March 2006

Back Issues: September '98, October '98, November '98, December '98, January '99,
February '99, March '99, April '99, May '99, June '99, July '99, August '99, September '99,
October '99, November '99, December '99, January '00, February '00, April '00, May '00,
July '00, August '00, September '00, October '00, November '00, December '00,
January '01, February '01, March '01, April '01, May '01, June '01, July '01,
September'01, October '01, November '01, December '01, January '02, February '02(NA),
March '02, April '02, May '02, June '02, July '02, August '02, September '02, October '02,
November '02, December '02, January '03, March '03, April '03, May '03(NA), June '03(NA),
July '03, August '03, September '03, October '03, November '03, December '03, January '04
February '04, March '04(NA), April '04, May '04, June '04(NA), July '04, August '04, September '04
October '04, November '04, December '04, January '05(NA), February '05, March '05, April '05,
May '05, June '05(NA), July '05, August '05, September '05, October '05, November '05, December '05
January '06, February '06, March '06, April '06, May '06, June '06, July '06, August '06,
September '06, October '06, November '06, December '07, January '07 (NA), February '07

Appel To Hold National American Sheep Industry Women Post From Jami Beintema, Executive Secretary, WSSP Helen Appel, President of Washington Wool Grower's Auxiliary (WWGA), attended the American Sheep Industry Association annual convention held in San Antonio, TX, Jan 24-27, 2007. During the annual meeting of the American Sheep Industry Women (ASIW), Helen was elected as ASIW Vice President and began her 2-year term. Her duties as Vice President will include Chairperson of the ASIW Ways and Means Committee as well as chairperson of the Big Bucks Drawing held during the group's annual fundraiser. ASIW sponsors the Make It With Wool (MIWW) contest and Lamb and Wool Promotion. Helen has been a district MIWW director since 1983. Helen and her husband, Dick, have been farming wheat and raising sheep in the Dusty/Endicott area of Washington since 1962. Helen has served as president of the WWGA for the past 6 years. In addition, Helen has raised 10 children and is the proud grandmother of 24 grandchildren. Helen enjoys gardening and most of her year is spent outside working in her yard and garden. US-Mexico Consultative Committee On Agriculture On March 6, 2007, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Mexico's Agriculture Secretary Alberto Cardenas and Economy Secretary Eduardo Sojo signed a Memorandum of Understanding to re-establish the U.S.-Mexico Consultative Committee on Agriculture (CCA). "The United States and Mexico have a longstanding, excellent bilateral trade relationship," said Johanns. "The CCA has proven to be an important venue for addressing and resolving issues that arise between our countries. It provides a mechanism to work out problems before they become larger, more formal disputes. This renewed CCA will help maintain the close working relationships that have developed between our leaders and trade facilitators." The CCA, which was previously signed by U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab, has served historically as a forum for important trade issues related to market access, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, biotechnology and animal and plant health. Mexico was a global leader in reopening its market to U.S. beef after the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in U.S. cattle in December 2003. Enhancing trade between the United States and Mexico has paid off not only for producers, but for consumers in both countries. Mexico is the United States' second largest agricultural market, and the United States is Mexico's most important trade destination. Renewal of the CCA is expected to continue to benefit American farmers and consumers, further increasing two-way agricultural trade flows between the United States and Mexico, which topped $20 billion in 2006. Endangered Pygmy Rabbits Researched At WSU By Dennis Brown, Washington State University Eleven of about two dozen pygmy rabbits scheduled for a March 13 reintroduction into their native sagebrush habitat in Douglas County by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will come from Washington State University, one of three sites where the animals have been bred in captivity since 2000. WSU has been the lead research institution for the project. The research has been funded by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the federal Endangered Species Act. "It has been one of our biggest efforts in endangered species research," said Rod Sayler, associate professor of natural resource sciences. The releases are expected to become an annual affair over the next four to six years until the rabbit population can once again become re-established in the wild. Each pygmy rabbit scheduled for reintroduction into their native sagebrush habitat on March 13 will be equipped with a radio collar so researchers will be able to track their movements. Eleven of the rabbits will come from Washington State University. The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is a long-isolated, genetically unique population of small rabbits. Similar pygmy rabbits are found in Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada and