Category: News
Idaho dryland farmers say heat has zapped wheat yields
Posted by Jacob Andersen in News Tuesday, 16 July 2013 08:41 No Comments
By JOHN O’CONNELL
Capital Press
ARBON VALLEY, Idaho — Ryan Weston believes record heat and extreme dryness have already taken 90 percent off of his potential spring and winter wheat yields.
Weston, who farms on dryland in southeast Idaho’s Arbon Valley, said healthy wheat remains in low pockets, but grain on the hills has all withered to the point that “there’s nothing that’s even worth running a combine through.”
Dryland growers throughout eastern Idaho believe the heat wave’s arrival has ensured they’ll have a second consecutive poor year for grain.
Several heat records were broken throughout Idaho in late June, and the records have continued to fall into July.
Arbon Valley, Idaho, dry-land farmer Todd Fitch walks through a spring wheat field that sustained heavy heat damage from record-high temperatures before many of the plants could set heads.
On July 1, the National Weather Service reported Boise hit 110 degrees, breaking the previous record of 104 degrees set in 1924, Pocatello reached 101, breaking a record high set in 1990 of 98 degrees, Burley reached 101, 2 degrees above its 1990 record, Idaho Falls peaked at 97, 2 degrees above its 1990 record, and Stanley reached 94 degrees, well above its 2001 record high of 86 degrees. Temperatures were predicted to fall 5-8 degrees beginning July 4, before rebounding slightly on July 8-9.
“Last week, the heat started nailing it,” Weston said on July 2. “I have crop insurance, of course, but it’s not going to pay what I could get out of it.”
After a dry summer last season, Weston shifted some of his wheat to safflower, a crop with a deep taproot that can survive with less moisture.
“Safflower is looking good. It might be what saves me,” Weston said.
Arbon Valley dryland farmer Ken Campbell planted 1,500 acres of safflower this season and only 100 acres of spring wheat. He had to reseed 300 acres of safflower due to wire worm infestation, but he still holds much more hope for his safflower than his grain.
“We made way more on safflower last year. Spring wheat was almost a total loss,” Campbell said. “I would say things look almost tougher now than they did a year ago. Even our winter wheat looks pretty tough this year.”
His barley still appears healthy, but he’d be pleased to get half of his normal winter wheat yield.
In Soda Springs, dryland grower Sid Cellan experimented with minimum tillage on 300 acres. Based on the results, he’ll likely reduce tillage on more acres next season to conserve soil moisture.
“It does look fairly good,” Cellan said of his minimum-tillage grain.
However he said his six-row barley and 600 acres of spring wheat are “stressing really badly.” In his growing area, the extreme heat was preceded by frost damage on June 20, when temperatures dipped to 23 degrees.
“We’re suffering right now. The frost and the heat have taken its toll on us, and we’re starting to go downhill pretty fast,” Cellan said. “Some fields out north, I don’t think they’ll even put a combine in the frost and heat has hurt them so bad.”
Soda Springs dryland grower Cleston Godfrey will likely increase his summer fallow acreage next season. He’s planted much of his acreage with no tillage this season to retain soil moisture but hasn’t noticed any definitive results yet.
“I think we’re losing bushels every day,” Godfrey said. “If we don’t get a rain storm, it’s going to be a pretty dismal harvest.”
This article was reprinted with permission from Capital Press. Â The original article can be found here: http://www.capitalpress.com/content/JO-HotWheat-070313
World War II Bomber Crash
Posted by Jacob Andersen in News Tuesday, 30 April 2013 21:05 No Comments
On January 20, 1944, a B-24 bomber from Pocatello Army Air Base crashed near Arbon Valley during a training mission. Â Seven of the ten men on board were killed. Â The accident happened approximately 10 miles south west of the air base (now Pocatello Airport). Â I’m trying to locate the site of the crash, and would be interested in hearing from anyone with information about it. Â I research old military crashes and create online memorials to the men who were killed. Â More pilots and flight crews were killed during training in the U.S. than in actual combat during World War II.
Marc McDonald, Pocatello
Scheduled Power Outage
Posted by Jacob Andersen in News Wednesday, 17 April 2013 12:35 No Comments
There is a power outage scheduled for Arbon Valley on Thursday, April 18th. The outage will begin at 10am and will last until approximately 2pm.
