agriculture spring 2010

AGRICULTURE | SPRING ’10SUNDAY, FEB. 28 , 2010 | A PERIODIC PUBLICATION OF THE LEWISTON TRIBUNE | SECTION G

Wet summer could make seeds scarce

> PAGE 11G

Losses of honeybee colonies declining

> PAGE 17G

Ranchers strive to turn things around

> PAGE 15G

Debate over raw milk heating up

> PAGE 18G

Learning to make organic profi table

— PAGE 4G

Wary of the threat of global warming

— PAGE 10G

UI scientist develops stronger varieties of wheat

— PAGE 5G

a g r i c u l t u r e : s p r i n g ’ 1 0 l e W i s t O n t r i B u n e2G s u n D a Y, F e B r u a r Y 2 8 , 2 0 1 0

By KERRI SANDAINEof the tribune

When kids first hear the word “agri-culture,” most of them picture a farm-er driving a tractor around a field, says Clarkston teacher Cami Browne.

“But there are so many aspects,” she says, listing several off the top of her head. “Marketing, science, genetic en-gineering, business, mechanics, weld-ing, carpentry. Overall, production ag is actually a small part of it.”

Browne introduces the array of op-portunities to students while teaching animal science, horticulture, floral design and agriculture business at Clarkston High School. She also over-sees a barn crew class and work site learning, and she’s the FFA adviser.

One of her favorite activities is help-ing kids discover a career or hobby that involves agriculture.

“My goal is to teach them something they can use later in life or find some-thing they’re interested in as a hobby

or career.” And she must be doing a pretty good

job. Browne was recently named the state’s outstanding agricultural teacher for 2009 by the Washington Association of Agricultural Educators. “I was really surprised,” she says of the honor.

Browne won at the district level before being selected for the state award. Her students say she’s a deserving recipient.

“She cares a lot and she’s really pas-sionate about ag stuff and she knows a lot about it,” says 16-year-old Bai-lie Copeland, vice president of the

Clarkston FFA. “She’s really nice and she’s kind of shy. Once you get to know her, she’s really funny.”

FFA President Riley Swanson, 18, says Browne puts a lot of time and effort into her teaching job. “She makes sure she does all she can to help people.”

Part of her FFA duties include helping kids discover the joys and hard work as-sociated with raising animals. There are about 70 kids in the organization, and each spring the majority of them take an animal to the Asotin County Fair.

Without FFA, a lot of kids would never get to experience what it’s like to raise livestock, Browne says.

“They learn time management, mon-ey management, responsibility and how to care for something else that’s alive.”

The 29-year-old teacher lives on a farm between Asotin and Anatone with her husband, Dustin, and their three daughters, Caylie, 5, Cady, 3, and Carly, five months. A Clarkston High School graduate, she has been teaching in her hometown for eight years.

“I thought it would be lots of fun and with ag, it’s constantly changing,” she says of her career choice.

———Sandaine may be contacted at kerris@lmtribune.

com or (208) 848-2264.

Tribune/Steve HanksClarkston High School’s Cami Browne was voted 2009 ag teacher of the year.

She teaches the wide world of farmingCami browne helps ffA students at Clarkston high School discover the many career opportunities in ag

By HENRY C. JACKSONof the ASSoCiAted PreSS

WASHINGTON — What makes milk or meat organic? After a drawn-out debate, the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture has significantly narrowed the definition to livestock that spend a third of the year grazing on pasture.

New rules announced this month say organic milk and meat must come from livestock grazing on pasture for at least four months of the year, and that 30 percent of their feed must come from grazing. The old rules said only that animals must have “access to pasture.”

It took years to craft the new regulations, which offer clarity for ranchers, food compa-nies and consumers, who have forked over billions of dollars for organic food without a crystalline

standard for livestock.Once a niche market,

the organic industry has grown exponentially in the last 20 years as con-sumers following healthy eating trends sought out organic products, which are grown without pesti-cides, hormones, antibi-otics or biotechnology. It had grown to a $24 billion market in 2008, accord-ing to the most recent figures from the Organic Trade Association, and its share of food sales was 3.5 percent and growing.

The industry’s rapid expansion, and the ensu-ing competition between small- and large-scale farmers and ranchers, has put a premium on de-fining what it means to be organic. To that end, Dep-uty Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said the pasture rules are the first step in sharpening that definition.

“This is an industry that’s come to Capitol Hill and wants tough, strict regulations, because they know that’s what consum-ers want,” Merrigan said on a conference call with reporters. “They want clear, consistent, tough enforceable rules.”

The new rules take ef-fect in June, and farmers and ranchers will have a year to comply. The rules also say 30 percent of ani-mals’ feed must come from grazing and that ranchers must have a plan to protect soil and water quality.

Industry groups and consumer watchdogs praised the rules as an important first step. “Con-sumers increasingly are placing high value on or-ganic principles that safe-guard animal welfare and avoid confinement,” said Christine Bushway, ex-ecutive director of the Or-ganic Trade Association.

After long debate, USDA sharpens its rules for organic milk and meat

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By JOEL MILLSof the tribune

It’s not easy going organic, but Palouse dryland farmers will get some help over the next several years from researchers at Washington State University.

Led by soil scientist Richard Koenig, a team of faculty members and students will use a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Integrated Organic Program to help figure out how to best raise crops like wheat and barley with-out chemicals.

“In order to get the premiums associated with certified organic grain, you’ve got to fol-low the rules,” Koenig said.

Those rules preclude the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. If farmers can meet the stringent requirements for certification, they can charge a higher price for their prod-

uct and help the environment at the same time, Koenig said.

The grant runs for three years, with a renewable fourth year. But Koenig hopes to eventually secure long-term funding to keep his experiments run-ning past the end of the grant cycle.

WSU faculty members — along with graduate and undergraduate students and other partners in Idaho and Oregon — will focus on moving several theories out of the laboratory and into the dry-

land farms of the region.“Until you actually get them out in the field

and try them in a system where you don’t put on any herbicide and you don’t use any fer-tilizers, you don’t know how they’re going to perform,” said Koenig, the chairman of the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural

WSu soil researchers are utilizing a $1 million federal grant to help region’s farmers learn to profit from certified chemical-free crops

Tribune/Steve HanksA study at Washington State University is looking at ways to grow wheat without chemicals, and make money from it.