California. The Washington rabbits were on the verge of extinction when they were listed as a federal endangered species in 2003. The animals' decline followed a loss of habitat, habitat degradation and fragmentation of remaining sagebrush ecosystems as the land was converted into farms, ranches and urban development over the past 50 years. When the wild population of Columbia Basin rabbits plummeted to less than 40 in 2001, the last rabbits were captured and sent to three facilities to begin a captive breeding program. While no one knows exactly why the crash happened, inbreeding depression&emdash;the negative impact of decreased genetic diversity &endash; was believed to be a contributing factor. "The state gave us the first Columbia Basin rabbits to breed in 2001," said Lisa Shipley, associate professor of natural resource sciences. "That gave us the opportunity to conduct research on a number of topics, including nutritional ecology, breeding behavior and population dynamics." The Oregon Zoo and the Northwest Trek Wildlife Park near Eatonville got small populations as well. Spreading the small population of rabbits among the three facilities was a measure taken to make certain that the entire rabbit population would not be wiped out by disease or other catastrophe. While many might assume that breeding rabbits might be easy, that's not been the case. In the neighborhood of 250 of rabbits have been born at WSU since the captive breeding program began in 2002, but few have survived. "The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits had lower reproductive success, fewer kits per female, lower earlier kit growth rates and occasional bone deformities," Sayler said. In addition, all of the breeding sites have struggled with disease problems and parasites. Faced with possible loss of the entire population, an emergency genetic rescue was undertaken in 2003. Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits were mated with more genetically diverse Idaho pygmy rabbits. The resulting intercross kits were mated in a breeding scheme to maintain genetic diversity within the founding population and produce pygmies with about 75 percent Washington genes and 25 percent Idaho genes. Higher reproductive rates are evidence of the success of this effort, according to Sayler. All of the rabbits which will be released on March 13 will be equipped with radio collars to enable researchers to monitor them. Population models developed at WSU suggest that it will take years for the rabbit population to become safely established in the wild. A WSU doctoral student will conduct field studies of the radio-collared pygmies to find out what ecological factors influence their micro-habitat use and potential survival. There is no guarantee of success. "They live in really harsh conditions," Shipley said. "They have a very difficult life." "We are going to be doing very well to keep them surviving in Washington, but we are hopeful," Sayler said. WMC Offers Training From Gary Hou, Wheat Marketing Center During the past several months, the Wheat Marketing Center (WMC), in Portland, OR delivered grain elevator operator training to 48 employees, supervisors, and managers from 15 country and river elevator businesses in the wheat growing areas of central and eastern Oregon and Washington. Titled "Managing Wheat Inventory to Maximize Profits," the Wheat Marketing Center designed and developed the new training program to: • Provide information to grain elevator operators and managers on the importance of wheat quality segregation; • Increase knowledge of the economic impact of wheat quality segregation; and • Increase profitability through improving business practices. Major objectives of the training included: 1. Increasing participants' knowledge of the overall wheat industry system from wheat farmer to bakery; 2. Describing the relevance of wheat, flour, and finished product tests to grain elevator operations; 3. Explaining the impact of segregation on profitability; 4. Discussing the roles of the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS), export grain elevators, USDA/Risk Management Agency, U.S. Wheat Associates, and Wheat Marketing Center; 5. Considering how to apply new knowledge to cooperative grain elevator business practices; and 6. Discussing ways cooperative elevator operators can convey information on the benefits of segregation to wheat farmers to increase their crop management skills on the farm. While it may be too early to tell just how much of an increase in profits will occur, or when, the immediate benefits of the training are already becoming apparent. One elevator general manager explained his thoughts this way: "I think it's too early to tell right now, but the more knowledge we have throughout the operation in identifying and really looking at the wheat instead of looking at dockage, looking at the other factors in the different classes of wheat, it doesn't necessarily make me a premium, but it prevents me from absorbing a discount - and lack of a discount is a premium." Another operator, engaged in customer relations field work, said, "It's kind of a long-term profitability. I was in charge of grain coming in this harvest and coordinating elevators to take different varieties. I think that the way it was segregated to quality probably improved our profitability." Sharing the