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State from Around Around the the State State State FFA FFA Conventions Conventions Draws Draws Students Students from

Bulls Stay Stay Steady Steady Bulls

Sunlight & Storm Photo Contest - Page 10 FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH

Lukas LukasJohnson, Johnson,Brett BrettJohnson, Johnson,Dallas DallasCapdeville, Capdeville,Kyle KyleAlbus, Albus,Wyatt WyattPattison Pattisonand andAdvisor Advisor Patti Patti Armbrister Armbrister at at the state convenstion in Billings. the state convenstion in Billings. WYATT WYATTPATTISON PATTISON HINSDALE HINSDALECHAPTER CHAPTERREPORTER REPORTER

The TheState State(Future (FutureFarmers FarmersofofAmerican) American)FFA FFAConvention Conventionwas washeld held in in Billings Billings on on March March 25 25 -- 28. 28. Over 1,500 FFA members from around the state gathered to compete in State CDEs, ranging Over 1,500 FFA members from around the state gathered to compete in State CDEs, ranging from from mechanics mechanicstotopublic publicspeaking. speaking. Ten members Ten membersofofthe theHinsdale Hinsdalechapter, chapter,including includingSophomore SophomoreCache CacheYounkin, Younkin,competed competed in in mechanmechanics, ics,agronomy, agronomy,farm farmbusiness businessmanagement, management,star stargreenhand greenhandand andstate statecreed creedspeaking. speaking.When When they they werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH FOR THE HI-LINE FARM & RANCH

Creed third place place winner winner and and greenhand greenhandsecond secondplace placewinner winnerMickayla MickaylaJohnson Johnsonaccepting acceptingan anaward awardatatthe the Creed third state convention in Billings. state convention in Billings. competing they went went to to various various workshops workshopspresented presentedby bypast paststate stateofďŹ cers ofďŹ cersand andeven evennational nationalofďŹ cers. ofďŹ cers. competing they Three of our younger members, Elise Strommen, Chaykota Christensen and Halle Beil Three of our younger members, Elise Strommen, Chaykota Christensen and Halle Beil served on the courtesy corp and helped out with contests whenever needed. Our five seserved on the courtesy corp and helped out with contests whenever needed. Our five seniors, Lukas Johnson, Brett Johnson, Dallas Capdeville, Kyle Albus and Wyatt Pattiniors, Lukas Johnson, Brett Johnson, Dallas Capdeville, Kyle Albus and Wyatt Pattison were awarded awarded their their State State Farmer Farmer Degrees Degrees at at the the State State Degree Degree dinner dinner on on Friday Fridaynight. night. son were There were over 500 members, advisors and their families attending that dinner. Mickayla Johnson There were over 500 members, advisors and their families attending that dinner. Mickayla Johnson competed for star star greenhand greenhand and and received receivedsecond secondplace. place.She Shealso alsocompeted competedwith withother othercreed creedspeakers speakers competed for from around the the state state and and received received third. third. from around AMY NELSON / FOR FARM & RANCH

PUTTING IN SOME DAM DAM WORK WORK

Former Courier photo intern Amy Nelson took this shot of the northern lights near Harlowton, Mont., in November, 2016. Nelson will be participating as a judge in the Courier's Sunlight & Storm photo contest. To enter, write courier@nemont.net (Attn: James). Deadline for entries is Aug. 6, 2017. See full story on Page 10.