Richard Koenig

ready to cash in on

organic

See organic, page 5G>

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“In the certified organic system, we don’t have any chemical alternatives,” he said. “So we’re us-ing crop rotation, both to try to put more nitrogen back into the system via legumes like peas and al-falfa, and to try to control weeds.”

The weed component of the study will explore weed ecology, like how they grow and compete with crops.

WSU has researched organic farming systems for years, and recently started offering the first four-year degree in the nation in organic agriculture.

Dan Bernardo, the dean of the WSU ag college, said Koenig’s work will add an important new di-mension to that program.

“This grant allows us to continue leading the way in translating some of the most economically-sound practices of organics to dryland cropping systems,” Bernardo said in a statement.

And while Koenig’s research will cater mostly to the emerging markets for organic food, he said the spin-off applications are important for tra-ditional farming. “There’s a lot of crossover po-tential into conventional systems through better understanding of weed and soil ecology in all ag-ricultural systems,” he said.

———Mills may be contacted at [email protected] or (208) 883-0564.

A G R I C U L T U R E : S P R I N G ’ 1 0 S U N D A Y, F E B R U A R Y 2 8 , 2 0 1 0 5GL E W I S T O N T R I B U N E

After arduous process, UI scientists are confi dent in their two new varieties of hard white winter wheat

By BRANDON MACZOF THE TRIBUNE

Anticipating the benefits of hard white winter wheats in domestic and global markets takes a lot of forethought, considering the 11 years of research and crossbreed-ing it took for the University of Ida-ho to produce Grace and Silver.

While hard white wheats have gained momentum recently be-cause of the demand for whole grain foods, wheat breeders are constantly working to cultivate a more appealing grain, said Jianli Chen, assistant professor for the Department of Plant, Soil and En-tomological Sciences at the UI’s Aberdeen research center.

“We are hoping hard white will replace hard red,” Chen said, but there are not many breeds avail-able. “It is very hard.”

UI Silver, which will be re-leased in time for fall seeding,

surpasses previous breeds of hard white wheats in some re-spects and has been shown to be disease resistant. It isn’t resistant to herbicides like UICF-Grace,

but both are fairly drought toler-ant, Chen said.

“When you make a (cross-

ORGANICContinued from PAGE 4G>

Photo courtesy of Jianli ChenUniversity of Idaho researcher Jianli Chen is developing more variet-ies of wheat as the demand grows domestically and internationally.

The science of wheat breeding

See BREEDING, page 6G>

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breed), you know what kind of variety you’re going to re-lease,” she said. “We know some traits can predict yield in the first stage.”

But the process is long, genetically pairing parental wheats in order to infuse their positive attributes into a new breed. From the first batch of progeny, only the strong sur-vive. Silver and Grace would benefit from rain-fed produc-tion, rather than irrigation where the two breeds are sus-ceptible to disease, Chen said.

It may be several more years before Grace and Sil-ver can be fully assessed for market value because breed-ers have to first entice millers with the benefits of the grain so growers will purchase the seeds for harvest. Millers and growers won’t harvest unless the demand is high.

As a variety resistant to herbicides, Chen said the production cost for Grace is lowered because growers will not have to find a way around

using herbicides. Silver’s re-sistance to many common dis-eases that affect wheats will also produce better, healthier wheat yields, she said.

“The breeder has the most pressure of anyone else,” Chen said. “These two hard whites, based on available hard white varieties, are very good.”

With the growing popular-ity of healthy whole grain foods and Silver and Grace’s ability to produce good pro-tein content, Chen said the push will now be to reach a higher protein yield to battle that produced through hard red wheats.

The Asian market is expect-ed to find Silver and Grace attractive because of the end-use benefits in the production of noodles and buns, but Chen said she anticipates the two breeds will also prove strong in the domestic market.

“They do have a really wide use.”

———Macz may be contacted at bmacz@lm-

tribune.com or (208) 848-2275.

BREEDINGContinued from PAGE 5G>

By ERIC BARKEROF THE TRIBUNE

The price of nitrogen-based fertil-izers has fallen, following trends for natural gas and petroleum products as well as the price and demand for commodities.

“Most of the nitrogen prices are down in the neighborhood of 20 percent,” said Fred Morscheck of McGregor Co. at Colfax.

He said the significant drop-off in demand for crops, like wheat, has dropped prices. Because crop prices have dropped, fewer grow-ers are planting and the demand for fertilizer is down.

“If you look at what commodity prices were in 2008 and coming into 2009 and where they are today, fer-tilizer is directly linked to the value of those crops. As the value fell out of crop prices we had a subsequent drop in fertilizer prices.”

But there is more to fertilizer prices than just the price and de-mand for crops. The global econom-ic crisis and the price of natural gas also plays a role, said Kate Painter,

an agriculture economist for the University of Idaho.

“Notice how the price of gas is much lower than it was in 2008; so is the price of fertilizer. They are all tied to fossil fuels,” she said. “If you can understand the market for fuel prices, fertilizer is closely linked to that. It’s not just that people are not using fertilizer, it is the entire demand for fossil fuels. I would an-ticipate as the economy recovers prices will go up.”

Natural gas is the main ingredi-ent for making nitrogen-based fer-tilizer. The price of gas has dropped with the economy.

The lower price is one bright spot for growers. Painter said fertilizer is one of the most expensive inputs for grain farmers.

“So when the fertilizer prices went up, it was a huge expense,” she said. “When diesel goes up it also affects farm costs but not nearly as much as fertilizer.”

———Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtri-

bune.com or at (208) 848-2273.

Price of nitrogen fertilizer has dropped with demand for crops

“Notice how the price of gas is much lower than

it was in 2008; so is the price of fertilizer.

They are all tied to fossil

fuels.”

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By ELAINE WILLIAMSof the tribune

The nuances of raising cash crops like wheat, apples and blueberries have traditionally been hand-ed down as a family heirloom from father to son along with the land needed to grow them.

Those customs are evolv-ing, creating a new role for agricultural extension agents who are now perfecting how they help new farmers with a $525,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and $132,000 in matching money from Washington State University, said Doug Collins, small farms educator with the WSU Exten-sion program in Puyallup.

