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Better berries WSU team part of project to explore juicy fruits’ genes and traits/ Page 2

Idaho

2 | Saturday, March 28, 2020 |

Making berries better Washington State University researchers are part of a federal project to explore and exploit the juicy fruits’ genes and traits

Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

By Seth Truscott WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences

M

aking new and tastier blueberries and cranberries is the goal of Washington State University scientists, who are part of a $12.8 million research effort to reveal genes and valuable traits of the popular fruits.

Part of the Vaccinium family of plants, which also includes lingonberries and huckleberries, blueberries and cranberries are considered superfoods, high in antioxidants, nutrients, and vitamins, and are important crops both nationally and internationally.

WSU

High in antioxidants and vitamins, blueberries and cranberries are good for people. The VacCap project seeks to identify the fruits’ traits to help growers make even better varieties.

Washington state is one of the nation’s top producers of blueberries, growing more than a million pounds per year and ranks fifth for cranberries, growing more than 14 million pounds annually.

Blueberry and cranberry producers, however, haven’t yet benefited from advanced breeding technologies used in other crops, which limits their ability to grow new and better varieties.

That will change thanks to the $12.8 million research effort, the Vaccinium Coordinated Agricultural Project, or VacCAP, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative and led by Massimo Iorizzo, assistant

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professor at North Carolina State University.

WSU scientists involved in the project include Lisa DeVetter, assistant professor in the Department of Horticulture, R. Karina Gallardo, associate professor in the School of Economic Sciences, and Dorrie Main, professor in the Department of Horticulture. The WSU researchers are teaming up with scientists from six other U.S. academic institutions, three USDA research centers, and three international research partners.

Lisa DeVetter, horticulturalist at WSU, co-leads a new nationally funded effort exploring genes, traits and tools to help breeders raise new and better blueberry

and cranberry varieties.

VacCAP’s multistate, transdisciplinary team of scientists seeks to improve blueberry and cranberry varieties based on growers’ and consumers’ needs. Advancing genetic discoveries that benefit both public and private breeding programs, researchers are targeting primary traits with an emphasis on better fruit.

DeVetter will lead extension activities for blueberry breeders and industry partners, sharing information generated by the project and promoting the use of advanced DNA-based tools that help breed cultivars more effiSee BERRIES, Page 3

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database is kept up to date with all publicly available genomic and genetic data. from Page 2 To stay sustainable, the blueberry and cranberry ciently. industries need new approaches Gallardo leads that increase fruit socioeconomic yields and boost research into the value quality to meet of important consumchanging industry and er-oriented blueberry consumer preferences. and cranberry traits.

With VacCAP, “Consumer panels scientists are working have shown that together to achieve customers prize sweet, this goal, revealing firm berries, but so far, no large-scale studies Gallardo the genetic factors and have estimated characteristics that the commercial influence fruit quality. value of traits and The project will lead preferences,” Gallardo to new DNA tests to said. “That is precisely speed up selection of what we’re going to new varieties with measure through this better fruit traits, research.” helping growers Main will oversee improve yields, data management for efficiency, and value, the project and further Main and ultimately bring develop the established scientific database for more and better berries for our WSU Vaccinium hosted at WSU. shakes, snacks and desserts.

Lisa DeVetter, horticulturalist at Washington State University, is one of the leaders of a new You can learn more about the This work will provide breeding program management and project on the VacCAP website, nationally funded effort exploring genes, traits and tools to help breeders raise new and better blueberry and cranberry varieties. analysis tools, and ensure the http://bit.ly/390Hxeh.

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Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

COVID-19 concerns delay gardening classes Extension offices’ spring offerings likely to be rescheduled; plant diagnostic clinic currently still on the docket for May start

By Joel Mills For Farm and Ranch

A

griculture Extension offices in Nez Perce and Asotin counties are striving to hold a full slate of spring gardening classes despite the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

The global pandemic has already forced the University of Idaho Extension office in Lewiston to cancel its remaining Banana Belt Backyard Gardener classes for the month of March. But Extension educator Kathee Tifft said her office is hoping to make up for the cancellations.