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CENSUS

income, and expenses increased between 2007 and 2012. This telling information and CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 thousands of other agriculture statistics are a direct result of responses to the Census of at the end of this year, is a complete count Agriculture. of all U.S. farms, ranches, and those who â&#x20AC;&#x153;Today, when data are so important, operate them. there is strength in numbers,â&#x20AC;? said Hamer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Census of Agriculture remains the â&#x20AC;&#x153;For farmers and ranchers, participation only source of uniform, comprehensive and in the 2017 Census of Agriculture is their impartial agriculture data for every county voice, their future, and their opportunity to in the nation,â&#x20AC;? said NASS Administrator shape American agriculture â&#x20AC;&#x201C; its policies, Hubert Hamer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;As such, census results services and assistance programs â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for years are relied upon heavily by those who serve to come.â&#x20AC;? farmers and rural communities, including Producers who are new to farming or did federal, state and local governments, agri- not receive a Census of Agriculture in 2012 businesses, trade associations, extension still have time to sign up to receive the 2017 educators, researchers, and farmers and Census of Agriculture report form by visitranchers themselves.â&#x20AC;? ing www.agcensus.usda.gov and clicking The Census of Agriculture highlights land on the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Make Sure You Are Countedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; button use and ownership, operator characteristics, through June. NASS deďŹ nes a farm as any production practices, income and expendi- place from which $1,000 or more of agritures, and other topics. The 2012 Census cultural products were produced and sold, of Agriculture revealed that over three or normally would have been sold, during million farmers operated more than two the census year of 2017. million farms, spanning over 914 million For more information about the 2017 ANDREWMCKEAN MCKEAN/ /FOR FORTHE THEHI-LINE HI-LINEFARM FARM&&RANCH RANCH ANDREW acres. a four percent decrease in Census Agriculture andthe to Little see how census Lih-AnThis Ellis McKean McKean workon onclearing clearing outof beaver damalong along the Little Brazil Creek, Yang,was Merlin, Iris and Ellis work out aabeaver dam Brazil Creek, the numberofofGlasgow. U.S. farms from the previous data are used, visit www.agcensus.usda.gov southwest census in 2007. However, agriculture sales, or call (800) 727-9540.

YOUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;REREADING READINGHI-LINE HI-LINEFARM FARM & RANCH â&#x20AC;&#x201C; THE AG MONTHLY FOR NORTHEAST & NORTH YOUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE NORTH CENTRAL CENTRALMONTANA MONTANA

Photo by Sean R. Heavey

Bullsales salesremain remainstrong strongand andthe themarket market Bull remainsatataasteady steadyhigh high//Page Page2 2 remains

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MONA DOEBLER / FOR FARM & RANCH

Hinsdale photographer Mona Doebler went snipe hunting west of Saco on April 21.

The Month in Weather

BRANDON BIGELBACH FOR FARM & RANCH All things considered, April was actually fairly pleasant weather-wise in northeast Montana. As of press date, no snowfall has been recorded this month in Glasgow, and if that remains that way through the end of April, it will only be the third time since 1949 that not even a trace of snowfall was reported in Glasgow. Other than rain, which seems to generally have fallen once every few days this month, the most impactful weather came from seemingly constant strong winds, as approximately half of the days of the month saw sustained winds over 25 mph and gusts over 30. Of those periods of high winds, four days saw gusts into the 40s mph. As of press date, per the National Weather Service in Glasgow, the highest observed temperature for the month was 76 degrees on April 13, and the lowest was just four days later, with

a temperature of 18 degrees on April 17. The total liquid precipitation reported at Glasgow was 0.46â&#x20AC;?, which is about 0.2â&#x20AC;? below normal. Over a 24-hour period, the greatest precipitation total was 0.17â&#x20AC;?, which occurred twice, once on April 2, and again on April 19. The overall mean temperature for the month was approximately 45 degrees, which was about 1 degree above normal. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor was released on April 18 and reported only three areas of abnormally dry conditions, two in areas up against the North and South Dakota borders, and one in the Southwest portion of the state. This is a bit of an improvement from last month, as this month there are no reported areas experiencing a drought of moderate or greater severity. Locally, still only Wibaux County is reporting abnormally dry conditions.

SEAN R. HEAVEY / FOR FARM & RANCH

The raw power of a thunderstorm contrasts sharply with the harnessed power flowing through high voltage power lines near the Fort Peck Dam Spillway (2016).

the St. Mary Diversion. The SMRWG will be coordinating a tour of the facility in August of 2017. The idea is to recruit policy advisors in the BOR as well as having members of Montanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Congressional Delegation attend and see the state of the 110year-old facility. Additionally, a one-day tour is proposed of the Canadian system, which is over 500,000 irrigated acres in Alberta. With the move of Mikkelsen to D.C. the SMRWG needed an interim coordinator. Cochair Marko Manoukian and Milk River Joint Board of Control Manager (MRJBOC) Jennifer Patrick volunteered to be co-coordinators. Manoukian has been on the SMRWG since its inception in 2002 and Patrick joined in 2007, having great familiarity with the BOR. The SMRWG welcomed their volunteering. Gerald Lunak from the Blackfeet Tribe told SMRWG that the tribe will vote on their water compact on April 20, and the tribe worked to inform the members of the tribe regarding the details of the water compact passed by Congress. The water compact passed, which will aid in the SMRWG to initiate its feasibility study. Patrick reported for the MRJBC that the Nelson Dikes construction is over budget by a minimum of $1.4 million and possibly as much as $2.4 million when construction is completed later in fall of 2017. Irrigators are responsible for 15 percent of the overcharge. The good news is that Nelson Reservoir is 75 percent full and irrigators can expect 2.3 acre feet of irrigation for 2017. The next St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group will be Wednesday, May 17, 2017, at 10 a.m. in Havre at Bear Paw Development.