“People who grew up on farms aren’t necessarily taking over the fam-ily farm,” Collins said. “A lot of peo-ple coming into farming don’t have a background so their needs are great.”

Reaching them can be tricky be-cause of their diversity. One of the largest groups is immigrants. Some are making the transition from farm worker to farm owner. Some are refu-gees from places such as Somalia who may have at one time farmed, but have little knowledge of the climate and soil conditions in the Pacific Northwest.

Some might be trying to cull a little extra income from their property in retirement. “Some of them are walk-ing away from a desk job because they

want more out of life,” Collins said. “It’s a lifestyle choice.”

WSU is trying to help all of them in a variety of ways with the recent in-fusion of cash. The school has added

a third bilingual immigrant farming specialist who, among other tasks, will be an instruc-tor for WSU’s cultivating suc-cess courses. Offerings include a class on sustainable small farming and ranching and an-other on agricultural entrepre-neurship. The latter class will also be strengthened.

At the same time, WSU will develop five new courses that build on the content of the first

two. They will be sustainable livestock production, seed saving and produc-tion, small dairying, soil management and cover cropping and season exten-sion, which will teach students ways to increase the volume of their crops by using inexpensively built green-houses.

Plus, WSU will create a “tool kit” to help would-be farmers with land acquisition, one of the biggest chal-lenges facing new farmers aside from the questions that arise about raising healthy crops. The tool kit will identi-fy solutions from the grower and land-owner side of the issue.

“We’ve put a lot of our best farm-land under houses,” Collins said.

———Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtri-

bune.com or (208) 848-2261.

Doug Collins

Extension agents are helping new farmers put down rootsimmigrants and refugees are among those whom the small-farm educators at WSu are looking to assist

WSU NeWS BUreaU

Seeing is believing, and in the case of Hmong farmers, seeing is a way of learning new farming practices. That’s why members of the Hmong community of western Washington are now producing videos.

In the Hmong culture, farmers learn through storytelling and art. While classroom-style teaching reaches some farmers in the area, barriers such as language, work schedules and learning styles made it difficult to effectively con-vey new practices to Hmong farmers.

“Classes and workshops on improv-ing farming practices had low atten-dance because of learning barriers,”

said Bee Cha, Hmong outreach ex-tension educator. “Since the Hmong farmers were not going to classes and workshops, we wanted a better way to reach out, so we brainstormed non-traditional methods of education.”

Washington State University’s ex-tension office in King County and its Small Farms Team took sustain-able business and farming practice education for Hmong farmers to the next level. They taught Hmong youth how to produce videos, and now those youth are making videos to educate the farmers in their communities.

Since the Hmong began to im-

Storytelling, art help Hmong farmers in W. Washington learn new methods

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migrate to King County in the early 1980s, WSU has helped the farm-ers find markets in which to sell. But while WSU’s Small Farms Team has been making education available to local farmers, the various barriers have constrained extension educators in teaching new agricultural methods to the Hmong farmers.

“We wanted to offer something more convenient and culturally appro-priate,” said Todd Murray, director of WSU Skamania County Extension.

Hmong are from the highlands of Laos and immigrated to King County as refugees resulting from the Viet-nam War. Currently, Hmong farmers represent a significant component in the King County’s agricultural land-scape. There are approximately 90 Hmong family farms in the state of Washington, with 50 located in King County, Cha said.

After discovering that most Hmong farmers had access to technology, in-cluding DVD players, the WSU King County Extension and Small Farms Team decided to investigate video education.

“We wanted to reinvigorate the education we provide to satisfy their

needs,” Murray said. “It was impor-tant to create an education that worked with their lifestyle.”

County extension educators de-cided to train young farmers in video production so they could create their own educational videos on business

and sustainable farming practices.After purchasing video equipment,

computers and software with grant support from the King Conservation District, 12 young farmers took classes at 911 Media in Seattle to learn video production skills. After learning how

to structure projects through produc-tion planning, filming and editing, the group was challenged to create a video project on an aspect of Hmong culture.

Since then, two of the students have been hired by WSU to create instruc-tional documentaries. So far, the duo has produced videos on flea beetle management and another on proper record keeping for taxes. The flea beetle video is in its final stages of production. Once complete, the videos will be distributed on DVD and also will be viewable online.

“We are hoping this will turn into a long-term project and that it can be translated into other languages,” Mur-ray said. After the videos are distrib-uted, research will be done on their effectiveness.

“I think this project is unique and will definitely have a bigger impact and a wider audience than we had in classes and workshops,” Cha said.

“This is the most fun project I’ve done working with WSU,” Murray said. “Hmong is an interesting culture, and it was a great community to work with.”

Sample videos produced by the team are available online at http://www.youtube.com/user/wsuexten-sion. The project was funded by King Conservation District and supported by WSU Small Farms Team through grants from USDA Risk Management Agency and USDA Outreach and As-sistance to Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers.

WSU NewsBureauHmong youth work together to edit video showing new farming methods.

HMONGContinued from PAGE 7G>

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By SANDRA L. LEEof the tribune

University of Idaho Exten-sion is attempting to cover the critical bases in north central Idaho while it awaits final decisions on funding.

Since the retirement of longtime extension agent Larry Smith last year, ex-tension educators from the other counties in the area are continuing to offer what they see as key programs, such as pesticide recertifica-tion courses for licensed ap-plicators, applicator training to prepare for state testing, and extension cereal schools, said Lydia Clayton, extension educator for horticulture and small farms at Lewiston.

They also will continue to provide support to advisory groups Smith established during his long tenure, Clay-ton said.

Extension educators such

as Kenneth Hart in Lewis County and Cinda Williams in Latah County also are taking a regional approach, working across county lines to ensure services are provided, Clay-ton said.

Some things still won’t get done, she said. “We’re in no way, even with a regional approach, being able to of-fer programming at the level Larry (Smith) did. We’re in no way able to meet all the needs of constituents that he did. But in the interim we are trying to, at a reduced level, offer those programs we felt we could do and were key programs.”

Depending on the Legisla-ture, Clayton’s job and others could be on the line.