knowledge has begun to flow both ways: to wheat growers, and to how they perceive their own farm businesses; and to end users, such as companies making a variety of noodles and other wheat foods in Asia. For example, grain elevator employees working in the seed plants regularly provide advice and technical assistance to producers/growers regarding varieties of wheat to plant. They are able to share information from the training program this way: "We try to explain to the growers as they make wheat variety selections for planting, that if they are selecting for quality, they have a better chance of expanding their, and our, market. Otherwise, they are just growing a commodity that we need to find a home for. The feedback I'm getting from customers is that it is extremely valuable information for them." Another participant explained, "Gaining knowledge about global market demands and customer specifications really is what we need to know and keep in the forefront… every day." An important factor in profitability is the ability to target specific markets for wheat that meet customer specifications for end-product manufacturing. Several grain merchandisers have found that they have been a lot more successful marketing specific wheat to specific buyers as a result of the information they received on customer specifications and global market demands for their wheat. One manager connected his efforts at targeting specific markets with the handling processes and employee performance at his elevator: "I've spent a lot of time trying to differentiate our company from others by using expert knowledge and trying to add value by segregating for quality. I think our company is getting better at that and it adds to the profitability. "I may be able to find business that will pay a premium price for the wheat, but if we all refuse to pay attention to the quality, the opportunity is lost because we can't guarantee that quality. It's only when we recognize the value, and integrate proper segregation for quality that we'll make a difference. It's about separating the stuff that isn't good because it ruins the homogenous mass ? that's the driver," he said. After USW's presentation to the class, comments centered on wheat specifications and how detailed, or not detailed, the customer specs are. Actual specs from Japan, for instance, were interesting to the group. "We know what happens to the wheat from here to Portland, but not what happens from Portland to Japan and then into their wheat food product-producing plants," one participant noted. FGIS grading of wheat samples, another class hands-on activity, was helpful to most of the elevator cooperative members. One explained it this way: "Just how little it takes of foreign material, or dockage, or whatever being in the sample that they're looking at can really change things. If they're looking at 100 kernels, and find just two kernels of barley in there… what that does to your grade. It makes you realize how tight those tolerances are and that if your contract is based on #1 wheat, you'd better be sure that only #1 wheat goes down there." Another viewpoint regarding FGIS and the wheat grading presentation proved beneficial to another elevator operator, who said, "I really enjoyed the FGIS wheat grading because it is so relevant to my work. I load the barges and check the grain… now I know I will do a better job as I know a lot more about the process." During a different portion of the class, another participant, after seeing an export elevator, commented, "I also thought it was interesting out at Columbia Grain when they were talking about how much more they clean the wheat before they ship it, compared to even five years ago. That was interesting, showing that's why our dockage system is so tight on what is allowed before discount." The tests run at the Wheat Marketing Center lab made an impression on the participants, too. One said, "The most useful things I found were the tests and how they use the tests and apply them to the wheat being tested. "Understanding what the tests mean is like having a face to go with a name. I mean an Extensograph doesn't really sound all that exciting, but when you understand what it does, and what it is, it makes a big difference. That was the biggest thing for me," he said. The Extensograph is used to measure and record the resistance of a dough to stretching. Other tests for wheat and flour quality performed during the training included: • Milling test • Falling number test • Protein content test • Single Kernel Characterization System (SKCS • Dough and Gluten Strength tests (Farinograph, Alveograph, and Flour Starch Viscosity tests, i.e., Amylograph, and Rapid Visco Analyzer) "I would encapsulate what I got out of this training as quality counts, starting on the farm. I came back and recognized that somebody out there needs the end product, and it's got to be a consistent quality product that we're trying to sell. We're not just selling wheat of any type anymore. We're selling specific wheat for a specific use for a consumer out there that demands high, and consistent quality. If we don't meet it, then we lose too," a participant concluded. "The Oregon and Washington elevator operator training seminars were the results of successful grant proposals created by WMC Education Program Manager Pamela Causgrove. These training