It would probably be a good idea to unplug any power strips that power sensitive devices such as computers, monitors, and televisions, until the power is completely restored.
Arbon Highway Closure
Posted by Jacob Andersen in News Wednesday, 30 January 2013 16:47 No Comments
Due to high winds and drifting snow, the Arbon Highway is now CLOSED from the Elementary school to the South end of the valley. Â The road crew will open the road again tomorrow (1/31).
Please do not attempt to drive through the valley.
Fire fighting farmers of Arbon Valley
Posted by Jacob Andersen in News Wednesday, 24 October 2012 21:31 No Comments
Hans Hayden is one of the firefighting farmers of Arbon Valley. He shows off the bulldozer and pickup with 250 gallons of water he keeps handy in case a fire breaks out in the large agricultural valley southwest of Pocatello.
When lightning strikes a dry field in Arbon Valley and sparks a fire no one calls the fire department. There isn’t one to call.
Instead neighbors begin calling each other to determine the location and size of the fire and spring into action with whatever farm equipment or tanker trucks they can can lay their hands on.
“You look out where the smoke is coming from and you call until you find someone who can see it,†said lifelong Arbon farmer Hans Hayden. “It just happens.â€
And it even happens in the middle of the night like it did this past week when lightning strikes caused a fire to ignite at 1:15 a.m. on the backside of the range where the Charlotte Fire had destroyed 66 homes in June.
Hayden was awakened by the sound of thunder. When he spotted flames in the distance, he did what he has done for 40 years. He called his neighbors and fired up his equipment.
Within 40 minutes the fire was out and 15 people had time to chat about what had just happened. Some had pajama tops tucked into their trousers, but they had beaten back the danger.
“You really don’t talk to anyone until the fire is out,†Hayden said.
This has been the “emergency response team†Arbon residents have relied upon for decades, according to Hayden. In a valley that stretches 60 miles and encompasses thousands of acres of private cropland and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ground with ridges of junipers and cedars, reliance on other residents comes with the territory.
“It works pretty well here,†Hayden said.
Homes are scattered in the Arbon Valley that is home to an LDS stake and a two-room elementary school the state of Idaho has deemed “remote and necessary.†The nearest police or fire station is a long way from any emergency.
“Everyone in the valley is part of the volunteer fire department,†Hayden explained.
He said its why he was a little angry when he read about problems farmers in the McCammon area had getting past law enforcement when a fire broke out along Marsh Creek a couple of weeks ago. A haystack was lost to flames and Hayden said he guesses neighbors would have stopped that from happening.
“If everyone works together, you don’t have problems,†he said.
The Arbon Valley farmer said he realizes the resources of the BLM come in handy when a fire gets large or makes its way into the trees. Hayden said he doesn’t have the training to fight fires in forested areas, but he knows how to help stop a range fire. Hayden said he’s even worked with aerial assaults from firefighting planes from the ground without a radio.
“A few years ago I cut a fire break around a fire and just parked up on the hill so the pilots could see me,†he said. “They knew what to do.â€
Hayden said what he and his neighbors don’t want to encounter is aggressive attitudes from BLM crews or law enforcement on the ground. He said the farmers in the valley know the lay of the land and how a fire will act and can be the best resource for stopping the spread of a wildfire.
“It’s kind of a love-hate relationship,†Hayden said about the BLM. “I really need their planes sometimes.â€
But Hayden said it is the quick response of valley residents that can keep fires in check.
“A tractor with a disk is a thousand times faster than anything they can use,†Hayden said.
He cited a recent fire that broke out at the base of the backside of Scout Mountain southwest of Pocatello as an example.
“If we hadn’t got on it, it would have burned the whole west side of Scout Mountain,†Hayden said.
In a summer that has seen little rain, high winds and numerous “red flag†fire danger warnings, Hayden said the importance of coordinated professional and private efforts should be obvious.
“When I go to a fire, I do it at my own risk and at no charge,†he said. “If counties have liability issues maybe the law should be changed.â€
Law or no law, the residents of Arbon Valley will continue to be on the look out for fires and be ready to attack if necessary.
“That’s what we do,†Hayden said.
Reprinted by permission from the Idaho State Journal. Author: Michael H. O’Donnell