Charlotte Eberlein of Twin Falls, associate vice presi-dent and director of UI Ex-tension, said until the Leg-islature takes final action on the budget, probably by the

end of March, funding re-mains a moving target.

Smith’s position will re-main vacant, she said, but she doesn’t believe Clayton’s will be.

“A lot will depend on final numbers, but we’re trying very hard not to eliminate faculty and staff positions.”

Instead, vacancies are be-ing filled internally and po-sitions are being reassigned, Eberlein said.

“But if there are serious additional cuts, we will sim-ply not be able to do what we have done in the past.”

The department is go-ing through a prioritization process, determining what it needs to support and what is lower priority and will be eliminated if forced by addi-tional budget cuts, she said.

———Lee may be contacted at slee@

lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.


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Plowing ahead, despite an uncertain futureretirement of longtime agent Larry Smith has left a substantial void at UI Extension office in the region, but staff says the work goes on

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By DAVID JOHNSONof the tribune

While most Idaho wheat and barley farmers are skeptical about global warming, they can’t afford to dismiss the issue lest they fall victim to potential climate change legislation, said Eric Hasselstrom, vice chairman of the Na-tional Association of Wheat Growers environmental committee.

“We’re not pushing any legislation by any means. We’re just trying to navi-gate through it and tell them (lawmakers) what would be the least harmful to the agriculture sector,” said Hasselstrom, a Winchester-area farmer and past president of the Idaho Grain Growers Association.

Climate change legislation, once a top priority of the Obama adminis-

tration, has over the past several months taken a back seat to concerns over jobs and the economy. And rightfully so, Hasselstrom said.

“I think more of the coun-try is starting to agree with that now,” Hasselstrom said. “To go and try to cur-tail energy use by raising the cost of everything in the economic times we’re in right now, I just don’t think that’s a wise decision.”

Nonetheless, Hassel-strom said, the agriculture community must remain vigilant about all proposed climate change legislation, even if it’s currently on the political back burner.

“Even though we’re skeptical and we don’t believe, necessarily, that there’s climate change, we want to be involved in the discussions so that if something happens we have input into it,” Has-

While mostly unswayed on global warming, region’s grain farmers remain vigilant of its possible impacts on their trade

selstrom said, “instead of just stand-ing on the sidelines and saying we don’t believe in it, and we’re not going to even talk about it. Because then you get something handed to you.”

The future of so-called national green legislation, Hasselstrom said, is mostly gray. “The Idaho wheat grow-ers stance is that we’re not in favor of any climate change legislation, un-less it would be a net benefit to wheat farmers. And trying to figure out a net benefit is very hard.”

At the same time, farm bill subsi-dies seem to have become a target of potential national cost-cutting mea-sures, Hasselstrom said. And if that happens, growers will suffer what amounts to a double-barrel blast to their profit margins.

“Only 16 percent of the farm bill goes to farmers in the first place. The rest of it is food stamps and nutrition pro-grams,” Hasselstrom said. “And we’ve run studies that show an agriculture dollar turns over eight times back in the community. So I just think they’re looking in the wrong direction.”

The fact remains, Hasselstrom said, that climate change legislation on its own has the potential to force farmers who are already struggling over the fi-nancial edge. “The biggest thing is, it will raise the cost of fuel and fertilizer and tires and everything like that,” he said, “because all those industries are going to have to buy carbon credits to meet the regulations the EPA (Envi-ronmental Protection Agency) would

bring down under this climate change legislation.”

Hasselstrom, who grows wheat, barley and oats and has a 120-head cow-calf cattle operation, said he shares the frustration other farm-ers have about the science of global warming. While many people ac-cept reports that man-made global warming is fact, Hasselstrom said he doesn’t buy into the claim without question, especially in light of recent disclosures about faulty data surfac-ing and allegations of fraud.

“I’ve been saying that this is climate cycles. We’ve been having these for years. If you talk to a lot of scientists, it goes up and down over decades,” Has-selstrom said. “So we’re pretty skepti-cal. We’re taking a very skeptical look at the legislation. We’re asking a lot of hard questions. How you came up with this? Why did you use these num-bers? And how can we make this work for us? A lot of what-ifs.”

So far, Hasselstrom said, few if any of the scientists or legislators have of-fered answers. “It’s hard to be in fa-vor of a bill or against it when nobody really has concrete answers to any of your questions.”

That said, Hasselstrom expressed some guarded optimism. “We’re going to get a more in-depth update on it the first week in March. But there’s a lot of gray area in this whole deal right now.”

———Johnson may be contacted at djohnson@

lmtribune.com or (208) 883-0564.

Tribune/Kyle MillsWinchester-area farmer Eric Hasselstrom is the past president of Idaho Grain Producers Association and is now the vice chairman of the National Association of Wheat Growers environmental committee.

For growers, a turbulent political climate“I’ve been saying that

this is climate cycles. We’ve been having

these for years. If you talk to a

lot of scientists, it goes up and

down over decades.”

ErIc HassElstrom


By BRAD W. GARYOF THE TRIBUNE

An information exchange between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Internal Revenue Service will reduce fraud in farm programs, fed-eral officials say.

The exchange, announced late last year, will compare tax return data with income limits specified in the 2008 Farm Bill to determine whether a recipient of farm safety net payments meets required income limits.

The agreement will ensure that pay-ments are not issued to producers whose adjusted gross income limits set by the farm bill exceeds an adjusted gross income nonfarm average of $500,000 for commodity and disaster programs, $750,000 adjusted gross income farm average for direct payments, and $1 million adjusted gross income nonfarm average for conservation programs.

Washington and Idaho growers who have already verified their informa-tion will not see any changes under the program, USDA Farm Service Agency spokesman Andre Kok of Washington, D.C., said in an e-mail.

“This verification will cause no ad-verse impact on the payment eligibil-ity of any producer who accurately

certified their average adjusted gross farm and non-farm income did not ex-ceed the limitations established by the 2008 Farm Bill,” Kok said.

If certifications made by a particular individual cannot be verified through the information exchange, Kok said the individual or group will be required to provide a statement from an accoun-tant or attorney concerning their aver-age adjusted gross income.

Those who officials determine don’t qualify for the program would be clas-sified as ineligible for payments, Kok said.

