beet fields should
remain healthy overall if growers stay
aware of pest and disease threats and
know how to treat them.
A crop consultant with J.R. Sim-
plot Co. found powdery mildew in
fields near Adrian, Ore., and Parma,
Idaho, a June 23 alert said. Staff with
Amalgamated Sugar confirmed the
finding.
The alert said several fungicides
are available to treat powdery mil-
dew, and that applications should be
repeated every two to three weeks de-
pending on the disease pressure and
Capital Press File
Powdery mildew and cercospora leaf
spot have been found in southern Idaho
and eastern Oregon sugar beet fields.
chemistry used. A network publica-
tion said the fungus — whose spores
can blow in from plants that carried
over from winter, including previous-
ly infected seed beets — causes small
white patches on leaf surfaces. Wide-
spread in several Western states for
more than 40 years, it is often treated
with sulfur dust.
Powdery mildew is “more or less
a recurring problem we are having in
the Treasure Valley” of southwestern
Idaho and eastern Oregon, said Amal-
gamated Sugar Plant Health Manager
Oliver Neher.
“Most of the time we see it in early
July and it moves from west to east,
he said. “We are seeing it this year a
little bit early.”
Neher does not expect powdery
mildew to be more of a problem than
usual. Timely application of fungi-
cide makes it fairly easy to control,
he said.
The network on June 25 advised
beet growers to start scouting for
CLS as temperatures rise, beet field
rows start closing and irrigation stays
intense. Favorable conditions for the
fungus that causes CLS materialize
when average nighttime temperatures
exceed 60 degrees and humidity is
90 percent or higher for at least five
hours, the alert said.
An increase in fungicide resistance
makes proper chemistry rotation im-
portant in treating for CLS, the alert
said. It recommended consulting with
Amalgamated field staff.
Sugar beet growers can control
CLS by applying fungicide in a time-
ly manner and by not over-watering
crops, Robinson said.
CLS was not a big problem in
southern Idaho and eastern Oregon
until four to five years ago, Neher said.
“We saw a shift in temperatures
and irrigation methods,” he said. As
more irrigators used sprinkler pivots
and hand lines, the moisture part of the
equation became more favorable for
the fungus that causes CLS, he said.
If this year’s wildfire season is
active, smoke conditions could in-
crease relative humidity and in turn
keep conditions favorable for CLS as
leaves stay moist longer, he said.
Also June 25, the network said
Amalgamated Sugar reported that
loopers, which are minor leaf-feeding
pests controllable with biological or
chemical means, were found in fields
in the Caldwell, Idaho, area.
Robinson said the small, worm-
like loopers often are controlled by
applying a pesticide in conjunction
with regular fungicide applications.
Apple forecast up; labor, trade worries remain
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
The first forecast for this
fall’s U.S. apple crop is up
3.6 percent from the 2017
crop, which should be man-
ageable, but big concerns lin-
ger about labor, fruit quality
and exports, a top Michigan
apple producer says.
Total U.S. fresh and pro-
cessed production was es-
timated at 257.9 million,
42-pound boxes at the Pre-
mier Apple Cooperative
meeting in Syracuse, N.Y.,
on June 26.
The USDA unadjust-
ed figure for 2017 is 248.6
million boxes and the large
2014 crop was 272.2 million
boxes, while the record was
277.3 million boxes in 1998.
“We have a couple factors
impacting this season’s mar-
ketability. No. 1 is whether
we have sufficient labor to
pick on a timely basis to give
us the quality we need, and
the other issue is trade, that
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
Limbs cut to control fire blight are piled in an Okanogan, Wash.,
orchard. An early estimate of Washington’s 2018 apple crop is
down partly due to fire blight while the national estimate is up.
our biggest trading partners
are or will be instituting tar-
iffs,” said Don Armock, pres-
ident of Riveridge Produce,
Sparta, Mich., who attended
the New York meeting.
Lack of immigration re-
form, including resolving
DACA (Deferred Action of
Childhood Arrivals), and in-
creased immigration enforce-
ment all weigh heavily on the
immigrant community who
make up most of the tree fruit
workforce, Armock said.