opportunities and sponsorships were made possible through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Business Enterprise Grant funds," Executive Director David Shelton said "The Wheat Marketing Center is developing two new seminars: one tailored specifically to wheat growers, and another, at the next level for elevator operators We believe this will assure customers in the countries buying their wheat from the United States that wheat quality is our number one objective," Shelton added. Scientists Help Agriculture Face A Future With Less Water By Peg Herring, Oregon State University Farms in the semiarid western United States produce a large portion of the nation's food and fiber, mostly with irrigation. Yet, as available water supplies shrink and competing demands for water increase, western agriculture faces an uncertain future. Scientists from throughout the world convened today to discuss the water crisis in agriculture and explore how new research can help farmers produce more with less. Their discussion was part of the annual meeting of American Association for the Advancement of Science, held this week in San Francisco. "There is no question that the greatest challenge for agriculture in the near future will be the availability of adequate supplies of water of sufficient quality to support agricultural production," said Stella M. Coakley, an associate dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences at Oregon State University, and one of the panel organizers. Coakley, a plant pathologist with a specialty in climatic effects, sees the issues of water security and food security converging in agricultural areas around the world, including many parts of Oregon. Panel members described how an increase in population, urbanization, and environmental consciousness has increased various demands for water, outbidding and reducing the water available for agriculture. Shrinkage of groundwater resources and a prolonged drought have aggravated the situation, and the greater frequency of more severe droughts predicted by some global climate change models are a cause for great concern. In addition, global warming appears to be increasing the water requirements of plants. Ray Huffaker, from the School of Economic Sciences at Washington State University, addressed the changes needed in federal water laws and policies to protect water rights and to enhance efficiencies in water distribution, allocation, and marketing. Bert Clemmens, from the Arid Land Agricultural Research Center in Maricopa, Ariz., discussed actions and technologies that could reduce field losses of rain and irrigation waters. Robert Evans, from the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Sidney, Mont., described how competition for water will soon require a major shift from maximizing agricultural productivity per unit of land to maximizing productivity per unit of water consumed. He outlined new methods to increase water use efficiency of crops, technologies that include site-specific water management. John Bennett, from the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, spoke about his research identifying genes for drought tolerance in rice, and efforts to breed rice for water-limited ecosystems. And John Letey, a professor emeritus of soil and water sciences at the University of California, Riverside, spoke of his work modeling soil salinity and reuse of saline and other impaired waters. "These are some examples of what we might do to address the water security in the West," Coakley said. Late Winter To Early Spring Care Will Help Caneberries Thrive By Carol Savonen, Oregon State University Established raspberries (including Meeker and Willamette) and blackberries (including marionberries, boysenberries and loganberries), need some late winter-early spring care to stay healthy and productive. Caneberries should be fertilized in the early spring when new growth is starting, explained Bernadine Strik, berry crops professor with the Oregon State University Extension Service. Apply between one-half and one pound of actual nitrogen (for example, a 5- to 10-pound bag of 10-20-20 fertilizer or 1.25- to 2.5-pound of urea, 42-0-0) per 100 feet of row. Apply another half-pound to a pound of nitrogen per 100 feet of row again in mid-June. Manure can be used, but apply it in the late fall or winter, advised Strik. "It's best to spread the fertilizer over the surface of the soil in the row," she said. Caneberry foliage on the new primocanes should be a healthy green color. A pale green or yellow color may indicate nitrogen deficiency, says Strik. If the plants seem to lack vigor, apply a little more nitrogen fertilizer. Weed the berries periodically and mulch with any sawdust or bark, except cedar, to help prevent future weed infestations. Erect blackberries such as Navaho and semi-erect blackberries, like Chester and Triple Crown, need some pruning in late winter or early spring to improve yield and fruit size. If you pruned correctly last year, you should have tipped the new primocanes to about three-feet high in erect types and five feet in semi-erect types during the growing season, so that they formed branches. Now prune those lateral branches on these canes to 18 to 24 inches long. The new primocanes on trailing blackberry cultivars including marionberries, boysenberries and loganberries, should not