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August 10, 2018 CapitalPress.com 5 Falling number appears in wheat; not as ‘massive’ as 2016 Leaders expect clearer picture as harvest progresses By MATTHEW WEAVER Capital Press SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — Grain inspectors in Spokane have run nearly 600 tests for falling number in wheat so far, a state official says. About 300 of those tests fell below the industry standard of 300, said Scott Steinbacher, Eastern Washington regional manager of the Washington State Department of Agricul- ture grain inspection program . About 200 fell below 280. Falling number is a test that measures starch damage in wheat that reduces the quality of baked goods and noodles. Grain inspectors measure the time it takes two pins on a falling number machine to fall Matthew Weaver/Capital Press Paul Sessions, wheat inspector in training at the Spokane office for the Washington State Department of Agriculture grain inspection program, grinds wheat into flour for falling number testing Aug. 1 as program assistant Juan Rodriguez works in the background. through a ground wheat-water slurry, measuring its viscosity. Grain with low falling number is sold at a discount because end-use quality is compro- mised. Farmers were caught off guard in 2016 when roughly 44 percent of soft white wheat samples and 42 percent of club wheat samples tested well be- low 300, the industry standard. The industry estimates the damage that year cost farmers more than $30 million in lower prices. Steinbacher said the crop looks “great,” passing visual inspection, with good protein levels and test weights. That suggests to him that the low falling number is due to the enzyme late-maturity alpha amylase, or LMA, caused by temperature swings at criti- cal points in the wheat plant’s development. If the damage was caused by rain, inspectors would likely find pre-harvest sprouting. Glen Squires, Washington Grain Commission CEO, said he hasn’t heard of any falling number discounts being ap- plied. “I think elevator companies, everybody, was a little bit bet- ter prepared this year,” Squires said. “A lot of testing going on (and) if there are segregation capabilities, that’s taking place where it’s possible.” Even with problems in 2016, exporters were able to meet the specifications of overseas cus- tomers. Squires anticipates do- Irrigation transfer bill introduced By DAN WHEAT Capital Press KENNEWICK, Wash. — Legislation to transfer title of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation irrigation assets to the Ken- newick Irrigation District is being introduced in the U.S. House. “Water providers across our region and across the West face numerous challeng- es to supply water, including growing demand, aging infra- structure and changing pre- cipitation patterns,” Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., said in announcing HR 6652 at the KID office in Kennewick on Aug. 6. Title transfer will allow the district to be more responsive, efficient and innovative in serving water to the commu- nity, Newhouse said. “The title transfer allows the district to take owner- ship of what our customers have paid for. It will greatly benefit our community by allowing local challenges to be addressed locally and en- hancing operational efficien- cies,” said Dean Dennis, KID board president, in thanking Newhouse for the bill. The measure is in keeping with a December 2017 agree- ment between the district and bureau. It will transfer title of a portion of lands and irri- gation canals from Chandler Pump Station, 11.2 miles east For the Capital Press Eric Gallandt, a University of Maine weed ecologist, has announced several findings in recent years that could dra- matically improve weed man- agement in organic vegetable production. As such, Gallandt has been a featured speaker at mechani- cal cultivation field days across the country. On Aug. 16, Gallandt will be in Corvallis, speaking to partic- ipants in an Oregon State Uni- versity Mechanical Cultivation Field Day at the OSU Vegeta- ble Research Farm, 34306 NE Electric Road, Corvallis. The field day, which also features equipment demonstrations, will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In a phone interview, Gal- landt said he and a University of Maine graduate student, Bryan Brown, have been able to show that by stacking cul- tivation tools, weed control is dramatically improved in organic vegetable production systems. “One of the more promising discoveries we’ve found in the ber , he said. “There’s still a lot of har- vest to go, relative to the fall- ing number issues,” he said. “This is why we’re spending so many dollars and resources to address it. ... The industry is working on solving the chal- lenges of falling numbers.” The McGregor Co., screens about 40 wheat variet- ies, including eight for falling number. Of those eight, Cat Salois, director of research, believes two are at higher risk for late-maturity alpha am- ylase, two have a lower risk and she wants to learn more about the others. The company will contin- ue to screen varieties, look- ing for regional trends, Salois said. “Hopefully we can get some data out in front of our customers in time to make some decisions ... about what varieties we may want to start steering away from,” she said. Steiner elected new Owyhee Cattlemen’s Association president By BRAD CARLSON Capital Press Dan Wheat/Capital Press File The Yakima River flows through Prosser, Wash., to the top of the Prosser Dam. The 6-megawatt dam would be part of the second phase of the transfer of federal assets to the Kennewick Irrigation District. The first phase is underway in Congress. of Prosser, and running 40 miles east. Another 34 miles is being considered for later. The city of Kennewick wants “linear parks,” in bu- reau rights-of-way on top of enclosed canals, for use as recreational trails, Charles Freeman, district manager has said. It’s almost impossi- ble for the bureau to approve them, but the district would allow it, he said. The district also could be faster in processing ease- ments when properties are sold and releasing easements that have never been used, he said. The parties intend to com- plete the transfer no later than two years after the bill is passed by Congress and signed by the president. Free- man said he hopes that hap- pens before year’s end. The district has paid the bureau nearly $4.6 million on a lease-loan over 65 years, Freeman said. The district already pays system mainte- nance and is liable for it, he said. A second phase, being considered for later, would include the dam at Prosser, fish screens, the 11.2-mile diversion canal from the dam to the Chandler Pump Station, a pair of six-megawatt hydro- electrical generators, associ- ated water rights and a mile- long 99-inch diameter siphon that carries water under the river and Interstate 82 from hydropumps to the canal. The hydro generators pro- duce about $1 million worth