St. Mary Working Group Meets SMRWG FOR FARM & RANCH The St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group (SMRWG) met on April 19 to continue the discussion about repairing the 110-yearold irrigation and municipal water system. The good news for the SMRWG is that former coordinator Alan Mikkelsen has now been appointed as Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) Deputy Commissioner and is stationed in Washington DC. Lt. Governor Mike Cooney lead a discussion of refocusing the SMRWG on its three goals within the Strategic Plan, which are: Adjust cost allocation formula - Currently irrigators are responsible for 74 percent of all maintenance, repairs and rehabilitation.

The ability of irrigators to repay the costs associated with rehabilitation of the St. Mary Diversion has been exceeded. It is proposed that an allocation of 15 to 25 percent of reimbursable funds for irrigators is more realistic and in line with their ability to pay. Determine realistic costs of rehabilitation - Will require coordination, cooperation with Blackfeet, State of Montana, Bureau of Reclamation and Milk River Joint Board of Control. A $3.7 million feasibility study for the St. Mary Diversion rehabilitation is contained in the Blackfeet Compact legislation. Seek funding source - Pursue federal, state, and local funding for rehabilitation of See WORKING GROUP Page 11

Hail fills Highway 24 near Flowing Wells, Montana.

SEAN R. HEAVEY / FOR FARM & RANCH

Ligtning strikes near the base of Tiger Butte east of Glasgow on July 19, 2016.

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Courier Sponsors 'Sunlight & Storm' Photo Contest A.J. ETHERINGTON FOR FARM & RANCH In a challenge to aspiring photographers, Sean R. Heavey and the Glasgow Courier have joined forces and are soliciting entries for a summer sky-themed photography contest to begin immediately. The contest, titled Sunlight & Storm, will conclude on Aug. 6. The challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to submit a large format JPEG with specs of minimum 1280 by 960 at 300 dpi. The photo must consist of the Northeast Montana sky with the details of when, where, and with what equipment the photo was taken. All entries must be emailed to courier@nemont. net. It is also advisable to include your name and contact info in case we need to notify you that you won. That is, of course, unless you're not particularly self-conďŹ dent. Outside those parameters the sky is the limit quite literally. Photos can be as varied as sunrises, sunsets, the Milky Way, the Aurora Borealis, cloud formations, rain showers and the all so terriďŹ c and terrifying prairie thunderstorm (see last paragraph for disclaimer). Once submitted, the judges will consist of none other than local artists and Courier contributors Sean R. Heavey and Amy Nelson, along with some of the members of the Courier staff (It is our money after all). The one and only Grand Prize Winner will earn an Award CertiďŹ cate (to pad the resume), a

$100 cash prize and the cover shot of a special publication. The ďŹ rst runner-up will receive a $50 cash prize, and a pat on the back for effort. It is also likely we will use that photograph somewhere in a publication as well. So again deadline for entries is midnight on Aug. 6, 2017. Heavey is an award winning photographer with honors from National Geographic, a twotime Montana Newspaper Association Award Winning Photographer for work published in the Courier, and a Montana Treasured Artist. Heaveyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s photos have been printed and published online by some of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most revered press companies and global organizations including Apple, National Geographic, The Boston Globe, U.S.A. Today, The New York Post, Discovery, and NASA. His work has also been used by such dignitaries as Vice President Al Gore. Dubbed the â&#x20AC;&#x153;weather paparazziâ&#x20AC;? Heavey has captured the intense beauty of the sky in countless photographs. One last note. If you choose to capture thunderstorms, tornados, ďŹ&#x201A;ash ďŹ&#x201A;oods, cloud bursts, and heck even solar radiation (thats sunshine for those of you scratching your heads) then you should choose to learn about weather safety. You can do so by contacting the National Weather Service in Glasgow at 406-228-4042 or by going to their website at www.weather.gov.

