Northwest Farm and Ranch, Summer 2019

Northwest

Farm and Ranch Grant

Yakima

Benton

Pend Oreille Ferry

Boundary

Stevens

Bonner

Spokane

Lincoln

Kootenai

Benewah Adams

Whitman

Shoshone

Latah Clearwater

Franklin

Garfield Columbia

Asotin

Walla Walla

Klickitat

Umatilla

Wallowa

Morrow

Idaho

Union

Baker

SUMMER 2019

A joint publication of the

Letting nature chart the course Gardener Heather Bell tells you why plant diversity and conservationminded gardening practices are better for your landscape / 12

2 | Saturday, June 29, 2019 |

Northwest Farm and Ranch

MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

| ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION |

WSU photo/Jennifer Michal

Raising livestock inspection fees for cattle and horses, and licensing fees for feedlots and public livestock markets, should help Washington state’s brand inspection program, according to agriculture officials.

Brand inspection program bolstered by fee increase Washington Legislature approves first bump in a dozen years for livestock program

By William L. Spence of the Lewiston Tribune

Washington’s state brand inspection program should be financially solvent through fiscal 2023, after the first fee increase in a dozen years was approved during the 2019 legislative session.

Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, sponsored the legislation, which passed by a vote of 43-2 in the Senate and 84-12 in the House.

The program has been losing money for the past several years. To help address that situation, the bill raises livestock inspection fees for cattle and horses, as well as licensing fees for feedlots and public livestock markets.

Most fees will increase by 10 percent, although the fee to inspect unbranded cattle will more than double, from $1.60 per head to $4.

“The bill is the result of a lot of conversations,” Warnick said, during a House Rural Development and Agriculture Committee hearing. “In my opinion, it will help save the program.”

Almost every sector of the cattle industry came out in support of the bill, including the Cattle Producers of Washington, Washington Cattle Feeders Association and Washington Cattlemen’s Association. A half-dozen private ranchers and the Washington State Department of Agriculture also testified in favor of the legislation.

to brand, and they’re tired of having a state inspector drive out to their place before they can sell a cow to their neighbor.”

Gordon noted that about 60 percent of the dairies in Washington use electronic ear tags to identify their cattle. The remaining 40 percent don’t use Sheffels electronic tags or brands.

Warnich Gordon The beef industry, by con“I think this is the first time I’ve trast, relies heavily on registered brands seen so many segments of the industry and/or electronic tags to keep track of come together to support something,” their animals and to discourage theft. said Evan Sheffels, senior policy advis“Brands are critical to producers,” er with the Department of Agriculture. said Travis Miller, a third-genera“We need (the brand inspection pro- tion rancher from Klickitat County. gram) to be solvent, and we need trace- “Without that, there’s no true legal ability for animal disease control. This ownership of livestock.” bill does both of those things.”

In addition to raising fees, Warnick’s The only group to oppose the bill doubled the membership of the legislation was the Washington State Livestock Identification Advisory Dairy Federation, which objected to the Committee, which provides policy and sharp increase in inspection fees for fee recommendations to the director unbranded cattle. of the Washington Department of “This bill is fundamentally about pre- Agriculture. serving the brand inspection system by The legislation also enacts new raising fees,” said Jay Gordon, policy training requirements for livestock director for the federation. “But our inspectors, provides for expanded use members are tired of being in the sysSee BOLSTERED, Page 3 tem. They don’t use brands, don’t want

Northwest Farm and Ranch

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, June 29, 2019 | 3

Bolstered from Page 2

of the Electronic Cattle Transaction Reporting System and directs the Department of Agriculture to report to the Legislature annually on the fiscal status of the brand inspection program.

“This is a true modernization bill that brings the program out of the red into the black, and into the 21st century,” said Mark Streuli, who testified on behalf of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association.

Most of the fee increases, as well as the department reporting requirement, sunset in 2023. Sheffels said that’s because the U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to move entirely to electronic recording of livestock sales and shipments by that time.

“If that happens, all our (financial) projections fall apart,” he said.

Consequently, the sunset clause gives the department and the Legislature an opportunity to review how the new fee structure is working, and what other changes might be needed.

The Circle-V brand can be seen on a cow at Craig Vejraska’s cattle ranch in Omak, Wash., in this photograph taken June 17, 2011.