“The age group that generally comes to our Banana Belt classes is generally the vulnerable age group, so we decided it was better to not hold those classes,” Tifft said, noting the topics were Lost Apples of the Inland Empire and Common Lawn Problems.

“There is broad interest in both topics, so we hope to reschedule both presentations for later in the year.”

Banana Belt classes have been a popular offering from the office for around three decades, and are usually held at LewisClark State College or the Lewiston Community Center.

They give home gardeners a chance to get a jump on the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley’s long growing season, and help them diagnose problems and enhance successes once plants are in the ground, Tifft said.

And a long-running plant diagnostic clinic is still expected to boot up for the season in May, although schedules could change with so many group activities being canceled or

UI/Nez Perce County Extension Office

Master gardeners (left to right) Lee Tuott, Dana Harper and Maria Batres work on cases during the weekly plant clinic at the University of Idaho Extension office in downtown Lewiston. The office holds a plant clinic on Tuesdays from spring through summer, where local gardeners can bring their plant problems for analysis. It meets from 8 a.m. to noon at 1239 Idaho St. postponed because of coronavirus concerns.

“That clinic has a very strong reputation in the community,” Tifft said. “Master gardeners work very hard for clients who bring in bugs and plants and pieces of trees and soil.

Whatever they bring in, they work very hard to give a good diagnosis of what’s going on, and what to do next to meet their goals.”

Those clinics generally run on Tuesday mornings from May through September, Tifft said,

although interested gardeners should call (208) 799-3096 for up-to-date schedules. The office is at 1239 Idaho St. in Lewiston.

Once they resume, the Banana Belt classes will often focus on topics that arise during the diagnostic clinics. That way, the office can address the issues that are most important to the community, Tifft said.

“We’re able to be responsive to what people want to know See DELAYED, Page 5

PLANT CLINICS IN THE L-C VALLEY The Washington State University Extension Master Gardeners will offer free analysis and advice on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., May to September, at the Asotin County Courthouse basement, 135 Second St., Room B107 in Asotin. The office can be reached by phone at (509) 243-2009 The University of Idaho Extension Master Gardeners will offer free analysis and advice on Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to noon from May to September, at the Extension office, 1239 Idaho St, Lewiston. The office can be reached by phone at (208) 799-3096.

Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, March 28, 2020 | 5

Delayed from Page 4

Courtesy of Mark Heitstuman

Washington State University Master Gardener volunteers lead a tomato taste-testing exercise at their July 31, 2019, class held at Beachview Park in Clarkston. Asotin County Extension Director Mark Heistuman says his office is still planning to hold the popular weekly lunchtime gardening series starting in May.

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“If there’s something happening with black walnut trees, we can talk about it because we’ve seen all kinds of cases and dealt with it.”

And if on-site staff and volunteers can’t figure it out, they can appeal to staff and faculty at the UI and Washington State University for answers, Tifft added.

In Asotin County, WSU Extension Director Mark Heitstuman said his office is still in the planning stages for its series of brown bag gardening classes from noon to 1 p.m. on Thursdays in May, June and July at Beachview Park in Clarkston.

Heitstuman said he is hopeful that the sweeping closures prompted by the coronavirus will

have abated by then.

“They’re taught by local individuals and master gardeners,” he said of the annual classes.

“People bring their lunch and share ideas and learn about gardening and horticulture, beekeeping, lots of different topics.”

The office is also holding its own plant diagnostic clinics, which should run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesdays from May through September. The clinics will offer similar services to its counterpart in Lewiston. If people have questions before those begin, Heitstuman said they can bring samples to the office at 135 Second St., Room B107, in Asotin at any time.

“We have volunteers that will help answer their questions,” he said.

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

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MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

Cornell University Management Institute

This diagram, taken from a Cornell University publication, shows the placement and function of amendments in composting dead farm animals.