Sunset over Hinsdale as seen from Glasgow, Montana.

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Looking Like a Farmer

ELIZABETH SHIPSTEAD FOR FARM & RANCH The other day I was told I looked like a farmer. Which is ironic because that day had highs and lows that deďŹ nitely resembled farming as a whole. It started like any other day: errands, running to and from preschool, library, extension ofďŹ ce, and grocery store. Busy, but doable without being late anywhere (one of my pet peeves). Then the extra things got added on. Good things such as necessities and things offered by generous neighbors. I was on my second trip to town that day, in jeans covered in dirt and manure, with two screeching girls in the back seat of my pickup, tired from a busy day, and picking up chemical. It was given and received as a compliment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Elizabeth! You look like a farmer!â&#x20AC;? My responseâ&#x20AC;Śâ&#x20AC;?Well, I guess I just do what I gotta do!â&#x20AC;? So eloquent, I know. Although it was â&#x20AC;&#x153;closing time,â&#x20AC;? my day was still in full swing. As I headed to pick up chicken dinner

from Reynolds, then rush to the ďŹ eld to unload chemical and then eat in the pickup with my family, that compliment stayed with me. Ending the busiest part of that day, with all the cows getting out and denting up the tailgate of our pickup, deďŹ nitely made me question the compliment. But as I thought back over my day, I realized that the ups and downs, the anticipation and worry, the need to lean into the challenge and struggle is so similar to farming and agriculture. We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t control the weather or the commodity prices. We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t control whether a year will be â&#x20AC;&#x153;goodâ&#x20AC;? or â&#x20AC;&#x153;bad.â&#x20AC;? We just get to make the choice to take the good with the not so good; determine to make as wise decisions as possible; take it all one day at a time and just keep moving forward. Enjoy the ride, the extra responsibilities, the stress and the rush and choose to try again tomorrow! â&#x20AC;&#x153;...do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.â&#x20AC;? Matthew 6:34.

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Clouds bring a dark sky and a beautiful scene over the South Bench of the Milk River Valley near Glasgow, Montana.

Ag Census Countdown Begins

A summer thunderstorm lights up the twilight sky over the Fort Peck Dam Spillway on a July 2016 evening in Northeast Montana.

SEAN R. HEAVEY / FOR FARM & RANCH

SUE KING FOR FARM & RANCH Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s farmers and ranchers will soon have the opportunity to strongly represent agriculture in their communities and industry by taking part in the 2017 Census

of Agriculture. Conducted every ďŹ ve years by the U.S. Department of Agricultureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the census, to be mailed See CENSUS Page 12

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Plenty of moisture so far for farming

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Workers: Fear of arrest is taking its toll on workers n Continued from page 5

Tim Leeds tleeds@havredailynews.com

AP Photo/Andrew Selsky Residents of the predominantly Latino town of Woodburn, Ore., meet March 1 to talk about increased detentions by federal immigration agents. The meeting was held in the offices of PCUN, a union which represents farmworkers and others and which is housed in a former church. Farmers, nursery and winery owners and others who depend on immigrant labor are predicting a catastrophe as federal immigration agents focus on stepping up arrests of people who are in the U.S. illegally.

15 years after north-central Montana was the area, for the first time ever, to receive the designation of the worst level of drought, precipitation has been falling regularly this year. The level of rain and snow has started to drop off a bit, but more is expected in the next few months. Early last decade, a severe drought was locked into the area, dropping crops in some areas to a less than 10-bushel-an-acre yield, putting reservoirs to near-dry levels, cutting irrigation and forcing water restrictions on municipalities. Then came high levels of water in some years, leading to federal disaster declarations in three of four years early this decade.

■ See Weather Page 6 Havre Daily News/Floyd Brand While colder, snowier weather has brought more moisture for crops, it also led to a longer year for feeding cattle than ranchers have expericened in most of the recent winters in north-central Montana.