The animal also sports an electronic ear tag.

AP file photo/ Shannon Dininny

Spence may be contacted at bspence@lmtribune. com or (208) 791-9168.

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| WEATHER |

Palouse and prairie could be spared a predicted drought

2019 summer forecast U.S. to see moderate flooding, warmer-than-normal temperatures

Temperature outlook for June-Aug. Probability (percent chance) Equal Warmer than normal Cooler than normal chances 80%

40%

40%

80%

Spokane meterologist says Inland Northwest should see above-normal precipitation from July to September

By Joel Mills of the Lewiston Tribune

Severe drought conditions are forecast to hit the Pacific Northwest this summer, but the effects probably won’t hit the fertile farmland that runs from the Palouse down to the Camas Prairie.

National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Bodnar in Spokane said the abnormally dry weather that has prevailed over the last few summers in north central Idaho and southeastern Washington should yield to normal or above-normal precipitation from July to September. And things could get even wetter.

“That’s quite a difference from the outlooks over the last three or four years over the summer months,” Bodnar said. “Climate models suggest the typical ridge of high pressure that sets up over the area during the summer may be shifted more to the west.

If that’s the case, we would still receive the warmth from it, but we would potentially get a northwest storm track coming over the top of it and going into the northern Rockies.”

The axis of the high-pressure ridge generally runs from north to south. If it defies the climate models and shifts farther to the east, Bodnar said the drought conditions that will run from Puget Sound along the Canadian border could start stretching southeast toward the Palouse.

Moisture outlooks weren’t looking very good early in the winter. But a flurry of precipitation later in the season brought snowpacks back to normal or above normal, and many western reservoirs are now full.

Bodnar said that since the “water year” began in October, the regions around Lewiston got between 1 and 4

Drought map for June 20

None Abnormally dry Moderate drought

Severe drought Extreme drought Exceptional drought SOURCE: U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR

inches of precipitation above normal levels, or 110 percent to 130 percent of normal. But that changed over the last couple of months.

“Since April 22, that area has received only 50 to 70 percent of normal,” he said. “So the trends have been on the other swing.”

The spotty, light precipitation that came through over the last week of June wasn’t enough to reverse that trend, he added. And drought conditions are setting up to hit the western part of Washington pretty hard.

According to a June 18 summary from the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of NebraskaLincoln, May tied for the ninth-warmest in Washington dating back to 1895.

Statewide precipitation tied for the 13th-driest on record between March and May, and Seattle set a record daily high of 95 degrees on June 12. Portland hit 98 degrees that same day, and the multiyear drought in Southern California will persist, according to the center.

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.

Precipitation outlook for June-Aug. Warmer than normal 50% 40% 30%

Equal chances

Wetter than normal 30% 40% 50%

Source: NOAA Graphic: Staff, TNS

Northwest Farm and Ranch

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, June 29, 2019 | 5

| FARM STATISTICS |

Survey: Fewer in number, greater in size Latest five-year national census reveals many trends in agriculture

Top crops, in acres Idaho Forage (hay) Wheat Barley Vegetables Potatoes

By Kathy Hedberg of the Lewiston Tribune

Although the number of farmers in the U.S. is shrinking, the size of the farms remaining is growing larger, a new survey of farms and ranches reveals.

The latest Census of Agriculture was released recently by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistic Service.

The census is conducted every five years, and surveys spanned 6.4 million new points of information about the country’s farms and ranches, who operates them and who is making farming decisions.

The census tells the story of American agriculture and its history. It was first conducted in 1840 in conjunction with the decennial census. After 1920, the census happened every four to five years. By 1982 it was regularly conducted once every five years.

Today the agriculture statistics service sends questionnaires to nearly 3 million potential U.S. farms and ranches. Nearly 25 percent of those who responded did so online.

The statistics agency is the official source of comprehensive agricultural data for every state and county in the nation and is used by farmers, agriculture businesses and others for future planning.

According to the latest survey: In Idaho, the number of farms operating in 2017 was 24,996, up 1 percent from 2012.