Cow composting is gentler on the Earth UI Extension agent touts more natural and beneficial method of disposing of dead farm animals

By Kathy Hedberg For Farm and Ranch

C

attle producers who have a deceased bovine on their hands are moving to a new way of disposing of the carcass while being environmentally sensitive.

Cow composting is not an entirely

novel approach, said Idaho carcass is put into a pile and County Extension agent Jim covered well with organic matChurch. Cattle producers have ter to prevent predators from been doing it for some time, digging into it. although not so much in this “Let the microbes do their area. thing,” Church said. “If it’s “The main reason (for cow managed right, there’s no composting) is it’s a little more smell.” environmentally sensitive,” Once the carcass has bioChurch said. “If you don’t have Church degraded, which varies with a good location to bury (the dead time, depending on weather cow), like the water table is close to he circumstances, the compost can be surface, (composting) can prevent any of applied to a field or pasture. that getting into the water table.”

Garden composting usually does not Church said cow composting is simi- include animal products, so Church lar to ordinary garden composting. The said, “I’d stick to regular compost for

(vegetable) gardens.”

Another method of disposing of dead cows is to incinerate the carcass, although that produces smoke, which may not be desirable.

Cow composting “is a little more environmentally sensitive, so we’re seeing some more of it. But I don’t know how widespread it is yet,” Church said.

“Most people have got a big enough land area, and the water table is not close to the surface. So if people have a big land mass they can have a cow cemetery under the old oak trees.”

Hedberg may be contacted at kathyhedberg@ gmail.com or (208) 983-2326.

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| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, March 28, 2020 | 7

Dirty birds?

Blame for foodborne illnesses assigned to feathered friends might not be justified

By Sara Zaske Washington State University News

ULLMAN — When food P makes people sick, some blame birds because they hang

around farms, and their feces can contain E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter, three common pathogens that can cause foodborne illness.

But a Washington State University study published in WSU Biological Reviews earlier this A male California quail. The quail can be found in fields across eastern Washington and north central year has found scant evidence Idaho and make their nests on the ground beneath a shrub or other cover. to support the link between wild

birds and human illness involving those three pathogens.

The perceived risk of wild birds can impact their survival, said Olivia Smith, lead author on the study and a recent WSU doctoral graduate.

“Farmers are being encouraged to remove wild bird habitat to make their food safer, but it doesn’t appear that these actions are based on data,” Smith said. “When you restrict birds from agricultural setSee BIRDS, Page 8

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Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

Birds from Page 7

tings, you are doing something that can lead to their decline.”

Bird populations have been falling rapidly in recent decades. Scientists estimate that since 1970, North America has lost more than 3 billion birds. In light of this, the WSU researchers highlighted the need for more definitive research b e f o r e destroying habitat and banning birds from fields in the name of Smith food safety.

Smith and her colleagues, WSU Associate Professor Jeb Owen and Professor William Snyder, analyzed data for E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter in 431 North American breeding bird species and found no relevant studies for 65 percent of those species, including birds

WSU

House sparrows like this one are a non-native species in the Pacific Northwest that tends to swarm on feed lots and can contaminate the food and water used for cattle. that are commonly found in farm fields such as raptors, great blue herons and blackbilled magpies.

In their review, the researchers found only one

study definitively linking wild birds to foodborne illness outbreaks: a case where sandhill cranes spread Campylobacter on fresh peas in an outbreak that sickened nearly 100 peo-

ple in Alaska in 2008.

The most studied birds in relation to these pathogens were ducks and geese as well as two non-native species, house sparrows and European star-

lings, that tend to swarm on feed lots and can contaminate the food and water used for cattle. Yet there’s a huge gap in knowledge about many other common native species that are often around agricultural crops including American robins.

Only 3 percent of the studies that the researchers analyzed looked at the entire transmission process from bird to plant to human. The majority simply tested bird feces to see if the bacteria were present or not.

In order for the bacteria to make people sick, the bird needs to get pathogenic strains of E. coli, Salmonella or Campylobacter on a food crop, and that bacteria has to survive long enough until people eat the contaminated food, including through shipment, washing, food processing in plants and food preparation.