Field hands have been among those targeted, with apple pickers detained in upstate New York and Guatemalans pulled over in Oregon on their way to a forest to pick a plant used in floral arrangements. It doesn’t appear the arrests themselves have put a sizable dent in the agricultural workforce yet, but the fear is taking its toll. Some workers in Oregon are leaving for job sites as early as 1 a.m. and staying away from check-cashing shops on payday to avoid dragnets. Farm employers are worried about losing their workforces. “They say, ‘Don’t go out, don’t get drunk, don’t do nothing illegal’ because they need us too. They worry too,” said Moses Maldonado, who is in the U.S. illegally and has worked for nearly four decades tending wine grapes and picking fruit in Oregon. In Los Banos, California, asparagus farmer Joe Del Bosque said workers are so afraid of being arrested in the field that he struggled to find enough hands in March to pick his crop. When immigration attorney Sarah Loftin held a recent seminar in the Oregon wineregion town of Newberg to talk about immigrants’ legal rights, she was surprised to see about half of those present were winery owners or farmers. By law, job seekers must provide documents establishing their eligibility to work in the U.S. But the papers are often fake. Many agricultural employers say that it’s not their responsibility — and that they lack the

expertise — to determine if they’re genuine. At the same time, they say that U.S.-born workers have little interest at laboring in the dirt and the cold at the crack of dawn. As 18 Guatemalans in hoodies and rubber boots toiled in such conditions recently in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, their boss expressed admiration for their willingness to do the back-breaking work he said nativeborn Americans won’t do. “Homeless people are camped in the fir forest over there,” the farmer said, pointing to a stand of trees. “And they’re not looking for work.” He lamented that crackdowns may force him to retire because he won’t be able to find workers. Fearing reprisals from federal agents, he spoke on condition of anonymity and didn’t want even his crop identified. Some immigration hardliners say people who are in the U.S. illegally steal jobs from Americans. But a 2013 study by an economist at the Center for Global Development looked at farms in North Carolina and found that immigrant manual laborers had “almost zero” effect on the job prospects of nativeborn U.S. workers. “It appears that almost all U.S. workers prefer almost any labor-market outcome — including long periods of unemployment — to carrying out manual harvest and planting labor,” Michael Clemens wrote. While lobbying for visa and immigration reforms, agricultural employers are also looking into contingency plans such as mech-

anization or a switch to less labor-intensive crops. In Vermont, officials are considering a vocational program to train inmates in dairy farming. Dudley, the vineyard owner, isn’t optimistic about some of the alternatives. “I don’t trust that temps off the street, or jailhouse labor, or whatever alternative they come up with would work,” she said. —— AP reporters Scott Smith in Fresno, California; Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vermont; Gillian Flaccus in Salem, Oregon; and Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this story. —— Follow Andrew Selsky on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky.

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Potato farming in Washington involves high-stakes investment SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Most folks think of Idaho when they think of potatoes, but farmers in Washington state’s Columbia Basin are making their own mark on the nation’s potato industry. Though the state only has 250 potato growers, the crop is worth $7.4 billion to the state’s economy each year, Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission. But it’s a competitive market with low profit margins, and as a result nearly all of the state’s potato farms are large, high-tech operations rather than small mom-and-pop farms. “If you have a decent year, a good year you might make 4 percent return on your investment,” Voigt said. “If you have something bad happen, you’re going to lose money.” The small margins, combined with the high-tech machinery necessary to grow pota-

toes on a large scale, make consolidation and expansion a necessity. “The margins have gotten so slim,” Voigt said. “To make a living for your family anymore, you have to grow bigger.” That’s been true for Rex Calloway and his farm near Quincy. When his grandfather first arrived on the land 70 years ago, the Columbia Basin was dry and homesteaders and dry-land farmers in the region eked out a living by growing crops with just an average of 6 to 8 inches of rain a year. But things were changing, and Calloway’s grandfather knew it: The Grand Coulee Dam was rising about 100 miles to the northeast, and along with it a massive federal irrigation project that would transform the basin into one of the nation’s richest farming areas. Now Calloway dedicates most of his 2,700acre farm to potatoes, sometimes alternating the crop with corn and wheat. With that kind of specialization and com-

petition comes new demands, with farmers increasingly expected to be business managers, chemists, mechanics and salesmen. “Farming is difficult. This is not easy,” said Calloway, a third-generation farmer. “By God, if your heart is not in this, it will take you down so fast.” The cold-start approach his grandfather took — buying land and launching a farm — is largely impossible today, he said. Younger generations are also becoming increasingly disinterested in farming, and Calloway doesn’t know if his 15- and 12-year-old sons will be interested in taking on the family business when he retires. If they don’t, Calloway will likely auction the farm. “I’ve seen more auctions this year than I’ve ever seen,” said Paul Wollman, the farm manager at the Warden Hutterian Brethren farm, east of Calloway’s farm. “This, here, is getting to the point where it’s a big concern.”