Forty-one percent of those farms have market sales of less

1,509,295 1,182,797 524,307 354,278 335,042

Washington Wheat Forage (hay) Vegetables Apples Chickpeas

Tribune/Barry Kough

The size of farms is growing even as the numbers of farmers has declined slightly, according to the latest Census of Agriculture. than $2,500 a year, while 18 percent net $100,000 or more annually. Average farm size in 2017 was 468 acres, compared to 471 acres in 1997. The number of farms with 1,000 acres or more was 2,433, or 10 percent of the total. Idaho County, with 537,428 acres in farm ground

was the fourth largest in the state in 2017.

In Washington, the number of farms in 2017 was 35,793, down 4 percent from 2012. Forty-seven percent of those farms had sales valuing $2,500, while 16 percent had farm sales values of $100,000

2,219,069 791,783 325,634 179,899 170,401

The national census also breaks down farm operations and ownership by gender and race. These are newer demographic features on the questionnaire that don’t allow for historical comparisons.

Nationally the number of male producers fell 1.7 percent from 2012 to 2017 but the number of female producers increased by nearly 27 percent to 1.23 million.

In Idaho there were 27,125 male farmers compared to 17,230 female producers.

There were 3,882 farmers younger than 35; 26,521 ages 25 to 64 and 13,952 farmers older than 65.

Washington’s female producers numbered 26,868 in 2017 compared to 36,430 male producers. There were 4,141 farmers younger than 35; 37,125 ages 35 to 64; and 22,032 older than 65.

The average age of all producers in the country is 57.5, up 1.2 years from 2012.

Anyone wishing more information about the survey may visit http://bit.ly/2xeZmWu.

or more. Average farm size increased in 2017 to 410 acres from 393 acres in 1997. There were 2,588 farms of 1,000 acres or more in 2017, or 7 percent of the total, and Whitman County, with 1.2 million farm Hedberg may be contacted acres was the second largest in at kathyhedberg@gmail. the state. com or (208) 983-2326.

6 | Saturday, June 29, 2019 |

Northwest Farm and Ranch

MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

Late winter weather puts a damper on spring wheat 10 percent of wheat and barley acres on the Palouse went unplanted this year

By Anthony Kuipers of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News

Lingering harsh winter weather caused delays in planting this year’s spring wheat crop for some growers on the Palouse, a delay that will likely lead to lower yields.

Early estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show at least 10 percent of wheat and barley Tribune photo acres on the Palouse likely did not get

Wheat is a common crop in north central Idaho and southeastern Washington. Harsh weather caused delays this year in planting spring wheat.

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Compounding the problem, Pumprhrey said, is how quickly the soil dried out for farmers, which can lead to from Page 6 less than ideal crops as well.

Northern Idaho was less planted this year, said Michael affected, said Sam White, Pumphrey, associate profeschief operating officer of Pacific Northwest Farmers sor in the Washington State Cooperative.

University Department of Crop Even after the heavy and Soil Sciences.

February snow, growers were A similar problem happened able to get much of their seedtwo years ago when about 13 ing done when the temperapercent of Palouse acres did not tures warmed in late March get planted. and early April.

Pumphrey said because Pumphrey Winter wheat production in spring wheat is not the major crop in the area, the loss does not pose the Northwest is also down compared the same type of financial effect it to last year.

According to the National would for winter wheat. But for local farmers, it could still have a significant Agricultural Statistics Service, Idaho winter wheat production as of June is impact.

On the Palouse, planting generally forecast at 57.3 million bushels, down 6 begins in early April. This year, many percent from last year.

Washington winter wheat is forecast growers did not begin until May. Some did not start until just before the May at 114 million bushels, down 9 percent from 2018.

15 insurance deadline.

Oregon production is down 13 per“It’s not ideal,” he said. cent from last year.

He said historical records show yields are poor for growers who wait Kuipers can be reached at (208) 883-4640, or by email to akuipers@dnews.com. this long to plant.

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MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

| TECHNOLOGY |

Mastering wheat from a bird’s-eye view Satellite images expected to help WSU researchers produce better quality wheat while using less time, money

By Garrett Cabeza of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News

Technological advancements in drones and satellite imagery could allow Washington State University researchers and potentially other growers to produce better wheat varieties using less time and money.

A $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has allowed WSU researchers to develop techniques to utilize flying drones and satellite images to study wheat varieties, said Arron Carter, associate professor and winter wheat breeder at WSU. Carter said they have operated drones and looked at satellite images in previous years, but like most technologies, they continue to improve.

