IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) -- Last year's high hay prices has many in Idaho's agricultural community optimistic about 2012, while potato growers are wary about new infestations.

Idaho Hay and Forage Association Executive Director Rick Waitley told the Post Register (http://bit.ly/AfKuMk ) that prices are at an all-time high, with the market averaging about $240 to $260 a ton.

"I don't remember any time we've seen hay sell at prices this high," he said.

Waitley credits the market to increased demand from Idaho cattlemen and dairymen, higher out-of-state demand and a good spring cutting in 2011. For prices to remain high in 2012, growers will need a good first cutting this spring, he said.

Potato prices dropped last year, down from record highs in the 2010. They stabilized slightly above average at year's end, with Burbank and Norkotah potatoes averaging between $14 and $18 per hundredweight for 70-pound cartons, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service.

Growers expect similar prices this year.

"Prices could always be a little bit better, but they are better now than they have been," said Travis Blacker, president of the Idaho Growers Shippers Association. "Overall, prices are remaining pretty consistent. We haven't seen the extreme swings we've seen in the past."

Still, potato growers and state and federal agricultural officials are worried about new infestations of the potato cyst nematode. The microscopic wormlike pest attacks the root of potato plants. Officials said they aren't harmful to humans and don't affect the potatoes themselves, but they can reduce crop production by 80 percent.

Three new eastern Idaho infestations were discovered last year near Shelley. So far, the state has 12 quarantined fields covering about 11,000 acres. Most of them have been quarantined since 2006.

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Information from: Post Register, http://www.postregister.com

Copyright 2012 The AP.