The number of new farmers — those operating for 10 years or less — dropped by 20 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to the U.S. Agricultural Census. Potatoes remain the leading vegetable crop in the United States, representing about 15 percent of all farm vegetables sold, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Washington accounts for 23 percent of the national industry. About 70 percent of the 10 billion pounds of potatoes grown annually in Washington are exported. That’s part of why the average consumer isn’t aware of Washington state’s role in the potato market, said Ryan Holterhoff, director of marketing for the Washington State Potato Commission. “We have this very important and vibrant potato industry going on here in Washington,” he said. “And if you get outside of the Columbia Basin, a lot of people don’t even know that exists.”

Technology: Raska: Most ag producers would not expect this collaboration n Continued from page 8 “Kochia can roll for miles and miles and miles and drop seed for miles and miles and miles,” Hansen said. Lola Raska, executive vice president of the Montana Grain Growers Association, said members of that group were intrigued by the new technology and its potential applications in agriculture. She invited Shaw

to speak about it at the MGGA’s 2016 annual conference and trade show in Great Falls. “I wanted to give growers an example of the collaboration that exists between seemingly disparate MSU disciplines,” she said. “Most would not expect that the Optical Technology Center is working on finding practical solutions to agricultural prob-

lems.” Raska added that herbicide-resistant weeds, especially glyphosate-resistant kochia, are an expanding problem in some areas of Montana. “Early, in-field detection using optics technology offers the potential to help our growers determine the most cost-effective

and environmentally sound management solutions to the problem,” she said. “Early detection is key to managing herbicide-resistant weeds, and growers will be watching closely as research continues.” Companies interested in licensing or selling hyperspectral imaging services can contact Shaw at 406-994-7261.

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Farmers fear losing immigrant workers under Trump crackdown By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM, Ore. — The head of Bethel Heights Vineyard looked out over the 100 acres of vines her crew of 20 Mexicans had just finished pruning, worried about what will happen if the Trump administration presses ahead with its crackdown on immigrants. From tending the plants to harvesting the grapes, it takes skill and a strong work ethic to produce the winery’s pinot noir and chardonnay, and native-born Americans just aren’t willing to work that hard, Patricia Dudley said as a cold rain drenched the vineyard in the hills of Oregon. “Who’s going to come out here and do this work when they deport them all?” she asked. President Donald Trump’s hard line against immigrants in the U.S. illegally has sent a chill through the nation’s agricultural industry, which fears a crackdown will deprive it of the labor it needs to plant, grow and pick the crops that feed the country. Fruit and vegetable growers, dairy and cattle farmers and owners of plant nurseries and vineyards have begun lobbying politicians at home and in Washington to get them to deal with immigration in a way that minimizes the harm to their livelihoods. Some of the farm leaders are Republicans who voted for Trump and are torn, wanting border security but also mercy toward laborers who are not dangerous criminals.

Farming uses a higher percentage of illegal labor than any other U.S. industry, according to a Pew Research Center study. Immigrants working illegally in this country accounted for about 46 percent of America’s roughly 800,000 crop farmworkers in recent years, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the U.S. Departments of Labor and Agriculture. Stepped-up deportations could carry “significant economic implications,” a 2012 U.S. Department of Agriculture study said. If America’s unauthorized labor force shrank 40 percent, for example, vegetable production could drop by more than 4 percent, the study said. The American Farm Bureau Federation says strict immigration enforcement would raise food prices 5 to 6 percent because of a drop in supply and because of the higher labor costs farmers could face. In addition to proposing a wall at the Mexican border, Trump wants to hire 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and has served notice that he intends to be more aggressive than the Obama administration in deporting immigrants. ICE agents have arrested hundreds of immigrants since Trump took office, though how much of a change from the Obama administration that represents is a matter of debate.

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AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus Moses Maldonado poses for a photo March 30 in front of a statue depicting pioneers in front of the Oregon Capitol in Salem, Ore. Maldonado, who attended a rally honoring farmworker organizer Cesar Chavez at the Oregon statehouse, is a 50-year-old undocumented farmworker who says he is afraid he will be picked up by federal immigration authorities when he leaves his house to go to the fields.