For example, a satellite may not have been able to provide clear images of a wheat field on a cloudy day. Now, Carter said, researchers can use images to look at a field every day no matter the weather.

“This is really the first time that we can fully utilize that access to satellite technology,” he said.

Carter said one of the main objectives of the project is to find out if satellite images can be as useful as drones.

If so, Carter and others will save a great deal of time.

“Instead of driving for two hours to fly (a drone) for 20 minutes, I can just log into the satellite database and pull the image from the day and the time that I’m interested in,” Carter said.

The eyes in the sky have helped researchers look at plant health, drought stress and heat tolerance among other things.

“There’s a lot of different stresses we can find using this technology,” Carter said. Looking at the images will allow researchers to identify wheat varieties resilient to different stresses, leading to faster production of the varieties.

The images will also allow scientists to eliminate poor varieties earlier in the

ABOVE: A drone hovers over a field of wheat as WSU scientist Arron Carter, left, looks on.

Robert Hubner photo

RIGHT: These Washington State University scientists and students are part of the satellite/drone study: back row, left to right, Arron Carter, Zhiwu Zhang, Mike Pumphrey; front row, Sindhuja Sankaran, Yang Hu, James Chen. process, saving time.

Carter said researchers at some point in the process transition their focus from a plant’s physical characteristics to predicting its yield potential.

If predictions can be made sooner in the process using sensors, the varieties expected to produce high yields can be kept and others anticipated to produce low yields can be ignored.

Now, sensors can detect the plant’s temperature, how much water is in a leaf and other characteristics undetectable to the naked eye, Carter said.

Using overhead images, researchers look at sunlight reflecting off a leaf to determine how much water the plant can retain, he said. A leaf that is drought-stressed will reflect light differently than a leaf with abundant water inside.

Carter said researchers want to reach the point in which farmers can access images so they can make yield predictions and adjust their farming practices.

“We would like to expand this out and actually get it into the hands of growers so growers can make better decisions and be more productive as well,” he said.

Carter said drones and satellites are leading to “the next generation of phenotyping,” or measuring the way plant genes are expressed physically to select the best plants to breed for improved yield, grain quality and resistance to stress and disease.

Previously, the human eye was the only tool used to identify plants’ physical Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by characteristics, such as height and color. email to gcabeza@dnews.com.

Northwest Farm and Ranch

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, June 29, 2019 | 9

| BOTANICAL BREAKTHROUGH |

WSU discovery could help breed crops that are resistant to both diseases and pests

Arabidopsis thaliana (mouseear cress), a model organism in plant biology, was used in experiments showing how ATP sends distress messages to surrounding cells.

WSU photo

‘Blueprint’ of plant immune system could help farmers develop heartier crops

By Tom Holm of the Lewiston Tribune

Farmers typically have fumbled through breeding disease-resistant plants in a guesswork fashion.

But Washington State University researchers have discovered a sort of “blueprint for how a plant’s immune system works,” said Kiwamu Tanaka, assistant professor in WSU’s Department of Plant Pathology. This could change how agricultural crops are bred and could reduce the vulnerability to pests and prevent plant disease, according to a WSU news release.

Tanaka and a cadre of researchers helped flesh out a previous discovery of adenosine 5-triphosphate (ATP), part of the DNA and energy producer in plant cells, and how it connects to other ATP cells and broadcasts signals to protect the plant from disease.

Tanaka, Jeremy B. Jewell, Joel M. Sowders, Ruifeng He, Mark A. Willis and David R. Gang jointly published a paper in the journal Plant Physiology about their research in March 2019.

ATP was already well studied inside of cells, but the group discovered that once outside of a cell it triggers a damage indicator to surrounding cells so the plant can begin immune responses.

ATP is present in all forms

WSU photo

The ATP plant research team included, left to right, David Gang, Joel M. Sowders (a Washington State University graduate student), Jeremy B. Jewell and Kiwamu Tanaka. of life as it is one of the building blocks and provides energy for cell processes. The team looked at previous research into how these pathways trigger immune response and their own research found that ATP pathways trigger a diverse number of defenses to multiple types of disease.

The group looked at mouse-

ear cress to test how ATP sends distress signals to other cells.

The flowering plant native to Africa was the first plant to have its genome sequenced, making it ideal for modeling in research. They took the cress as well as genetically modified plants changed to exhibit the pathways the team looked at.