be summer-pruned, said Strik. This blackberry produces new primocanes at the crown of the plant in the spring; these canes overwinter, become floricanes and produce fruit the following year. After harvest, floricanes die and should be removed from the trellis in late August. The new primocanes should be trellised in August or late winter after severe cold temperatures have passed. Raspberries come in red summer-bearing, red and yellow primocane-fruiting ("fall-bearing") and black varieties. Prune summer-bearing red raspberries by taking out the dead fruiting canes in the late summer. From January through early March, when plants are dormant, remove all weak, broken and diseased canes to crown or soil level. If your summer-bearers are planted in hills, leave 10 to 12 of the strongest canes in each hill. If they are planted in a hedgerow, narrow the row to about 12 inches wide. You can shorten canes to about 51Ú2- to 6-feet tall to make training and picking easier. Keep the hedgerow of primocane-fruiting raspberries to about 12 inches wide during the growing season. In winter, to prune for two crops a year, remove all cane tips that fruited on the tips of the primocanes last fall. The base of these canes will fruit in June/July next season. Remove these canes when they die after harvest in July. The late-summer/fall crop will be produced on the new primocanes that grow next season. To prune primocane-fruiting raspberries to bear in late summer (August to October) only, cut all canes to ground level in late February/early March when plants are dormant. When the new primocanes emerge, keep row width to 12 inches apart. Black raspberries should be summer pruned by tipping the new primocanes when they just pass three feet tall, to encourage branching. In winter remove damaged and smaller canes. Remove dead fruiting canes that fruited last summer. On the new canes, shorten branches to 12 to 24 inches long.

Horizon Communities Begin Leadership Training By Bill Loftus, University of Idaho Fourteen Idaho communities from Cascade north to Bonners Ferry will send representatives to Lewiston for a leadership training program March 12-14. The University of Idaho led Horizons Program funded by Northwest Area Foundation Horizons program will sponsor the training by the Pew Partnership for Civic Change. In the six months since the Horizons program began, more than 600 community members turned out to talk about the futures of their towns. The leadership training will help communities create a future where everyone has an opportunity to thrive, said Mary Schmidt, a University of Idaho Extension professor who directs the program. "We're trying to build the leadership capacity in these communities to be able to handle challenging issues and to work together in the future," she said. The study circles that drew together dozens of members from each community were led by 178 facilitators trained during the first round of Horizons activities. "The idea is these study circles are diverse and inclusive to draw in people from different backgrounds," Schmidt said. The Foundation's goal for the Horizons program is to help communities develop leadership to address poverty. The leadership training is scheduled to be completed by July and will phase into another community-wide effort to envision a course for action by early fall. "The leadership training requires an investment of 30 hours by participants, so it's very intensive," Schmidt said. For the following eight months after developing a vision for the communities, Horizons will work to connect them to resources that will help them put their plans in action, she added. The University of Idaho employs coaches to help the communities work through the program. The 14 Horizons communities actually involve 23 towns. Several communities, such as Silver Valley and the Coeur d'Alene Reservation share close ties, such as schools or cultural heritage. Each community chooses its own direction. In Riggins, Kendrick and other communities, Schmidt said, youths still in high school have stepped forward to take leadership roles in some of the activities. The Horizons program began in 2004 in Idaho with three communities, Kamiah, Orofino and Elk River. Schmidt said the foundation has said it hopes to expand the program to other communities in the future. More information about the Horizons program is available online at extension.ag.uidaho.edu/horizons/ or www.nwaf.org. How Can Charity Be Effective? By Carol Flaherty, Montana State University News If you want to help the poor, make donations that directly empower people, and hold back on those that must filter through layers of bureaucracy, a Montana State University economist says. "People need opportunities, not someone telling them what to do," said Dino Falaschetti, an MSU economist who served the President's Council of Economic Advisers last year. He said that giving more resources to individuals increases their mobility and ability to move toward opportunity. "Some money is needed for infrastructure, but more should go to individuals," Falaschetti said. "That would help Montana's underemployed as much as it might have helped Hurricane Katrina victims." In Katrina relief, which Falaschetti helped analyze for the White House, federal government relief has totaled at least $100 billion. That's the equivalent of about $200,000 for