Tagged: Agriculture

If you were to go to the banks of the Snake River downstream of Milner Dam near Burley, you wouldn’t see much more than a trickle of water. That’s because the federal Bureau of Reclamation shut off the river flow on June 4.

For at least 25 miles, there isn’t enough water for a kayaker to paddle through. Idaho Power runs the hydroelectric plant at the dam, and says the zero flow will impact its operations through late July.  

Farmers in Idaho have filed a potentially class action lawsuit against seed giant Monsanto after genetically engineered wheat was found in an eastern Oregon field.

Seed and herbicide maker Monsanto Co. plans to hire 24 people at a new center in southern Idaho where its scientists will study ways to boost wheat production.

The Capital Press reports St. Louis-based Monsanto has gotten the go-ahead from the Idaho Wheat Commission for the Wheat Technology Center in Filer.

Monsanto told Idaho officials in an e-mail this represents a "compelling opportunity... to apply our technology expertise in a global crop that can benefit from innovation."

There’s been a lot of speculation but few answers so far about how genetically modified wheat ended up in an Oregon field. Northwest farmers and seed purveyors say they go to great lengths to keep each variety of grain distinct, tracked and pure. And yet they concede, mistakes can still happen.

If proper equipment isn’t installed on irrigation pipes and pumps, fish can get sucked into farmers’ fields and drainage ditches. That clogs pipes and kills fish. A new fish screen was just installed on a Central Washington River to prevent this from happening. It's the first of its kind in the state.

When migrating fish and debris get sucked into farmers’ pipes and ditches, it’s bad news for farmers and for fish.

“If a fish goes into a ditch, it’s unlikely it will turn around and get out. It typically will die there.”

Derrick Martinez had been with Blick’s Phosphate Conversion for a year and a half. Blick’s, which is based in Kansas, subcontracts with Idaho’s J. R. Simplot Company in Pocatello to help make a phosphate-based fertilizer. While Martinez was working in his company’s mobile production trailer at the Simplot site last weekend, something went wrong.

Later today, the Natural Resources Conservation Service will release a full report on snowpack and water levels in Idaho so far this year. The report will help paint a clearer picture of a complicated water scenario.

Water specialist Ron Abramovich says this year’s snowpack started off strong, but quickly dropped off. That makes for diverse stream levels.