The information exchange has only been in effect for a few weeks, but the agency believes it will succeed in issu-ing payments to only those people and agencies that qualify.

In a news release, Agriculture Sec-retary Tom Vilsack said the program would ensure that “producers who de-pend upon the safety net of USDA pro-grams will have future access to these programs by enhancing the overall in-tegrity of the programs.”

No actual individual tax data will be included in the report the IRS sends to USDA, according to the agency.

———Gary may be contacted at [email protected]

or (208) 848-2262.

Federal offi cials contend data swap will help curtail farm program fraud

By MICHAEL J. CRUMBOF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DES MOINES, Iowa — Dreaming of biting into a garden-fresh cucumber sandwich this summer? Better order your seeds now.

A poor growing season last year and increased orders from Europe could make it difficult for home gardeners to get seeds for the most popular cu-cumber variety and some veg-etables this spring. Farmers, who usually grow different va-rieties than home gardeners, aren’t likely to be affected.

Seeds for what’s known as open-pollinated cucumbers seem to be most scarce, but carrots, snap peas and onions also could be in short supply.

“I suspect there will be some seeds you just won’t be able to buy if you wait too long on it,” said Bill Hart, the wholesale manager in charge of seed purchasing at Chas. C. Hart Seed Company in Wethersfield, Conn. “The sugar snap peas we’re not able to get at all, and other companies that have it will sell out pretty quickly.”

The problem is primarily due to soggy weather last year that resulted in a disappointing seed crop. Europe-an seed growers also had a bad year, leading to a big increase in orders for American seeds.

Demand for seeds in the U.S. soared last year, as the poor economy and wor-ries about chemical use and bacteria contamination prompted many people to establish gardens. Homegrown food seemed safer and more affordable. But some wonder if the wet weather that ruined gardens in many areas last summer will discourage first-time gardeners from planting again.

“A lot of people are getting into it, but it was a disastrous year for gar-dens last year because it was so cold and wet,” said wholesale seed distributor Mel Brekke, who owns Brekke’s Town and Country near Ames, Iowa.

Kathy Gocke of Bondurant, Iowa, said she orders seeds early for herself and her coun-ty’s master gardener’s pro-gram and advises others to do the same.

“If you do it before the first of Janu-ary, they have a pretty good stock,” Gocke said.

Burpee Seeds in Warminster, Pa., bills itself as the largest provider of home garden seeds, and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer George Ball said the company’s huge reserves mean it will have plenty of seeds. But Ball said he understands why others might have limited supplies after a big spike in

Associated PressJars of seed await spring planting at Brekke’s Town & Country Store in Ames, Iowa. Last year’s wet summer and increased demands could result in a short-age this spring, experts say.

Seeds: Get ’em while they last

Experts say last year’s wet summer, combined with an increased demand this spring, could create seed shortage

Mel Brekke

See SEEDS, page 12G>

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demand in the past two years.

“It was unlike anything I’ve seen in the past 30 years,” he said.

Barbara Melera, owner of D. Landreth Seeds of New Freedom, Pa., expects car-rot seeds to be especially hard to find because of big orders from Europe, which had a poor crop last year. Also, fewer farmers are opt-ing to grow seeds, she said. Many now have switched to growing corn for the biofu-els industry.

“In this country, farmers who grow things for seed are becoming an endangered species,” Melera said. “The farms producing things for seeds is reduced signifi-cantly, and in the past two to three years they can get more money for growing corn for ethanol plants than carrots for seeds.”

Jennifer Nothwehr, seed coordinator for the Shenan-doah, Iowa-based Earl May

seed and nursery business, said she hasn’t run into shortages, but her company typically orders its seeds from wholesalers a year in advance. They received and packaged the seeds they’ll sell this year last fall, and because they set prices last spring, any shortage won’t affect them.

Nothwehr also said that while popular varieties, like one known as the straight eight cucumber, may be hard to find, others are available.

“One of the most popular carrots we can’t get, but we have four other varieties we can get if a customer wants to try something different,” she said.

Hart said his family busi-ness has a small retail opera-tion, and he’s noticed people coming in earlier than usual this year, possibly because of worries over a shortage of seeds.

“I don’t know if they’re hoping for spring or just hop-ing to get going,” he said.

seedsContinued from Page 11g>

By KEVIN McCULLENof the tri-City herald

KENNEWICK — In a typical year Alan Sch-reiber starts planting vegetables when soil tem-peratures climb above 40 degrees, usually in mid-March.

This year, he could have started planting at his Franklin County farm more than 10 days ago.

“We had our first frost in over a month (Feb. 18), and it’s the middle of February,” said Schreiber, executive director of the Washington Asparagus Commission. “I may plant (this) week, and that’s the earliest we’ve ever planted.”

Buds are swelling on fruit trees, tulips are emerging from flower gardens, maple trees are blooming and grasses are greening across east-ern Washington because of an El Nino climate

Associated PressAsparagus growers in central Washington are wondering when to put in their crops with the mild spring weather.

early spring has mid-Columbia farmers frettingfarmers are keeping their eyes on their thermometers while trying to decide when to plant their crops

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pattern that has pushed storms south and kept tem-peratures mild.

In orchards and fields across the Mid-Columbia, those who make their living from the land are watch-ing thermometers and short- and long-range weath-er forecasts with some anxiety. With nighttime low temperatures staying at or above freezing and day-time highs reaching into the mid-50s, Mother Nature is responding to the call of an early spring. And that has increased the potential destruction a hard frost could wreak on orchards and fields.

“We’re worried about it. Three weeks plus with no frost is not what we want to see in mid-February,” said Denny Hayden, who grows cherries and apples north of Pasco.

Blueberries are “way ahead of where they should be,” said Gary Middleton, who grows blueberries, cherries and apples at Middleton Organic Orchards in Eltopia. “I’ve lived here since 1954, and I don’t remember these kinds of winters, or lack thereof. I don’t recall it being this warm in January or Febru-ary ever.”

January was drier and warmer than normal in the Tri-Cities and across much of the Mid-Columbia, and the pattern has continued this month. And the 30- and 90-day outlook is for continued above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation, said Mike Vescio, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office in Pendleton.