each victim of the hurricane, though some estimates run as high as $500,000 per person. If more of that money had gone to individuals, the overall relief system might have worked better, he said. "If you're a politician, and there are a bunch of people out there with $200,000, you figure out ways to offer them opportunities. You develop ways to help them enjoy the community and to keep them from moving away." New Orleans and Louisiana were famous for inefficient government years before Hurricane Katrina hit in late August 2005. The city's famous "Times-Picayune" newspaper documents examples that include the conviction of five Louisiana judges on bribery charges in the 10 years before Katrina and charges of tax evasion by several associates of a former New Orleans' Mayor shortly before Katrina hit. Former U.S. Attorney Eddie Jordan in the mid-1990s described corruption in the New Orleans Police Department as "rampant and systematic." Falaschetti said that he does not think it is a coincidence that this notoriously inefficient government occurred in a state that had the least mobile population in the country at the time of Katrina, as measured by the percent of the population that was born in-state. Falaschetti pointed to the work of Charles Tiebout, a famous economist, who showed that if you can't credibly threaten to take your business elsewhere, you get treated poorly. "People understand that as it relates to car sales. If you can take your business across the street, you can get a better deal. This is true for locales as well. If individuals have the ability to go elsewhere, they'll get treated better by their elected representatives," said Falaschetti. Katrina provides an extreme example of approaching a problem by sending money to the place, he said. "In trying to provide assistance, individuals and the federal government sent money to a variety of agencies, but providing financial resources to an inefficient government did not help it become efficient," Falaschetti said. The alternative, he said, is to help the people directly. "The best way to help the place is to help the people," he said. "We need to ask the question, 'How do we fundamentally change people's life chances?' To do that, we need to give people access to opportunity." Practically speaking, giving people access to opportunity means that you need to give them access to transportation, he said. Or, as he said in a recent talk to Opportunity Link of Northcentral Montana, "If you love somebody, set them free." A bus system, while a useful community service, still constrains a person from freely choosing where he or she would go. On the other hand, giving someone a personal means of transportation goes much further toward helping them move toward opportunity, he said. In the short term, after such a move, there needs to be some system for helping them get established in a new community. "When you are poor, you can't buy a lot of things. One of the things you have trouble buying is insurance. Instead, you rely on your social network a lot more than if you have greater wealth. So during the adjustment period after moving to a new job, you are flying without a net. You've given up your social network. Any policy moving in this direction has to provide a safety net. It is one of the transition costs." Besides providing transportation, a policy to help poor people should provide their children with a way to explore options in other communities. "This isn't popular in Montana. We don't want our young people leaving, but the answer isn't to force them to stay here, but to compete to get them back after they've seen other places. We have to create opportunities," he said. UI Students Help Masai Nomads Purify Polluted Water "If you want to make significant changes in world health, don't become an M.D. Become an environmental engineer and design ways to produce clean drinking water," says Tom Hess, UI professor of biological and agricultural engineering who, with other faculty, is helping University of Idaho students do just that. In spring 2006, a student team designed a water bio-filter to provide clean water for Masai tribespeople in Kenya. The filter, utilizing Kenyan Moringa seeds as a coagulant to reduce water pollutants, yielded promising results in field tests. Research and refinement continued on campus during summer and fall 2006. Another six university students raised their own support and won grants to work in Nairobi, Kenya Feb. 22 to March 6, 2007  for further bio-filter field-testing and water containment systems development. Contact is Becker J. Gutsch at gutsch@uidaho.edu. Biodiversity Pays: Study Shows Shade Trees Shelter Coffee From Ant Damage By Bill Loftus, University of Idaho Damage by leaf-cutting ants is more extensive in coffee-only plantations than in those with shade trees intermixed. The conclusion: ants avoid coffee when they can, a team of University of Idaho scientists found during studies in Costa Rica. Proponents of plantations of intermixed coffee and shade trees say they provide better habitat for birds and other wildlife. The University of Idaho study by Edgar H. Varón and colleagues provided further evidence that the increased biodiversity in shaded coffee plantations can provide benefits, the authors say. The team reported its findings in the latest issue of the journal Agricultural and Forest