The researchers triggered an

responses partly through these major defense pathways and partly independently of them, but all these strands work together. When we found new players in this immune pathway, it was a great feeling.”

The real-world application of this research could lead to more precise plant breeding and help farmers develop food crops and other agriculture staples that are resistant to some plant diseases.

Since the team of researchers identified the exact pathways, triggering an ATP response also devotes less energy to immune response across the whole plant. In essence, it’s a targeted strike at the problem area instead of putting up a shield around the whole plant and pouring more energy into a full response. Gang, WSU professor in the Institute of Biological Chemistry, said in the release this research provides farmers with a “schematic” of how to effectively breed plants.

“Future plant breeding can now increase plant defense or resistance based on knowing these pathways,” Gang said.

“The potential for this is pretty incredible for helping plants and crops.”

ATP response, then followed the signal to its receptor — then reproduced the process in a different plant, the release said.

Jewell, the lead author of the paper, said in a news release it was tedious science, but paid off.

“It was like following a single noodle in a huge bowl full Holm may be contacted at (208) 848of them,” Jewell said. “Extra- 2275 or tholm@lmtribune.com. Follow cellular ATP turns on defense him on Twitter @TomHolm4.

10 | Saturday, June 29, 2019 |

Northwest Farm and Ranch

MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

| FOODBORNE ILLNESS |

E. coli, salmonella not just a threat in meats New research shows the deadly bacteria can also appear in raw wheat and flour least four E. coli outbreaks in Canada and the U.S. caused by raw wheat products, according to the report. One ongoing case Most people are aware of the has infected 17 people on the risks of salmonella, E.coli and East Coast. other foodborne illness in raw meats, but research is showing Chris Skidmore, envia diverse array of these bacteronmental health director ria could also show up in raw for Whitman County Public Skidmore wheat and flour products.

Health, said people typically FoodSafetyNews.com do not associate these types recently reported a study completed of bacteria with dry food products like this month by the Journal of Food flour, but they do carry a risk of foodProtection that found dozens of kinds borne illnesses. of bacteria in raw wheat, including Skidmore said cases of pathogens strains of E. coli and salmonella.

Since 2015, there have been at See THREAT, Page 11

By Anthony Kuipers

of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News

Northwest Farm and Ranch

Threat from Page 10

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, June 29, 2019 | 11 He said the industry is aware of the risks and works to limit rodents, birds and other sources of contamination from getting into the grain supply.

Like with meat, consumers can avoid getting sick by properly cooking their food.

The U.S. Food Safety website warns against eating or playing with flour or raw dough, and says not to use flour in items that are not intended to be cooked.

Several types of these uncooked items, like cookie dough, are popular and have helped raise awareness of this problem, said David Smith, acting program manager for food safety with the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

While many of these products are prepared in a way that eliminates foodborne illnesses, he said the government has been trying to communicate why it is safer to generally avoid consuming raw flour and dough.

“Flour was never intended to be a ready-to-eat product,” he AP Photo/Larry Crowe, File said.

In this undated file photo, cookie dough clings to the beaters of a standing mixer. The Food and

being found in wheat products have been cropping up more and more in recent years. He said it is a sign the bacteria could be more resistant to mitigation efforts, and this has been causing regulators a lot of grief when they are trying to track down the source of the bacteria.

“It’s become kind of a big problem,” he said.

Skidmore said he has not seen any problems with foodborne illnesses from wheat on the Palouse. According to figures provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Whitman County ranked 22 nationwide for crop sales for grains, oilseeds, dry beans and peas.

Michael Pumphrey, associate professor in the Washington State University Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, said while he cannot speak to the food industry, he knows the grain Drug Administration warns that people shouldn’t eat raw dough because of the potential of a strain industry goes to great lengths to Kuipers can be reached at (208) 883limit exposure to contaminants. 4640, or by email to akuipers@dnews.com. of E. coli bacteria found in some batches of flour.

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MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

| LANDSCAPING |

Design by nature

ABOVE: Program Manager Heather Huston Bell talks about the varieties of mint she harvested Wednesday from the kid-friendly garden at the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute in Moscow.

LEFT: Bell holds several varieties of mint in a kid-friendly garden on Wednesday at PCEI. Geoff Crimmins/Daily News

Conservationist discusses why plant diversity and conservation-minded gardening practices are better for both humans and wild animals

By Scott Jackson of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News

When considering how to enhance a home garden, one need only look to local wild spaces for inspiration.