Temperatures for the next 15 days also should continue to be moderate, with no major cold front ex-pected to drop into the region.

“Right now, there does not appear to be any intru-sion of arctic air,” Vescio said. “Then we are into the first week of March, and the chances of (an arctic front) become less likely too.”

An early spring lengthens the frost season — which can extend until late April — and also could increase potential costs for farmers and orchardists in trying to protect their plants and trees.

“If this keeps up, the plants are going to go into a rather vulnerable plant growth stage, where frost damage is a real concern,” Schreiber said.

Across the region, orchard owners are preparing for frost by testing and repairing windmills, filling propane heaters and more.

“We started putting our frost control systems in

place late last week. We shifted employees from pruning to prepare for frost control,” said Jim Kel-ley, who has cherry and apple orchards in Benton and Franklin counties and estimates bud develop-ment is about a week ahead of where it was at the same time in 2009.

Orchardists rarely had to turn on windmills or heaters last year, unlike 2008 when frosty nights were an aggravatingly common occurrence, said B.J. Thurlby, president of the Washington State Fruit Commission.

Orchard owners spent tens of thousands of dollars fighting frost on numerous nights in 2008 — one large grower Schreiber knows spent over $100,000 on the coldest night alone — then were devastated by a hard frost in late April that damaged crops.

“My greatest fear is a repeat of 2008,” Middleton said. “We spent thousands more than we normally would in frost control and then lost the crop in April on a 20 degree night.”

The early spring also has home gardeners wonder-ing whether to plant flowers and vegetables or prune rose bushes. Tom Kay, owner of The Flower Farm nurseries in Pasco and Kennewick, hears those ques-tions often.

It’s too early now for tomatoes and peppers, but seeds for a variety of flowers and vegetables such as peas, carrots, radishes and beets can be planted now, Kay said. And pruning now won’t kill a rose bush, he said.

“There are a lot of things that can be planted now,” he said.

Ideally, orchardists would like to see low temperatures around 30 degrees and daytime highs in the mid-40s into the middle of March to keep bud growth in check. But farmers and orchard owners have hard-earned know-ledge about how fickle the weather can be.

“We’re a long ways from winter being over,” Mid-dleton said.


EarlyContinued from Page 12g>

Associated PressBlueberries are harvested at Jim Lott’s farm in Burbank, Wash., in this July 2008 file photo.

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WSU NEWS BUREAU

PULLMAN — A Washington State University plant pathologist has been recognized for his work in wheat breeding.

Longtime professor Tim Mur-ray has been elected a fellow of the American Phytopathological Society, an honor he called “humbling.”

“When I found out that I had re-ceived this award, it was really quite a surprise,” Murray said. “It was also gratifying, in the sense that I’ve been doing this work for 27 years now.

“I really look at this as a group award for all of the people, students, postdocs, technicians and visiting scientists who have came through the lab and contributed to my program. When I look at the list of past recipi-ents, those are the leaders of the field, and to join that group of distinguished scientists, it’s very humbling.”

Murray’s contributions as a plant pathologist have been essential to wheat-breeding programs incorpo-rating genetic resistance to those diseases for the Pacific Northwest as well as other regions of the world. He

has also made contributions to under-standing the etiology, epidemiology, and management of Cephalosporium stripe, eyespot and snow mold diseas-es of winter wheat.

He is part of a multi-disciplinary team that is developing peren-nial wheat as a new alternative crop to re-duce soil erosion. In the 1980s, his research contributed to a 90 per-cent reduction in the fungicide used to con-trol eyespot disease on nearly 1 million acres of wheat in the Pacific Northwest.

In recognition of his expertise on wheat diseases, Murray was invited to chair the committee developing the U.S. recovery plan for wheat stem rust race Ug99 and is a member of the USDA Ug99 Action Plan working group.

Murray has published more than 50 refereed journal articles and has an extensive publication record in the popular and technical presses. He is

the author of “A Color Handbook of Diseases of Small Grain Cereal Crops” and co-editor of “The Encyclopedia of Plant Pathology,” both widely used

reference books. He has served in an editorial capacity on nu-merous scientific journals.

“Tim’s a great scientist whose work has made a significant posi-tive impact to the economic well-being of wheat farmers,” said Hanu Pappu, chair of the Depart-ment of Plant Pathology at WSU. “His work has contributed great-ly to our basic understanding of plant diseases. He’s a wonder-ful mentor to students who have themselves gone on to make im-portant contributions to our un-

derstanding of plant pathology. We’re all delighted that Tim has received this well-deserved recognition.”

Murray received both his master’s and doctorate degrees in plant pathol-ogy from WSU and has been a faculty member since 1983.

Murray will receive the award at a special ceremony during an an-nual meeting of the APS in Nashville, Tenn., in August.

WSU plant pathologist wins awardNational society recognizes Tim Murray for work in fi ghting diseases in wheat breeding

Tim Murray

USDA NEWS RELEASE

The total value of 2009 crop produc-tion in Idaho is estimated at $2.60 billion, a decrease of 21 percent from the 2008 total ($3.28 billion), according to the Na-tional Agricultural Statistics Service.

The decrease in total value is due mostly to decreases in value of small grains and all hay production. Value of production for each crop is comput-ed by multiplying the marketing year average price by the production.

The value of potatoes, at $753 mil-lion, was down 10 percent from 2008.

The value of all hay, at $615 million, and all wheat, at $469 million, was down 44 and 25 percent, respectively, from their 2008 values.

The value of barley, at $233 million, was down 20 percent from 2008.

The all wheat value of production was $10.6 billion, down 36 percent from last year’s crop. The barley crop is valued at $918 million compared to $1.26 billion for the 2008 crop.

The 2009 potato crop was valued at $3.45 billion, down 8 percent from the 2008 crop.

Total value of 2009 crop production in the United States was estimated at $158 billion, a decrease of 6 percent from 2008’s $168 billion.

Idaho’s crop production drops 21 percent in ’09

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It’s been a rough spell for livestock merchants but they sound ready to battle back

By SHANNON DININNYof the AssocIAted Press

SEATTLE — It’s little wonder that farmers fret about the future of the livestock industry. In the past two years, feed costs skyrocketed, pork and dairy prices plummeted, and animal rights groups stepped up efforts to im-prove living conditions for farm animals.