Entomology. The evidence is strong that damage to coffee by leaf-cutting ants is greatest in coffee-only plantations, according to Sanford Eigenbrode, a University of Idaho Professor and Chair of the Division of Entomology, who oversaw Varon's research and studies to earn a doctorate. "The ants can be significant pests on citrus, coffee and other crops. They are capable of defoliating small trees overnight," Eigenbrode said. Individual ants carve a neat arch into a leaf, carrying the piece back to its nest. Workers there grow a specific fungus that thrives on the harvested leaf pieces. The fungus feeds the colony's queen and her larvae. "It's been called nature's example of agriculture," said Nilsa Bosque-Pérez, the UI entomology professor who directs an international, interdisciplinary program in graduate education funded by the Integrative Graduate Research and Education Traineeship Program (IGERT) program of the National Science Foundation. She and Luko Hilje of Costa Rica's Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center also served as co-authors on the publication. The IGERT project includes students working in Costa Rica and Idaho to understand how biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture can be complimentary. In Idaho, for example, a team of doctoral students in the program is studying the interplay of insects from remnants of native Palouse prairie, the original ecosystem covering southeastern Washington State and adjacent Idaho, and cultivated fields. Varon's work was part of a larger interdisciplinary team effort assessing the potential role of coffee agroforestry systems for increasing environmental services, including pest management, conservation of biodiversity and hydrological services, Bosque-Pérez said. In Costa Rican coffee-only plantations, Varon showed 40 percent of the plant material carried back to the ant nest was from coffee trees. In plantations shaded by the poro tree, ants preferred it and harvested less coffee. In farms with complex shade from multiple tree species, the percentage of coffee leaves carried back to the nest dropped to just one percent. The ant damage can pose a significant cost in coffee-only plantations grown without shade, although the yields overall in so-called 'sun coffee' tend to be higher. The economic analysis of pest control and other costs of sun- vs. shade-grown coffee were not part of the study, Eigenbrode said. The leaf cutting ants do serve an important environmental function, Bosque-Pérez noted. They are among the most important recyclers of plant material in the Costa Rican lowland humid forests and elsewhere in Central America. In all, 39 species of ants have evolved that harvest living plants to grow one specific fungus as the only food eaten by their larvae. The adult ants that harvest the plants primarily feed on sap. In August, Varon was the first graduate of the joint doctoral program between the University of Idaho and Costa Rica's Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center. Founded in 2000, this program offers opportunities for doctoral students to take coursework towards their degrees in Idaho, then live and conduct their research on agriculture and natural resources, including sustainable production and biodiversity conservation in the American tropics. So far 15 students have participated and five have earned their degrees through this unique program. Farming Fish No Longer Relies Only On Fish Meal Feeds By Bill Loftus, University of Idaho The world's farmed fish industry no longer relies entirely on fish meal to feed its most valuable products such as salmon and trout, a University of Idaho aquaculture expert says. A big reason was a doubling of the price of fish meal in 2006, the result of a number of factors including lower catches in Peru associated with an el Niño event. China's growing economy allowed it to buy up a sixth of the 6-plus million metric tons of fish meal available on the world market each year. "That changed everything," said Ronald Hardy, who directs the university's Aquaculture Research Institute at Hagerman, Idaho, the epicenter of U.S. farmed rainbow trout production. Hardy moderated a panel Friday during the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in San Francisco about advances in sustainable seafood production. The world's largest general scientific conference is expected to draw as many as 10,000 participants. This year's theme is "Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being." In addition to Hardy, University of Idaho researchers Jack Brown and Jon Van Gerpen will present a display and program, "Biodiesel: Field to Fuel," during Family Science Days Feb. 17 and 18. Hardy spoke about advances in reducing fish farming's reliance on fish meal and fish oil. He said prices surged from the $700-a-ton high he'd seen during his 30-year career to a crest of $1,400 a ton in 2006. "High prices for fish meal are here to stay, making alternatives such as soy protein concentrate and wheat gluten affordable alternatives," Hardy said. In addition, higher prices for fish meal will stimulate innovative approaches to recovering protein from seafood processing by-products, much of which is currently discarded. Supplying 45 percent of the world's fish supply in 2006, aquaculture must find ways to grow beyond fish meal and oil supplies to feed a growing