Heather Bell, a local conservationist and gardening enthusiast, said when cultivating natural spaces, it’s important to consider context — which plants are best suited to the local ecosystem and the impacts that plant life may

have on that environment.

Bell said it’s also an opportunity to directly engage with and learn about local flora and fauna.

“Basically, all of life is a system, and so it’s a reflection opportunity to look at how can I create or enhance a garden system,” Bell said.

“Because nature is complete, nature is a system and we are a part of nature, so how can we augment, add or support, See DESIGN, Page 13

Northwest Farm and Ranch

Design from Page 12

whatever it is — whether it’s a park, or backyard or a nature preserve.”

Bell, program manager at the Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute, said raising native species will ensure gardens contain plants local fauna are familiar with or potentially rely on.

She said a key component to healthy gardening practices — or practices within any system — is diversity. Plant diversity both directly and indirectly affects humans and wildlife, she said.

An easy example of this is food.

Bell said a startling variety of plants thrive on the Palouse, and many varieties of plants are food sources, and not just for animals.

“We’re creating these natural environments by having plants that do well in this region and having diversity, which is supporting a community of not only plants, insects, animals, but also bacteria (and) fungi,” Bell said. “There’s a whole soil ‘food web,’ beneath the soil. The soil is alive, and you’re creating this

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, June 29, 2019 | 13 really healthy environment below ground as you’re also creating a healthy environment above ground.”

Bell said planting native species and attempting to mirror or complement the local ecosystem is a great place to start, but there are myriad ways to improve gardening practices to better suit the environment.

She said another important practice is to cultivate green spaces that require less water to survive and thus put less pressure on the water supply. Such spaces are commonly called “wisescapes” or “xeriscapes.” She said the important thing is to engage with natural surroundings and be considerate of the environment.

“There’s not one answer in how to do gardening. Gardening is a perfect metaphor for life — you want to work with your environment, you want to support what is healthy, you want to enjoy it while you’re doing it, you want to learn,” she said. “It’s the perfect metaphor and platform to be comfortable exploring the natural world around us and then getting the appreciation of being a part of that stewardship effort.”

Jackson can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to sjackson@dnews.com.

| PRODUCTION |

South Carolina looks to weed its way into hemp farming boom Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina is projecting a 1,200 percent increase in hemp farming acreage, as the state looks to join in on the booming market with others in the region.

South Carolina has 113 permitted growers this year planting about 3,300 acres, up from 20 growers and 256 acres last year, the Post and Courier reported.

Jason Eargle is the founder of growing and processing center Brackish Solutions. He said the market for hemp is growing exponentially and could expand into the textile and biofuel industries.

The 2018 Farm Bill removed federal limitations on hemp cultivation and the plant’s federal status as a Schedule 1 drug.

Eargle was among those pushing expansion of the state’s program in response.

“We’ll get left behind if we don’t

open this up to more people,” he said.

“If federal law allows it, why should we cap it? We wanted to not hold back our state from competing.”

Most of the hemp demand stems from the popularity of CBD oil.

With five years in the hemp-farming business, Kentucky has 1,035 approved growers and the region’s largest acreage, at 6,700.

“I think we’re in a really good position right now to be a solid hemp state,” said Vanessa Elsalah, hemp outreach specialist for the state agriculture department.

The agriculture department’s hemp division fields multiple calls daily from potential new growers hoping to plant in 2020.

“Since that law has been passed, (state agriculture department officials) are really jumping in head first,” Eargle said. “If they keep doing that, I think we will very quickly catch up with and surpass our neighbors.”

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14 | Saturday, June 29, 2019 |

Northwest Farm and Ranch

MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

| SEEDS |

Trying to speed up the process To beat the first frost, Midwestern farmers switch to faster-growing seed

By Adam Belz of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune

Tim Velde had about half his corn planted before the weather near Hanley Falls, Minn., went sour in May. Then he had to switch seed to make sure his corn beat the first frost in the fall.

“I had to get something that matures a little earlier,” Velde said. “Mostly 100- to 102-day corn is what I usually go for, and I switched to 88- to 90-day seed.”