Some farmers are hop-ing to strike back with proactive efforts to ward off unwanted legislation and boost the struggling industry.

“A line must be drawn between our polite and respectful engagement with consumers and how we must aggressively re-spond to extremists who want to drag agriculture back to the day of 40 acres and a mule,” said Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

“The time has come for us to face our opponents with a new attitude,” he told about 5,000 mem-bers gathered in Seattle for the group’s annual convention Sunday. “The days of their elitist power grabs are over.”

Several segments of the livestock industry found 2009 to be a rough year. Everyone suffered with higher feed and en-ergy costs. Pig farmers endured slow pork sales that were triggered in part by the H1N1 flu vi-rus, also known as swine flu, even though the U.S. Department of Agricul-ture has said swine flu cannot be transmitted by eating pork products.

Dairy farmers found it even tougher.

Francis and Beverly

Cherney of Milladore, Wis., who have been dairy farming for 47 years, saw small profits last year. “A couple of dollars,” Bev-erly said with a laugh.

Low prices won’t make them quit, but they know other dairy farmers who have sold their farms be-cause they were already struggling.

“From a dairy farmer perspective, we’re con-cluding the worst year financially we’ve ever had — 2009 was just a train wreck,” said Jay Gordon, executive di-rector of the Washington state Dairy Federation.

The U.S. produces 25 percent of the world’s milk but operates under a dated pricing system that was developed in

the heart of the Depres-sion, he said.

“This isn’t 1937 any-more,” Gordon said.

Stallman said dairy struggles are a hot topic among his members, but he doesn’t expect them to recommend any sweep-ing policy changes before the next farm bill in 2012.

Animal welfare and efforts by animal rights groups to regulate farm-ers are another matter, he said.

The Humane Society of the U.S. has shepherd-ed laws in at least six states to ban cramped cages for farm animals and persuaded some of the country’s largest fast-food restaurants

Nation’s ranchers try to boost sagging industry

Associated PressDairy cattle at a Sunnyside, Wash., farm eat dur-ing their morning feeding. Rising feed prices and plummeting milk prices have made the past year difficult for dairy farmers.

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try to provide sugar syrup for food if supplies are light, but they generally don’t work with bees in the cold.

That means the winter months can

be worrisome for some beekeepers, such as beekeeping hobbyist Tom Jones, of Carlisle.

“I don’t know what’s going to hap-pen this year, but I’ll be anxious to see ... when I go check them,” Jones, 66, said before his demonstration at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harris-burg earlier this month.

This winter has been particularly brutal, with storms producing record snowfalls and chilling winds in many parts of the country. Freezing temper-atures that swept in on an Arctic front from Canada plagued as far south as Florida.

Despite the apparent decline in col-ony collapse losses, the industry con-tinues to be hit hard — an estimated 29 percent of all U.S. colonies died last winter, about 11 percentage points higher than what beekeepers consider normal, acceptable losses, according to the survey.

Colony collapse was ranked as the eighth most important cause of bee mortality last winter, down from fourth the previous winter.

“Losses are shifting. There are few-er operations with CCD, though they still lost a lot of colonies,” said vanEn-


By GENARO C. ARMASOF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Fewer beekeepers are reporting evidence of a mysterious ailment that had been deci-mating the U.S. honeybee population.

But losses due to colony collapse disorder remain high enough to keep beekeepers on edge, and longtime stresses on bees such as starvation and poor weather add to the burden.

A survey of beekeepers for the Jan-uary issue of the Journal of Apicultur-al Research found that the percentage of operations reporting having lost colonies but without dead bees in the hives — a symptom of colony collapse disorder, or CCD — decreased to 26 percent last winter, compared to 38 percent the previous season and 36 percent the season before that.

Also, the percentage of colonies that died that displayed the CCD symptom was 36 percent last winter, down from 60 percent three winters ago, the sur-vey found.

The earliest reports of CCD date to 2004, and scientists still are trying to find a cause.

“The story is really complicated. We thought we’d have a simple expla-nation,” said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, Pennsylvania’s acting state apiarist. “CCD drew our attention, but there are lot of things” affecting the bees.

More than 90 crops, from almonds to tomatoes, rely in large part on bees for pollination.

Richard Adee, who owns one of the largest commercial beekeeping op-erations in the country, Adee Honey Farms, based in Bruce, S.D., has bees

in California now ready to pollinate the almond crop. At peak season, during the summer, he has about 80,000 hives for honey production in the Midwest.

He said that after losing 40 percent of his colonies over the winter of 2008, losses are down to a more expected 12 percent.

“We’re not seeing as big a hit,” Adee said, “but I still talk to beekeepers who are losing bees.”

Bees rely on stored honey to survive the winter. Beekeepers can wrap col-ony boxes to provide extra warmth or

and retailers to make at least a gradu-al switch to cage-free eggs. The group last year championed a ban on tail docking at California dairies.

Ohio farmers struck back by pro-moting a constitutional amendment to create a livestock care standards board. Some 50,000 signs and 100-plus billboards touted the proposal, which 64 percent of voters approved.

“I really view Ohio as a culmination of California, Colorado, Florida, all the states where the Humane Society has stepped up its efforts,” Stallman said. “Each state is unique, but we have learned something every step of the way, and it culminated in a win for us in Ohio.”

Jack Fisher of the Ohio Farm Bu-

reau implored farmers in other states to be proactive and take similar steps of their own. He noted that the Human Society has turned its efforts toward regulating so-called “puppy mills” and dog breeding operations and urged farmers to join forces with that industry in educating consumers.

“No doubt we have to have agri-cultural unity in our states to survive these challenges,” he said.

Scott and Tami Chew, who operate a large cattle ranch near Vernal, Utah, worry similar efforts in Utah are just a matter of time.

“I definitely feel like the people that are talking about animal rights are very passionate about what they’re do-ing,” Scott Chew said. “I’m concerned there’s a lot of money behind them. They’re well-educated people and know how to get their message across. I think there will be more of an effort to educate people that we do take care of our animals.”