of electricity annually with that revenue going to the bu- reau. If KID owned the gen- erators and had the revenue it likely would be spent on deferred maintenance of the facility, Freeman has said. The district serves 20,201 acres and 23,249 accounts in Kennewick and surrounding area from Chandler to Finley. It serves residential areas in Kennewick and Richland and orchards, vineyards and blue- berry and hay fields. Mechanical weed control topic of workshop, demonstrations By MITCH LIES ing so again this year. “As the Pacific Northwest overall, at this stage it doesn’t appear to be as severe on a crop average,” he said. “Obvi- ously, if you’re the farmer and you’ve got 250 or 245 falling numbers, it’s severe to you.” “Any person that gets be- low 300, obviously it’s not great news,” Steinbacher agreed. “I’m hopeful we’re going to come back out of this in the next week or two.” Steinbacher expects a bet- ter idea of the whole picture by the end of the week of Aug. 6. Some areas, such as near Pasco, Wash., and southern Idaho, have no falling number problems, Squires said. “It’s existing, but it doesn’t seem to be as massive,” Squires said. Squires noted that the wheat harvest is only about 30 percent done. He’s uncertain whether the remaining wheat was past the critical point of susceptibility to falling num- last couple of years is that by using multiple tools in a single pass, or using multiple tools in sequence, is that you often get more than additive improve- ments in the percentage of weeds you kill. We have evi- dence of synergy,” he said. “So, for example, if you take two different tools, one of which gives you 30 percent weed control, the other of which gives you 20 percent weed con- trol, and you use them together, you don’t just get 50 percent weed control. You might get 75 percent weed control,” he said. “And that holds true across challenging conditions, so across increasing soil moisture, across increasing size of weeds and other conditions,” he said. In addition, Gallandt is re- searching the use of longer-term weed management strategies, including use of cover crops, in combination with stacking me- chanical weed control. “By combining some strat- egies to reduce the weed seed bank with improved physical weed control, we should be able to help farmers experience im- proving weed management cir- cumstances over time,” he said. In general, weed control in organic vegetable production systems has shown no improve- ment over time, he said, and in many cases, has worsened. The strategies take more work than is employed in most organic vegetable production systems, he said, but can bring significant dividends. “We’ve got some pretty de- cent evidence that this is the case,” he said. “For example, we did a nice experiment in onions that showed that longer-term seedbank management strat- egies that require more work can actually pay off, even in the short term, because of improved yields and improved quality. “So, certainly if you look at it over the longer term, it is something that has the promise to increase profitability, and, in the case of using cover crops, for example, could be used for multiple benefits,” he said. OSU Small Farms Exten- sion agent Clare Sullivan, who along with fellow agent Nick Andrews, is putting together the field day, said the idea for the event came about because of in- terest among Oregon growers in a similar event held last year at Michigan State University, and because growers have struggled to use cultivation tools. “There is a lot of interest in mechanical cultivation imple- ments, especially from mid- sized organic growers, but we hear from a lot of them that they struggle to use the tools effectively,” Sullivan said. “We wanted to put on an educational event that shared the best prac- tices to prepare your fields to use cultivation implements, and also have the equipment dealers show in-person how to adjust the tools to work effectively. “The neat thing about this is it is targeted toward vege- table growers of all different sizes and, while it is primarily geared toward organic produc- tion, conventional growers can benefit from this as well,” Sul- livan said. The Owyhee Cattlemen’s Association Board of Direc- tors on July 28 elected Lor- na Steiner of Oreana, Idaho, as the organization’s new president. She succeeds Bruneau rancher Lynn Bachman, who remains on the board as past president, succeeding Chad Nettleton of Murphy. The board also elected Paul Nettleton of Murphy to suc- ceed Steiner as vice presi- dent. Association leaders for years have been working to preserve grazing rights in Owyhee County in south- west Idaho. Steiner said she and Bachman will con- tinue efforts to work with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on the issue. BLM, aiming to reduce potential damage to lands, in the mid-1990s began limiting the number of cattle that ranchers could graze, expressed as an ani- mal unit month measure, on 68 allotments in the nearly 4.9 million-acre county that occupies the southwest cor- ner of the state. The total affected graz- ing area is more than 100,000 acres. Ranchers ar- gued this reduces their eco- nomic viability while in- creasing wildfire fuels, and pointed to their interest in keeping land resources sus- tainable in the long term. Steiner said resolution is still needed by about half of the affected permit holders. Bachman has been instrumental in initiating and continuing discussions with BLM — work they plan to continue, she said. “I will be involved with that and Lynn will be in- volved with that,” Steiner said. They are setting an Au- gust meeting with BLM field, district and state leaders, she said. A date and location aren’t yet de- termined. As the new Owyhee Cattlemen’s Association president, “I also want to work with BLM in gen- eral,” Steiner said. “As ranchers, we are going to Lorna Steiner have to find some way to broaden our minds and work through different types of grazing programs and look at the land a little differently. We’re all hop- ing we can do more.” Nearly all member ranchers lack sufficient water at some point, she said. She aims to work with BLM to help improve the situation. Solutions are yet to be determined but may include approaches like adding pipelines, develop- ing more springs or placing troughs where springs are available, she said. Steiner, 57, grew up in Meridian, where her father farmed. She co-owns Tri- angle Ranch with her hus- band, John Steiner, whose parents previously operat- ed the Triangle property. With help from their two grown sons, the Stein- ers grow hay and other feed crops on about 280 acres near Oreana, and operate the ranch 29 miles south and west in the Owyhee Mountains. The ranch in- cludes about 5,000 deed- ed acres plus leased state and federal grazing land that brings the Triangle footprint to nearly 20,000 acres. “We run, depending on the grass year, 400 to 450 head,” Lorna Steiner said. 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