Farmers all over the Midwest had to make last-second decisions on what type of seed to plant thanks to the cool, wet spring and delayed planting.

On roads and rails, seed has been on the move over the last few weeks to farms, elevators and cooperatives all over the country. In Ohio and Indiana, where vast swaths of the corn acreage are yet to be planted, the movement is still on.

“The whole state has been experiencing this, and really the whole Midwest,” said Brian Buck, a field agronomist for Pioneer Hi-Bred, whose territory covers much of southeast Minnesota. “A lot happens fast in a tough spring like this.”

Corn requires a certain number of warm days to reach maturity before the fall, and yields suffer if the plants don’t have enough time. But seed companies offer corn hybrids with varying maturity times to accommodate the different lengths of growing seasons.

“Farmers were switching what they call their full-season corn for earlier varieties that generally come from further north,” said Mac Ehrhardt, one

Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune/TNS

Brent Fuchs, a farmer and seed dealer in Dundas, Minn., fills soybean seed into a trailer owned by another farmer, Connie Cihak, on June 10. Cihak changed her seed order four times to account for the late planting season. of the owners of Albert Lea Seed, in Albert Lea, Minn., which deals mostly in organic and non-GMO but sells some conventional seed. “The corn that was going to be planted in St. Cloud or Fargo, even, would have gone to Worthington.”

Seed companies are well equipped to move seed around, and there is generally not a penalty for farmers who want to switch seed.

“It just takes a lot of com-

munication between the grower and the sales representative,” Buck said.

Buck said unused corn seed can be taken to a storage facility and planted next spring.

Soybean seed cannot be saved.

About a quarter of the fields near Brewster, Minn., had to be planted with earlier maturing seed to accommodate the late planting there, said Denny Weber, agronomy division man-

ager for New Vision Co-Op. “Everybody had a few fields they had to switch,” Weber said.

Seed distributors handled most of the logistics, trucking 85-day corn down from farther north.

The typical 105-day corn used in southwest Minnesota is still mostly at the farms, Weber said.

Farmers were too busy trying to get their crops in the ground to hassle with return-

ing the seed quickly, and it’s too late for that seed to be used elsewhere this growing season.

“We’re getting a lot of that seed back now,” Weber said.

Weber said about 25 percent of the fields near Brewster were planted with earlier-maturing hybrids, 25 percent will be left unplanted because it’s just too late to plant corn and the other half was planted with typical See SPEED, Page 15

Northwest Farm and Ranch

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, June 29, 2019 | 15

| BIOENGINEERING |

Rogue genetically modified wheat found in NW USDA is investigating discovery of plants found growing in Washington; agency says no altered wheat has been detected in the food supply

By Scott Jackson of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News

Genetically engineered wheat plants modified to be resistant to the Monsanto herbicide Roundup have been discovered in an undisclosed agricultural field in Washington.

According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier this month, multiple plants were discovered in an unplanted field in the state, but there is no evidence genetically modified wheat has

Speed from Page 14

seed for that part of the Corn Belt.

Bayer, the German agriscience giant that acquired Monsanto, said in a statement that some farmers in the Midwest are planting soybeans instead of corn.

“In some cases, growers are choosing to switch crops entirely, for example, changing out corn seed for soybean seed,” the company said.

Soybeans can be planted later than corn and still reach maturity

entered the food supply.

While it is far from the first time the plant, known as Roundup Ready Wheat, has been found growing wild in the Pacific Northwest, the discovery is still surprising.

WSU Associate Professor Arron Carter, who leads the university’s winter wheat Carter breeding and genetics program, said not only has it been more than a decade since the last field trial was approved by the USDA, but the crop was never approved for commercial production.

Monsanto, now owned by Bayer, withdrew its application to deregulate the crop in mid-2003 amid concerns that it would be rejected by international importers.

“There is no commercially available genetically modified wheat — in this case, Roundup-resistant wheat — so there’s a little question just about

before the fall.

Velde said his local dealer, at Farmers Cooperative Elevator in Hanley Falls, got ahead of the situation when it became clear many farmers weren’t going to be able to get their original seed in the ground in time. Velde just had to call him up, truck his big plastic tubs of seed back to the elevator and pick up new ones.

Just as with most aspects of farming, the decision of whether to plant earlier-maturing varieties of corn depends on multiple variables.