The data on the pathogen survival is also very limited.

“Birds do carry bacteria that can make people sick, but from our review of the scientific studies, it’s unclear how big of a risk they are,” Smith said.

Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, March 28, 2020 | 9

Scientists take aim at Hessian flies Insect invader usually attacks spring wheat; suddenly, it’s going after winter wheat Michael Wells For Farm and Ranch

T

he Hessian fly, a longtime nemesis of spring wheat, now threatens winter wheat, and researchers are trying to find out why.

Arash Rashed, an associate professor of entomology in the University of Idaho’s Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology, is collaborating with scientists at Washington State University to determine why one of North America’s oldest known invasive species is now damaging winter wheat.

They are also working to identify Hessian fly-resistant varieties of winter wheat, if there are any.

Researchers want to determine if the flies are expanding their range and now damaging winter wheat because of different genotypes of the pests or if changes in temperature because of climate change are allowing the tiny fly to damage more types of wheat.

“We were looking at the Hessian fly as just Hessian flies,” Rashed said. “The preliminary data suggest more genotypes.”

Rashed and other researchers are looking at ways to answer questions such as “What is causing them to seek new locations? Is it related to climate or the particular needs of a particular genotype of Hessian fly?”

Hessian flies are a concern in northern and southern Idaho counties, with an outbreak in southwest Idaho in 2015. They are also a concern in Washington and Oregon, Rashed said.

See FLY, Page 10

ABOVE: An adult Hessian fly lives two to three days, long enough to mate to create a new generation of the flies that damage both spring and winter wheat crops while they are in the larvae stage.

RIGHT: A Hessian fly in pupal stage is called “flaxseed” because of the resemblance to a flax seed.

University of Idaho photos

10 | Saturday, March 28, 2020 |

MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

A Hessian fly sits on the end of a leaf. Though a native of Asia it was transported into Europe and later into North America, supposedly in the straw bedding of Hessian troops during the American Revolution (1775–83), thus the origin of its common name.

Fly

from Page 9 The fly is believed to have come to the United States around the time of the American Revolution in the latter half of the 18th century.

Declaration of Independence writer and third President of the United States Thomas Jefferson was the first to write a natural history of the wheat pest that was named after the German mercenaries who helped the British.

“They came from Europe in the straw for the Rashed colonists’ bedding,” Rashed said.

Hessian flies are a problem for farmers because their larvae are hidden at the base of the plant in the leaf sheaths. When they mature into adults, they only live long enough to produce a new generation of the flies, which takes a few days.

Pesticides are not usually recommended because they normally do not

Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

Scott Bauer/USDA

reach the larvae, and timing the adult stage is difficult, Rashed said.

Good ways for farmers to combat Hessian flies are through cultural practices, such as proper rotation and latefall planting after mid-October, he said.

Planting Hessian fly-resistant varieties of wheat is the best way to keep

University of Idaho and Washington State University wheat breeding programs, in collaboration with the Idaho Integrated Pest Management Laboratory, continue to screen varieties and breeding lines to gauge resistance in the field and in a controlled situation.

Those resistant varieties help a farmer retain $45 to $100 per acre, compared to nonresistant varieties.

“Damage in susceptible varieties of spring wheat can range between 11 and 24 percent,” Rashed said.

But that assessment of losses was from an Oregon State University study in 2004, he said, and a new economic assessment is needed going forward.

the pest from turning the wheat crop into an economic loser, but right now there are no winter wheat varieties resistant to the flies. Spring wheat has several resistant varieties.

There are no club wheat varieties that are resistant to the Hessian Wells may be contacted at mwells@lmtribune.com fly, Rashed said. Researchers at the or (208) 848-2275.

WE THINK BEYOND INSURANCE.

Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, March 28, 2020 | 11

When food comes full circle In Sleepy Eye, Minn., even the bison eat local, dining on spent grain used at brewery

By Hannah Yang Minnesota Public Radio News

S

LEEPY EYE, Minn. — As brewers siphoned a new batch of beer into kegs at the new Sleepy Eye Brewing and Coffee Co., Craig Fischer waited patiently off to the side.