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Weather: Calendar year moisture is near normal, water year measurement is double This year, the water has been falling and in a more regular pattern, so far, than the flood-producing deluges a few years ago. As of April 26, the print deadline for this story, the Havre reporting station at the Havre City-County Airport had recorded .63 inches of precipitation for the month, just shy of the norm for the day, .68 inches. The precipitation received until a few days earlier had been just more than the norm for that day of the month. The precipitation for the year continues to be a quarter-inch above the norm at the Havre station, with 2.16 recorded for the year with a norm of 1.83 inches. But the big surplus is for the water year, recorded from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 the following year. At the Havre station, by April 26 6.15 inches of precipitation had fallen with the norm 3.14 — more than three inches more precipitation than normal, nearly double. Part of the surplus came from a morenormal winter than the region has seen in most of the last 15 years. This year, although nowhere near record levels, the temperatures stayed colder and more snow fell than in most winters the region has been seeing. The snow still was not near record levels — April 26, Havre had seen 31.9 inches since the previous July with the norm 37 inches — but it has built up snowpack in the mountains and provided additional precipitation through north-central Montana. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service reported for the start of April — this month’s report is available online at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/ nrcs/main/mt/snow/waterproducts/basin — that despite warm weather in late March that melted valley snow and soft-

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map shows slightly dry areas from Madison, Silver Bow and Deer Lodge counties running north and east into Fergus County and again from Dawson and Prairie counties south to Carter County. Liberty, Hill and Chouteau counties are shown as average, with Blaine County shown as slightly moist with moderately moist conditions east of Blaine County. T h e N a t i o n a l O c e a n o g ra p h i c a n d Atmospheric Administration long-range forecast predicts some more precipitation coming in the summer with temperatures starting to warm up. Normal temperatures are expected in May and June with abovenormal temperatures starting in July or August and running through the start of next year. Precipitation is expected to be slightly above normal for most of Montana through July or August, with about-normal precipitation expected through next January. —— Online: Montana Drought Management site: http://dnrc.mt.gov/divisions/water/ drought-management. U.S. Drought Monitor: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.

Havre Daily News/Floyd Brandt A staff member feeds a herd of cattle at the Northern Agricultural Research Center south of Havre in March.

Hi-Liner spurs MSU to develop resistant weed technology Havre Daily News/Floyd Brandt Wade Bitz seeds land south of Gildford. Most of the region is above the norm for the amount of precipitation received for the calendar year and even more for the water year. ened low-level snow, which continued in April, high-level snowpack was still in good shape at the start of last month. “Fortunately, this melt was primarily

confined to elevations below 6,000 feet west of the Divide and 7,000 feet east of the Divide,” Lucas Zukiewicz, NRCS water supply specialist for Montana, said in a press release. “The mid- to high-elevation locations experienced little, if any, melt during this time and remain in good shape for April 1.” West of the Divide, most river basins experienced a gain in snowpack percentages from March 1, the release said, while basins east of the Divide have dropped from last month. The drops are a direct result of the the early snowmelt, coupled with the lack of snowfall during the latter half of the month. Zukiewicz said that even though March didn’t bring much snowfall to some parts of the state, early season snowfall during winter and excellent totals in most basins on March 1 resulted in most basins across the state having near to above normal snowpack for April 1. Only a few basins

Havre Daily News/Floyd Brandt Seed runs through a cleaner in April at Wild Horse seeds north of Havre

across the state are below normal for April 1. The Marias-Milk River Basin was at 92 percent of normal and 131 percent of last year’s level as of April 1. The entire Missouri River basin, which includes the Marias and Milk, showed 92 percent to 116 percent of normal in different river basins, ranging from 92 percent of normal to 94 percent of last year. Reservoirs in the Milk River Project that supplies irrigators in the Milk River Valley also were in decent shape. Sherburne Reservoir on the edge of Glacier National Park and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, which provides water the St. Mary Diversion that moves water into the Milk River, was 76.6 percent full as of April 26. Fresno Reservoir west of Havre was 92.3 percent full, while Nelson Reservoir near Malta was 77.6 percent full. The precipitation has, so far, kept drought concerns low in Montana while reducing drought levels throughout the country. The Montana April 2017 drought status