———> ON THE WEB: www.fb.org

BOOSTContinued from PAGE 15G>

Associated PressHoneybees are seen as they move around a display during the Pennsylvania Farm Show and the Pennsylvania Farm Show and Expo Center in Harrisburg, Pa., in this photo taken Jan. 14.

Survey: Honeybee colony collapse losses declining

See COLONY, page 18G>

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gelsdorp, the lead author on the study. “But other factors are killing bees.”

Starvation, typically a top cause of mortality, was first, followed by poor quality queen bees and weather. The percentage of beekeepers cit-ing weather as a leading win-ter concern jumped from 9 percent to 18 percent.

The study noted many of the top causes of mortality can be countered with better man-agement, such as wrapping colonies over the winter or providing supplemental food.

VanEngelsdorp sees a posi-tive in the results — height-ened concern over CCD in recent years has led beekeep-ers to become more aware of other problems plaguing the buzzing winged insects.

Another offshoot has been more interest in beekeeping as a hobby. Some small beekeep-ers, like Jones, have enough hives to sell their own honey.

“We’re paying attention to research and approved man-

agement” techniques, said Lee Miller, president of the Penn-sylvania State Beekeepers As-sociation. “We think beekeep-ing is going to improve, but we don’t know how fast.”

———> On the net: http://maarec.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorder.html


Bee economicsU.S. honey bee numbers have fallen drastically in recent years. They play a large role in pollination of many large crops in the U.S.

Top crops dependent on bees

Value of crop production

Bees’ value incrop production

AP

BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, 20080 2.0 2.51.0 1.50.5

Cucumbers

Muskmelon*

Cranberries

Watermelon

Blueberries

Almonds

Apples

*Cantaloupe and honeydew

SOURCE: Bee Culture magazine;U.S. Department of Agriculture; DennisvanEnglesdrop, Penn State University

colonyContinued from Page 17g>

By MICHAEL J. CRUMBof the AssociAted Press

DES MOINES, Iowa — De-bate about the health attri-butes and risks of raw milk is spilling into statehouses and courtrooms across the coun-try as proponents of unpas-teurized dairy products push to make them easier for con-sumers to buy.

Supporters of the raw milk cause say pasteurization, the process of heating milk to destroy bacteria and extend shelf life, destroys important nutrients and enzymes.

“We have new science today that shows raw milk contains ... enzymes that kill pathogens and strengthens the immune system,” said Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit group pushing for increased access to raw milk.

Enzymes and other nutri-

ents are “greatly reduced in pasteurized milk,” she said.

Public health officials dis-agree, saying raw milk carries an increased risk for bacterial contamination that can lead to illness and even death.

More than 1,500 people be-came ill from drinking raw milk between 1993 and 2006, the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 185 were hospitalized and two died.

The CDC said not all food-borne illnesses are reported, meaning the actual number is likely higher.

Fallon Morell said there also have been illnesses and deaths related to pasteurized products and that linking ill-nesses to raw milk is not an accurate assessment of the nutritional benefits of drink-ing unpasteurized milk.

The sale of raw milk is pro-hibited in 23 states, although

seven of them let people get milk through so-called herd-share programs, in which customers can buy owner-ship in a cow in return for raw milk from the animal.

Retail sales of raw milk is al-lowed in nine states and 19 al-low the sale of raw milk from a farm directly to an individual.

Lawmakers in seven states — Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming — have introduced measures this year seeking to change laws governing raw milk. The Falls Church, Va.-based Farmer to Consumer Legal Defense Fund also has filed lawsuits in California, Iowa, Missouri, New York and Wis-consin challenging various aspects of states’ laws re-garding raw milk.

The Iowa lawsuit filed last month challenged the state’s

Raw milk debate spills into nation’s state capitals, courts

see raw milk, page 19G>

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ban on herdshare agreements.“The Iowa Department of Agricul-

ture contends this type of arrange-ment is illegal. Our position is that it is legal,” said Pete Kennedy, president of the Farmer to Consumer group.

He said the state’s law contradicts common sense.

“The farmer can drink milk from cows at the farm, so why can’t some-one with an ownership or interest in that cow drink milk from those ani-mals?” Kennedy said.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said in a statement that state officials “feel we have acted within our authority under Iowa code ... in this situation.”

The issues in other states include testing requirements and delivery methods for raw milk, and herdshare agreements.

The Iowa legislation, which died in a committee, would have allowed the sale of raw milk from a farmer direct-ly to customers. Supporters said they won’t give up.

“I think there are a number of peo-ple out there interested in having ac-cess to unprocessed milk, so I think it’s time for Iowa to allow that access

somehow,” said Tom German, a live-stock farmer near Holstein, Iowa, who has two dairy cows that produce milk for his family.

Nick Wallace, a livestock farmer near Keystone, Iowa, said the state’s ban on raw milk sales infringe on con-sumers’ rights.

“We feel it’s a consumer’s right to put what we want in our bodies and if we want to contract with a farmer who sells raw milk we should be able to buy it,” Wallace said.

He said with or without a change in law, people will find a way to get raw milk if they want it.

“There’s already people doing it, they’re just doing it under the cover of darkness,” Wallace said.

Those arguments don’t fly with pub-lic health officials.

“With raw milk the concern is it can be contaminated and it provides a good environment for bacteria to grow to high levels, which increases the chance it can make people sick,” said Dr. Ann Garvey, the state public health veterinarian with the Iowa De-partment of Public Health.

Garvey, along with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, support pasteurization and claim the process doesn’t significantly change the nutritional content of milk.

“It’s the measure taken to ensure what we’re consuming is safe and free from pathogens,” Garvey said.

But raw milk advocates said govern-ments should step out of the way and let people buy products they want.

Fallon Morell, of the Weston A. Price Foundation, notes Amish farm-ers in Pennsylvania are “making a fortune” selling raw milk to people in New Jersey and Washington, D.C., which don’t allow such sales.

Wallace, one of the Iowa farmers, concedes it’s a complex and polariz-ing issue.

“There’s a million reasons why you should and shouldn’t drink it but it boils down to personal rights,” he said.

Associated PressIn this photo taken June 2, 2008, John Clark pours raw milk into a glass at Applecheek Farm in Hyde Park, Vt.

raw milkContinued from Page 18g>

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