He’s there every week when they fill the kegs.

But the liquid gold wasn’t what he wanted to bring home.

He wanted what was left over.

Several plastic barrels lined a wall near the back of the brewery. Under the lids were mounds of golden grain that had already been sucked dry of sugars and other elements that make beer what it is.

It’s called spent grain — and it was exactly the gold that Fischer was after.

Craft brewers consider this byproduct of their work to be waste — but Fischer is a bison farmer. And to his herd, it’s a tasty and nutritious snack, a good source of protein, fiber and energy.

So, every time head brewer Arron Luebbert starts brewing a batch of beer at the brewery in downtown Sleepy Eye — which usually happens about twice a week — he calls Fischer to let him know when the beer mash will be ready for pickup.

“Depending on the grain, he’s getting anywhere from a couple of pounds all the way up to our biggest batch, which was just shy of 300 pounds,” Luebbert told Minnesota Public Radio News. “We’ll take the mash, dig the mash right out of that big door. It’ll spill out there, and we will fill up a couple of barrels and (we) haul it outside.”

Eventually, that mash See FULL CIRCLE, Page 12

ABOVE: Chickens line up to get a bite of spent brewer’s grain brought in to feed bison Feb. 26 at Sleepy Bison Acres farm in Sleepy Eye, Minn. Sleepy Eye Brewing Co. and the farm have a partnership where they trade bison feed for bison meat to cook in their cafe.

LEFT: Spent brewing grain sticks to the snout of one of the bison enjoying a treat at Fischer’s Sleepy Bison Acres. The spent grain is a tasty and nutritious snack for the animals, a good source of protein, fiber and energy.

Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP

12 | Saturday, March 28, 2020 |

Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

Farmer Craig Fischer throws spent brewing grain into the feed trough for his bison Feb. 26 at his farm in Sleepy Eye, Minn.

Full circle from Page 11

comes full circle: The meat from Fischer’s bison herd, sustained in part by the spent grain from Luebbert’s beer, shows up on the menu of the brewery’s coffee shop cafe, in the form of bison chili, bison sandwiches and the occasional Italian wedding soup meatballs.

Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

A downtown revival The Sleepy Eye Coffee Co. opened in the city’s historic Pix Theater in October, after nearly three years of renovations. The brewery and tap room followed in December.

The old cinema shuttered in the early 1990s, and was left largely vacant since then. Now, it’s a hybrid brewery and coffee shop, with a lunchtime cafe most days of the week.

“At night, when you’d drive through downtown in the past, before this was open, Sleepy Eye was kind of dead downtown,” Luebbert said. “There was hardly any business, no

Let

cars parked along Main Street.

Now, when you come by at night, cars are lined up and down the street. It’s really cool to see that come back to Sleepy Eye.”

Five friends came together to open the brewery-cafe-coffee shop as an evolution of the craft brewing they had been doing in their garages — and as a way to help revive Sleepy

around the area. The milk for the lattes is from the grocery store down the street. The eggs for the breakfast sandwiches come from a poultry farm 20 minutes away. And the meat for the popular bison chili comes from Craig Fischer’s Sleepy Bison Acres.

“Being able to involve so many different people from the community is just really important to us,” said David Forster, who co-manages the coffee shop side of the business with his wife, Samarah.

“And, we hope that that energy kind of snowballs and Eye’s downtown.

Part of that meant they continues.” would work with other local It’s efficient, too — for the businesses, so they’ve made a brewery and the bison farm. point to source as many of their See FULL CIRCLE, Page 13 ingredients as possible from

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Full circle from Page 12

By taking the spent grain off their hands, Fischer is able to help the brewers at Sleepy Eye Brewing and Coffee Co. eliminate the costs and logistics of getting rid of their waste product.

And he hopes the additional grains will enhance the flavor of his bison meat.

That type of symbiotic relationship is important to both businesses, which prioritize local connections as a way to show their commitment to the Sleepy Eye community.

