BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- Government agencies are seeking broad new authority to ramp up killings and removals of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes, despite two recent court actions that restored the animal's endangered status in every state except Alaska and Minnesota.
Va ...
Sunday, September 05, 2010 2:09 PM
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — A federal court has upheld most of a lower court's ruling that blocked looser grazing restrictions on millions of acres of public land across the nation.
The Bureau of Land Management violated two federal laws by failing to consider the environmental ramifications of the ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 11:08 AM
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- More than 40,000 sockeye salmon that were destined to help bolster Idaho's breeding program died while at an Oregon hatchery late last month, wiping out about a quarter of the young fish slated for release in central Idaho mountain lakes next May.
The dour news comes ...
Friday, September 03, 2010 10:49 PM
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) -- Slowly, under the gaze of the hot August sun, a grape approaches its destiny.
It has endured prime conditions -- baking heat, terrible soil, cool nights and scarce water. All these stresses have created an ideal fruit for award-winning wine.
This grape isn' ...
Sunday, September 05, 2010 9:09 AM
FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- Sugar beet cooperatives in the Red River Valley of eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota are anticipating record yields, meaning farmers might not be allowed to harvest all of their acres.
The Grand Forks Herald reported that American Crystal Sugar Co. yiel ...
Sunday, September 05, 2010 9:09 AM
While lock maintenance on the Columbia and Snake rivers will force some growers transporting crops to Portland's port to switch from barges to truck and rail, industry representatives say planning -- and a little luck -- have combined to make the closures less of a burden.
"The reality is we' ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 9:09 AM
Federal regulators say they will decide by year's end on rules regulating production of biotech sugar beets for the next two seasons.
Unregulated production of Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets was banned last month by a federal judge.
USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service s ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 10:09 AM
The linchpin of the Columbia-Snake transportation system is Tidewater Barge Lines, which expects to lose about 85 percent of its total revenue during the four-month river closure that starts Dec. 10, said assistant to the president John Pigott.
All of the company's business above The Dalles, ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 9:09 AM
Gabe Flick was just 14 when he bought his first swather.
He found the old machine in the weeds at a neighbor's dairy and agreed to work off the debt. It would only take a few months, he was told.
"Three years later I paid it off. At $7 an hour, it takes a while," Flick, now 21, said in a p ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 10:09 AM
A study released this summer by USDA's Economic Research Service indicates that a 20 percent tax on sweetened beverages would reduce consumption and lead to weight reduction in adults and children.
The sugar industry and makers of competing sweeteners are skeptical and remain united in their ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 9:09 AM
SWEET, Idaho -- A new government program is helping organic farmers extend their growing season through the use of simple hoop houses.
Forty-three states participated in a pilot program this year offered through USDA's Environmental Quality Incentives Program Organic Initiative.
One of sev ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 9:09 AM
BOISE -- Idaho agricultural producers would benefit from a U.S.-Korean Free Trade Agreement, a USDA official said during a visit to the state.
Potato and dairy products -- two of Idaho's top agricultural commodities -- would see significantly expanded market access under the proposed agreeme ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:35 AM
MOSCOW, Idaho -- Researchers at the University of Idaho are testing a 15-inch worm from the Chelan, Wash., area to determine whether it is a giant Palouse earthworm.
A homeowner found the worm on former farm ground and sent it to the laboratory, said Jodi Johnson-Maynard, an associate professor o ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 9:09 AM
A major Pepsi bottler announced in August that it would begin making Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback with Idaho beet sugar.
Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC will use sugar from the Amalgamated Sugar Co. plant in Nampa.
"We will literally be buying sugar from our neighbors across the str ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 9:09 AM
Dairy industry observers say federal agencies are working on several regulations that will impact dairymen.
Chris Galen, director of communications for National Milk Producers Federation, said the organization is waiting for clarification of EPA's spill prevention rule for oil.
The rule is ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 9:09 AM
Defenders of Wildlife changes focus as government creates similar program
BOISE (AP) -- A conservation group is ending its program to compensate ranchers for livestock killed by wolves, prompting criticism from Idaho officials including Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter.
The program by The Defenders of ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 10:09 AM
GLENNS FERRY, Idaho (AP) -- Federal officials have rounded up about 200 wild horses in southern Idaho after a wildfire burned too much grass to support the herd.
Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management claim last week's Long Butte wildfire burned most of the Saylor Creek he ...
Saturday, September 04, 2010 9:29 AM
POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) -- Idaho's dairy industry increased milk production by 5.3 percent in July, a rate that enabled the state to surpass New York as the nation's third leading milk producer.
But that's not all the good news for Idaho's dairy farmers.
Industry officials say milk p ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 1:48 PM
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- A helicopter chartered by the Department of Fish and Game plunged into a travel trailer and crashed Tuesday on a downtown street in the small town of Kamiah, killing two biologists and the pilot, authorities said.
The Fish and Game biologists were identified as Larry ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 2:48 PM
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- State officials sought Tuesday to revive gray wolf hunts in the Northern Rockies, even as they entered talks with wildlife advocates whose lawsuit recently restored the animal's endangered status.
Hunters in Idaho and Montana killed 260 wolves last year in the firs ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 9:29 AM
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Inmates at the South Idaho Correctional Institution near Boise are hoeing potatoes this week as they harvest a six-acre prison garden.
The garden, created through donations from Farmers Insurance and other local businesses, was planted by the inmates earlier this year wi ...
Thursday, September 02, 2010 7:29 AM
SWEET, Idaho (AP) -- A farming operation north of Idaho's capital city is taking advantage of the region's geothermal heat and water to extend its growing season, just the latest example of how energy-conscious residents are putting the largely unseen reservoir beneath their feet to work.
Th ...
Wednesday, September 01, 2010 12:09 PM
SHOSHONE, Idaho (AP) -- They set up camp under the light of the moon, some stationed around the yard, more huddled in the bushes.
Then the digging began.
Tunnels in which to gather both food stores and strength for the next attack were dug quickly before their opponents could prepare ...
Wednesday, September 01, 2010 7:49 AM
BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- Idaho U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo says his bill to cut taxes for small breweries is gaining support, as evidenced by the addition of 24 co-sponsors.
Crapo has joined Democratic Sens. John Kerry of Massachussetts and Ron Wyden of Oregon, as well as Republican Olympia Sno ...
Sunday, August 29, 2010 9:09 AM
Farmers aren't the only ones uncertain about the future of the sugar beet industry in the wake of a federal judge's decision to ban the planting of Roundup Ready varieties.
The uncertainty extends to the rural communities where sugar beets are grown.
"If (seed companies) don't have enough ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:08 AM
Cheryl Koompin has performed just about every job there is on the family farm in Idaho, from planting crops to loading spud cellars.
Knowing that she's helping to feed hungry people around the world has been a primary motivator.
"As farmers, we're called to feed the world," Koompin said in ...
Saturday, August 28, 2010 9:08 AM