U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement raids
on a meat packing plant in the
upper Midwest and President
Donald Trump’s tweets about
swift deportations unsettle
the labor force, he said.
As in Washington state,
more large and mid-size ap-
ple growers in Michigan
and New York are turning
to H-2A-visa foreign guest-
workers, he said.
“We can’t be taking
chances on (domestic) work-
ers who may or may not be
legal,” he said.
Unless resolved soon,
tariffs by Mexico, Canada,
India and China in retaliation
for U.S. tariffs on steel and
aluminum, undoubtedly will
affect U.S. apple exports,
Armock said. It is unknown
to what degree, he said. Typ-
ically, 30 percent of U.S. ap-
ples are exported.
Mexico is imposing a 20
percent tariff on U.S. apples,
India is adding 25 percent on
top of its 50 percent tariff,
China added 15 percent to a
10 percent existing tariff and
will impose a 25 percent July
6 in retaliation for U.S. tariffs
related to intellectual proper-
ty theft. Canada has not set
any tariff on apples.
“When you insult (Cana-
dian Prime Minister Justin)
Trudeau like we have, people
take a bit of an anti-American
stance,” Armock said.
Of the 257.9 million-box
Premier estimate, Washing-
ton is 152 million boxes,
down 4.9 percent; Michigan,
33.5 million, up 43.1 percent;
New York, 31 million, up
7.8 percent; Pennsylvania,
11.7 million, up .3 percent;
California, 5.5 million, up
.4 percent; and Virginia, 5.1
million, down 2.2 percent.
Oregon is 4.2 million, up
.8 percent and Idaho is 1.5
million, up 19 percent.
The Washington estimate
is down partly because of a
higher level of fire blight,
said Mark Seetin, director of
regulatory and industry af-
fairs of the U.S. Apple Asso-
ciation, Vienna, Va.
The Washington State Tree
Fruit Association will forecast
the Washington crop in Au-
gust and U.S. Apple will give
a national crop estimate at its
annual Outlook conference in
Chicago, Aug. 23-24.
Idaho Barley Commission contributes to research post
By BRAD CARLSON
Barley is harvest-
ed in Caribou
County, Idaho.
The Idaho Barley
Commission has
voted to add to the
University of Idaho
Foundation to help
fund a post-doctor-
al researcher.
Capital Press
Part of the Idaho Barley Commis-
sion’s planned fiscal 2019 spending
includes the first of five annual contri-
butions to an endowment to help fund
a post-doctoral researcher to work
alongside Christopher Rogers, the
University of Idaho endowed barley
agronomist at Aberdeen.
The commission on June 21 ap-
proved directing $70,500 per year for
the next five years to the UI Foun-
dation to build the endowment. The
UI College of Agricultural and Life
Sciences in turn will guarantee fund-
ing for the research position working
with Rogers, said commission admin-
istrator Kelly Olson.
The post-doc research position is
File photo courtesy
of Jerry Brown
now funded directly by the universi-
ty for one year, and the commission
wants to ensure the position contin-
ues, she said.
The commission this year com-
pleted its $1 million commitment —
$200,000 per year for five years — to
the endowment that created the UI en-
dowed barley research agronomist po-
sition that Rogers holds. Lacking that
line item and some one-time expenses
in fiscal 2018, the fiscal 2019 budget
the commission approved is down 12
percent to $688,167, Olson said.
Commissioners approved esti-
mated income of $713,840 for fiscal
2019. Income for fiscal 2018, ended
June 30 and reflecting fourth-quarter
checkoff collections, was not avail-
able June 25. Olson said some carry-
over barley from 2016 was not mar-
keted until this year, and some 2017
production will not be marketed until
next year.
Idaho’s 4,000-plus barley grow-
ers pay a 3-cent-per-bushel checkoff
at the first point of sale. The check-
off is designed to enhance growers’
profitability through research, market
development and promotion, and in-
formation and education programs.
The commission does not engage
in legislative lobbying, which is one
of the tasks of the separate Idaho
Grain Producers Association.
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