Forster said he hopes the model they’ve built at the brewery-coffee shop will become an incubator for other ventures. He wants it to “be a place where people come together, meet and talk about ideas like this, and you know, run off and do their own thing.”

At the cafe and coffee shop, Samarah Forster is highlighting those partnerships with a little education. She’s also the head chef, and designed the menu.

She said she wants customers to understand where their food comes from — and that, often, it’s not too far away.

“A lot of people don’t realize that.

They come in and they’re like, ‘Well, that looks just like a breakfast sandwich,’”

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, March 28, 2020 | 13

she said. “They don’t know that the bison grinding teeth.

“You want to try for consistency,” was raised locally. They don’t know that Fischer said. “It’s very important for they ate grains from right over there.” us to have a diverse nutritional diet for ‘The investment is all local’ our bison, and this was a no-brainer.”

After picking up the barrels of grain, Every once in a while as he talked, Fischer took the back roads out of smaller bison would sneak in for a taste Sleepy Eye under the darkening blan- at the trough, quickly enough to avoid ket of dusk. The headlights of his truck the attention of the bigger bulls, who were the only ones for miles in the would get defensive over their stake of expanse of the countryside. Just off the bounty. state Highway 4, he rolled onto his What they were eating was the prodproperty in Albin Township, Minn. uct of brewing, but there’s no alcohol in A small huddle of Fischer’s 30 bison Luebbert’s spent grain — malted barclustered quietly inside a fence. The sun ley is steeped in hot water, and all the sank low into the sky, melting into the sugars, which help create the alcohol, cold colors of wintry blues and white. are extracted to make the beer — so the Fischer backed his truck in front bison don’t get sleepy. of the bison pen, and dashed into the Some of Fischer’s bison have taken house to grab his “bison hat” — a to the beer mash, he said, though some fluorescent green baseball cap with a aren’t too fond of it. black silhouette of a bison, Sleepy Bison “This is just like our kids; you have Acres’ new logo design — before turning some adventurous ones and you have his attention to the bins of spent grain some that just won’t touch it right away in the truck bed. until they figure out what it is,” Fischer He carefully hauled out the bins, said. “It takes a little bit for them to tipped them over and tossed piles of adjust to a new food just like it would golden grain into his bison’s feeding you or me. They seem to have taken a pen by the shovelful. liking to it. It’s like they’re cleaning off The clunk of grain against metal their plate.” was like a magnet, drawing curious Fischer has only been feeding his bison toward the feeding troughs. They bison the beer mash since the brewery nuzzled their snouts into the grain, opened in December, so it’s still too the hairy mass all satisfied snorts and early to tell currently how it will affect

the overall flavor profile of their meat.

Otherwise, Fischer feeds his bison hay, and lets them forage wild pasture grass. He prefers to let his animals roam. Bison are by nature wild animals, he said, and they tend to care for themselves. He just wants them to be happy.

“They naturally do well,” Fischer said.

“I’m just a land manager. I am somebody that is providing a safe environment for my animals to do their thing.”

A few years into his operation — he began raising bison after he and his wife, Elizabeth, were gifted one on their wedding day — Fischer’s meat is now making its way into several restaurants in the region. Bison meat is naturally lower in fat than beef, and has low cholesterol with higher protein — and it’s beginning to find its own niche.

Diners now eat Fischer’s bison meat in New Ulm, Rochester, St. Peter and Granite Falls. In his partnership with the brewery and coffee shop in Sleepy Eye, Fischer sees the opportunity to show diners where the process of creating food starts — and where it ends.

“The investment is all local,” he said. “It’s zero-waste, and it’s hard to overstate that. I’m just proud of that concept — that we’re ... bringing more value back to the community, which is so important in a small town.”

14 | Saturday, March 28, 2020 |

Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

In short supply Measure in Iowa’s state Legislature seeks to recruit more rural animals doctors

By Erin Jordan The Cedar Rapids Gazette

L

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ISBON, Iowa — Like most rural veterinarians, Dr. Alana McNutt is a jack of all trades.