Farmers with their own drier can afford to stick with a later-

maturing variety since they don’t have to pay the elevator to dry wet corn for them in the fall.

Farmers with their own livestock can do the same since they can feed wet corn to the animals.

But thanks to the scattered rain that hit Minnesota throughout the cool spring, cornfields across the state will not look uniform as the summer progresses.

“There’s going to be a lot of variation in corn this year,” said Buck, the Pioneer agronomist. “I’ve been in corn today that’s 14 inches tall and seen corn that’s 2 or 3 inches tall.”

where exactly did it come from,” Carter said. “There’s no commercially available genetically modified wheat in the globe as far as I know. I mean, it’s not just a U.S. thing — I don’t think there’s any in existence.”

Wheat seeds are resilient and can remain viable for as long as five years in the dirt; however Roundup Ready Wheat has repeatedly been found growing in the wild despite the fact that the last field trial for the crop in the U.S. was approved in 2005. In 2013 and ’14, the plant was found growing in Oregon and Montana, and as recently as 2016, a farmer discovered 22 individuals in an unplanted field.

European and Asian markets have shown a wary stance toward regions where Roundup Ready Wheat has surfaced. Last year, Japan’s farm ministry suspended all imports

of Canadian wheat for more than a month when the plant was discovered growing in Alberta.

In 2016, the USDA tightened regulatory practices surrounding field trials of genetically modified wheat.

In its release, the agency said it is working with state, industry and trade partners to investigate the incident and possible origins of the plants.

Bayer crop and soil science spokeswoman Charla Lord told Reuters these latest plants may have been found on a site that was once used in field trials of Roundup Ready Wheat.

“We have been informed by USDA of a possible detection of GM wheat in Washington state, possibly on the site of a former field trial,” Lord said. “We are cooperating with USDA to gather more information, and facts as the agency reviews the situation.”

Jackson can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to sjackson@dnews.com.

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16 | Saturday, June 29, 2019 |

Northwest Farm and Ranch

MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

Utah farmers agonize about selling land to developers Associated Press

WEST HAVEN, Utah — As Utah’s population booms, some farmers in Weber County are making the tough but sometimes lucrative decision to sell their land as small family plots give way to homes.

The loss of open farmland has led to nostalgia for people connected to the county’s agricultural heritage and disappointment for people who moved to the county because of its open, rural feel.

The chance for struggling farmers to sell land for good prices to developers has given some farmers the opportunity to comfortably retire.

Farmer Phil Green recently sold 56 acres of land his family used for a dairy farm and to grow hay and corn. Today, 100 new houses fill land that used to be a wide open, the Standard-Examiner reports.

As he looks out at the new homes from his house on a

Let

Phil Green stands at the rear of his home in West Haven, Utah, on June 13. The land seen behind him was once his farm before he sold it to make way for a new housing subdivision.

Tim Vandenack Standard-Examiner

plot of the land he kept, the 66-year-old has mixed emotions about land that hold intimate memories that go back several generations.

“It rocked me a little bit. It was hard to let it go,” Green said. “I take a walk down there and cry every once in a while.

But I’m glad I had the opportunity to sell mine.”

Weber County

Commissioner Scott Jenkins shares the nostalgia for the days of open farmlands, but said selling the land is sometimes a no-brainer for farmers who can sell land for $60,000$80,000 per acre because of the high demand for new housing.

“Life’s tough on them. They struggle even making a profit,” Jenkins said. “It’s dollars and cents. It’s the economic cycle

we live in.”

Henry Prevedel, 71, and his two sisters agonized over selling 60 acres that their late father started farming in 1941. The housing development planned on the land also generated backlash from some neighbors who worried about disruption and traffic.

He takes solace in knowing that the development is sup-

posed to provide options for people from all different economic classes.

But, he and his wife, Terry Prevedel, said they may need to leave town when developers start clearing the land and when they tear down the home where his mother lived.

Henry Prevedel said he and his sister had been talking about selling the land for 15 years and held out as long as they could in deference to their parents.

“We hope they’re up there saying it’s time,” he said about his late parents.

Green said the fact that his four adult kids weren’t interested in taking over the farm made his decision to sell his land easier.

“It’s tough to work seven days a week, 365 days a year and basically break even,” Green said. “It’s to the point where farming is so difficult and kids can make more money doing something else.”

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