By Evelyn Boswell for the MSU News Service BOZEMAN — A weed that drops “thousands and thousands” of seeds as it tumbles across northern Montana is a wily foe that steals water and nutrients from winter wheat, said fourth-generation farmer Todd Hansen of Gildford. Not only does the weed, kochia, ignore his property lines, but Hansen said it persists in his area of the Hi-Line because some of the plants have become resistant to the chemical that was most successful at killing it. “When we find something that works, we really use it a lot,” Hansen said. “Kochia is a wonderful enemy because it keeps tweaking itself so we don’t get ahead of it.” Now, in response to calls for help from the Hi-Line, Montana State University has developed a new weapon in the battle against kochia. Available now for licensing, the technology will let users see which kochia weeds are resistant to glyphosate — the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup -- and which are not. The ability to differentiate between the two types will allow farmers to target their spraying, said Prashant Jha, associate professor and weed scientist at MSU’s Southern Agricultural Research Center in Huntley. He and Joe Shaw are lead developers of the technology. Shaw is director of MSU’s Optical Technology Center and a professor of electrical engineering in MSU’s College of Engineering. Targeted spraying will keep excessive

chemicals out of the environment and potentially save Montana farmers $1 billion a year, Jha said. It costs $15 to $20 an acre to spray herbicides, and farmers spray at least three times a season, Jha said. Ten Montana counties, most of them along the Hi-Line and totaling several thousand acres, have glyphosate-resistant kochia. Jha added that farmers could reduce their herbicide costs 55 to 70 percent by spraying particular areas instead of entire fields. “That’s a huge savings,” Jha said. Shaw said no one can tell which kochia plants are resistant to glyphosate by walking through a wheat field. But the Optical Technology Center has more than 20 years of experience developing instruments that have capabilities far beyond those of the human eye. So he and Jha, in an unusual collaboration between a weed scientist and an electrical engineer, developed new technology after meeting with Hansen and other farmers along the Hi-Line. The technology consists of a hyperspectral imager and computer processing. The hyperspectral imager — a commercial instrument developed by Resonon Inc., of Bozeman — records thousands of images across 240 bands of light and produces so many details that it detects subtle differences between kochia plants in a crop field. The computer processes the information the imager collects, looking for significance and patterns. Among other things, it can create maps

that show farmers where to spray. “It’s exciting,” Shaw said. “We are really enjoying being able to work on problems of local significance. We don’t always get that opportunity.” T h e 2 01 5 M o n t a n a Re s e a r c h a n d Economic Development Initiative funded $145,750 to the weed-crop imaging project, aimed at lowering the cost of production for Montana farmers. Selected projects were required to address a Montana problem, create Montana jobs in existing economic sectors or help spur new companies in Montana. “This kind of money is making a big difference,” Shaw said. “It allows us to put our attention squarely on a Montana project. With national money, it’s hard to convince the funding agency that sometimes local problems are the ones to solve. They want to see bigger things.” Shaw and Jha began working together in the fall of 2015. During the first year, they tested their imager in a greenhouse under artificial lights at the Southern Agricultural Research Center. The next year, they moved their experiments outdoors. There in a field, they mounted what looked like an ordinary camera on a tripod. Then they placed potted plants of kochia in between wheat, barley and sugar beet rows in the field. Jha had grown herbicide-resistant and susceptible strains of kochia under controlled conditions at the research center. Then they took hyperspectral images of the kochia strains and processed them with the computer. Only then could they see which plants were resis-

tant to glyphosate and which weren’t. Shaw said he would someday like to see the imager flying from drones or airplanes over crop fields. The expectation is that the drones with the imager will be affordable for growers to use in their production fields. At this point, the process of identifying herbicide-resistant kochia in-crop is available for licensing under a provisional patent application filed in November 2016. Companies have until November 2017 to contact Shaw to say they are interested in licensing and selling the service. “This won’t lead to hardware, but software or services that could be sold,” Shaw said. Daniel Juliano, associate director for technology licensing at MSU TechLink, said a provisional patent must be converted to a non-provisional patent application within one year. If it is not converted, it has no legal force. If it is converted and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants a patent, the patent is considered effective on the filing date of the provisional patent application. Hansen said he predicts that commercialization could take five to 10 years, but he is excited about the imager’s potential. He said he has experimented with chemicals and relied heavily on a glyphosate-based herbicide. He said he tries to mow the edges of his field in the fall, but the weed continues to spread.

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