On March 10, she spayed two cats and two dogs before loading up her pickup to go to a farm near Lisbon where she vaccinated and provided other care to 1,000-pound cattle.

And because it’s calving season, McNutt, 35, is ready for emergency calls when a mama cow, goat or sheep is struggling to deliver a baby.

“The biggest challenge a mixed animal veterinarian faces is some percentage has to be emergency work,” she said of veterinarians who treat both pets and farm animals.

According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, there is a shortage of mixed animal and farm animal veterinarians across the country because of the unpredictable hours and the need to live in rural areas.

To recruit more rural veterinarians — critically important in a state that is the No. 1 producer of hogs and eggs — the Iowa Legislature has proposed repaying student loans for vets who work in an underserved area for four years.

“The big thing in Iowa is we’re the largest animal agriculture state in the U.S. so it’s very important we have veterinarians and farmers to take care of these animals,” said Dr. Randy Wheeler, executive director of the Iowa Veterinary Medicine Association.

House File 2615 provides up to $15,000 a year, up to $60,000 over four years, in loan repayment for at least five veterinarians a year who commit to serving in rural areas in the state.

To qualify, veterinarians must care for “food supply” animals or have a focus in food safety, epidemiology, public health or animal health.

If approved, the program would need an appropriation of $300,000 a year, said Rep. Norlin Mommsen, R-DeWitt, who is the floor manager for the bill.

“We’ve been talking to Rep. Kerr about putting money into the education

Rebecca F. Miller/Cedar Rapids Gazette via AP

Alana McNutt, a veterinarian at Tipton Veterinary Services, vaccinates cattle belonging to Brad Albaugh on March 10 on a farm belonging to Nick Stines of rural Lisbon, Iowa.

budget for it,” Mommsen said, referring to David Kerr, R-Morning Sun, who chairs the Education Appropriations subcommittee. “It’s not a done deal, (but) there seems to be a consensus it’s necessary thing.”

A state program would supplement the federal Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program, in which the U.S. Department of Agriculture pays up to $25,000 each year toward education loans of vets who agree to serve in a designated shortage area for three years.

For this program, Iowa has identified seven counties as having shortage situations: Carroll, Cedar, Cherokee, Humboldt, Jasper, Jefferson and Union counties.

Graduates of the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine leave with an average debt load of $142,000, according to an article last fall by Dave Gieseke in the college’s Gentle Doctor magazine. Average starting salaries in Iowa are about $70,000, but the perception is rural salaries are at the lower end.

Dr. Rachel DeSotel, 32, of Kalona, See SHORT SUPPLY, Page 15

Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

| MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE | Saturday, March 28, 2020 | 15 McNutt and Nicole Hamilton, a veterinary assistant, prepare vaccinations for cattle belonging to Brad Albaugh. McNutt works on both large and small animals at the veterinary clinic.

Short supply from Page 14

graduated from veterinary school at Kansas State University in 2014 with about $250,000 in debt.

She’s applied three times for the federal loan repayment program and has been turned down every time, despite working in rural Washington County, which qualifies because it is adjacent to Jefferson County.

“Only so many are going to get it from the federal level,” she said.

“There are a lot of counties and a lot of vets who need assistance, all vying for just a few awards.”

The Nauvoo, Ill., native chose to work for Schlapkohl Veterinary Services in Kalona because she fell in love with the community and enjoys caring for dairy goats and working horses owned by many Amish farmers.

But persuading young vet school graduates to move to rural areas can be a tough sell, especially if they also need to find work for a spouse, Wheeler said.

About 40 percent of ISU’s 20202022 graduating classes are on the

Rebecca F. Miller/the Gazette via AP

academic track to care for companion animals, like cats and dogs, ISU reported. Another 35 percent plan to work in a mixed animal practice, while only 18 percent say they will be focused on food animals, including cattle and swine.

Wheeler, who worked as a mixed

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animal veterinarian for 30 years, said he has seen veterinary practices in urban areas grow while rural offices are consolidating. This means if there is an animal emergency, a veterinarian may have to drive 30 minutes to an hour versus 15 minutes to provide

treatment.

When veterinarians are more frequently on a farm, they are more likely to spot sick animals before the animals infect the rest of the barn, Wheeler said. “Lay people can castrate and dehorn, but they don’t always recognize if an animal is sick,” he said.

McNutt, who grew up in Tipton and is the daughter of veterinarian Dr. Jim McNutt, purchased Tipton Veterinary Services in 2018 with her husband, Dr. John Prickett. They have been struggling to hire two new veterinarians, she said.

“I personally want to strive for a nice work-life balance and you can’t do that if you’re on call 24/7,” said the mother of two young children. “The only way you can do that is spread out your workload by hiring more veterinarians.”

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16 | Saturday, March 28, 2020 |

MOSCOW-PULLMAN DAILY NEWS / LEWISTON TRIBUNE

SE Idaho is production hub of a brand of wheat bred for health benefits

By John O’Connell Idaho State Journal

T

hree farmers in the American Falls area are entering their second year of raising specialized wheat varieties bred to appeal to health-conscious consumers who are wary of gluten and carbohydrates.

Arcadia Biosciences, based in Davis, Calif., started production of its GoodWheat varieties about five years ago, making them commercially available last year.

Arcadia agronomist Ann Munden believes the GoodWheat brand will be a game changer for both the agricultural industry and the public. She said southeast Idaho will be the primary region for GoodWheat production.

Arcadia has bred GoodWheat varieties with significantly reduced gluten. Though people with celiac disease should still avoid GoodWheat, she said it will be a good option for anyone seeking to reduce inflammation.

Other GoodWheat varieties have been developed with resistant starch, which boosts the fiber content of flour and slows the digestion process, benefiting diabetics and consumers who wish to avoid spiking their blood-sugar levels.

Arcadia has also developed a GoodWheat oxidative line in exclusive partnership with Denver-based Ardent Mills LLC that makes shelf-stable whole wheat flour, which is slower to go rancid than conventional whole wheat flour. Arcadia has released GoodWheat hard red spring varieties for making bread and Durum spring varieties for pasta production.

“I think there is a lot more attention to health as an attribute,” Munden said. “Most people aren’t breeding for that. That’s why Arcadia is optimistic about these multiple platforms. They focus on health as opposed to only agronomics.”

This season, the three American Falls-area growers will raise thousands of acres of GoodWheat. Munden said Arcadia will likely seek to expand its grower base prior to the 2021 season.

“It’s picking up (demand) pretty quickly. I think in 2021 it will be several thousand acres raised in American Falls,” Munden said.

Additional acreage of GoodWheat will be planted this season in Montana and North Dakota’s Red River Valley, she said.

Arcadia opened its American Falls facility eight years ago, when it started working with area growers on raising experimental varieties of safflower and other crops.

About two years ago, the company started leasing the former Bully Dog location at 2839 Highway 39 in American Falls to accommodate the anticipated growth of GoodWheat.

“We’re looking at remodeling and expanding it so we could store more wheat here,” Munden said, adding Arcadia keeps a local staff of between four and six workers.

Bay State Milling in Massachusetts and Arcadia have licensing partnerships in the U.S. on the GoodWheat brand of hard red wheat with resistant starch. GoodWheat varieties were developed through a process that’s high-tech but is not considered to be genetic modification, called TILLING. TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes) is used to detect or generate genetic variation on genes of interest.

Munden explained at its Davis lab, Arcadia used TILLING to turn down genetic expression of certain attributes. She explained the breeding approach results in a slight yield drag — GoodWheat yields 10 percent less than the industry’s top wheat varieties.

“That was a big advantage of our varieties is the yield drag ended up being a lot less than anticipated,” Munden said.

Kevin Hodges, general manager over GoodWheat, said the company is currently focused on launching its three existing platforms and getting them into the marketplace. They’ve had especially good feedback on resistant starch, he said.

Northwest Farm and Ranch | SPRING 2020

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