population's appetite, he added. Decades of research have shown that proteins derived from grains such as corn, wheat and barley can to provide the protein-rich ingredients needed in feeds for farmed salmon and trout. Growing ethanol production, particularly the use of corn to make the alcohol-based fuel, could be a boon to some types of fish farming. Dried distillers grains contain the 28 to 30 percent protein that fish like tilapia and catfish require. Trout and salmon need 40 percent protein in their diets and that, too, can be met by ethanol producers, Hardy said. Producing the high-protein byproduct, however, will mean turning existing processes upside down. Ethanol producers now ferment the whole corn kernel, which reduces the amount of protein in the by-products below the needs of trout and salmon. Focusing on first removing the byproducts, protein and oil, then fermenting the remaining starch for fuel, yields a high-quality and valuable fish feed, Hardy said. About 10 percent of ethanol plants in the U.S. now use that process. Protein concentrates produced from soybeans, wheat, barley and canola also can supplement fish feeds to offset fish meal, especially if they are combined.  Each of these protein concentrates is deficient in an essential amino acid, but combining them offsets the nutritional deficiencies to some degree. Much of the work on plant protein-based feeds have concentrated on reducing phosphorus concentrations to protect water quality. Research in Idaho helped lead the way because its concentration of trout farms that produce nearly three-fourths of the trout headed for the nation's tables. In the 1990s, water quality in the Snake River suffered from an overload of phosphorus from a host of sources, fish farms among them. Reducing phosphorus in trout farm effluents and periodic lack of fish meal fed interest in grain-based fish feeds, Hardy said, and led to increasing use of alternatives available now. Harder to replace will be fish oil. People eat fish in part because it contains Omega-3 fatty acids, which are recognized as an essential component of a healthy diet. Fish fed corn oil or soy oil, however, resemble the plant's chemical profile more than a fish, Hardy said. New research is exploring phased, rather than constant, doses of fish oil to maintain the healthy oil profile of farmed fishes. Recent developments in the definition of organic and sustainable fisheries from Great Britain promise to help out there, too. Fish trimmings, or processing scraps, from sustainable fisheries can be used to produce marine protein and oil, potentially yielding up to 20 percent of the world supply, Hardy said. "Alaska has two internationally certified sustainable fisheries,  the pollock and salmon fisheries," Hardy said. "Processing by-products are a promising source of sustainable marine protein and oil for the growing aquaculture industry." In the past, the cost of converting the seafood processing by-products to meal or oil in Alaska was too high to produce cost-effective products until the uptick in fish meal prices, Hardy said. Soil Temperature Is Key To The Timing Of Vegetable Planting By Carol Savonen, Oregon State University It is time to select and plan for planting this year's "cool season" vegetables. And it's a good time to find or purchase a soil thermometer, as soil temperature is the best indicator of when to plant each type of vegetable, no matter what climate zone you live in. Crops that will germinate in the coolest soils (down to 40 degrees) include arugula, fava beans, kale, lettuce, pac choi, parsnips, peas, radicchio, radish and spinach seed. With a soil temperature above 50 degrees, Chinese cabbage, leeks, onions, Swiss chard, and turnips can be planted. When the soil warms to 60 degrees, warm season and many cool season vegetables can be sown, including beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots and cauliflower. But be forewarned &endash; beans will not tolerate any frost and may have to be planted again if the temperature goes below freezing. Wait until the soil warms to above 70 degrees to plant warm season vegetables including tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, squash, corn and melons. Tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are slow-growing and take many weeks to grow to the stage where you can plant them out in the garden, so you might want to purchase these as starts from your local garden center. On the other hand, squash, cucumbers and corn grow quickly and are easier to start from seed. Deborah Kean, an Oregon State University vegetable researcher, provides these hints to ensure further success with early season vegetable gardening: • Wait to plant until the soil reaches the proper temperature for a specific crop. • Buy cold-tolerant or short-season varieties. • Warm the soil with plastic mulch, a cloche, a Wall-o'-Water, spun fiber or fabric "floating" row cover or cold frame. • Be prepared to protect things if a hard freeze is forecast. Just because a crop has germinated and is starting to grow doesn't mean it can't be hit by a late frost. • Prepare well-aerated soil with plenty of organic matter for a seedbed. Some Punny Stuff To write with a broken pencil is pointless. When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate. The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large. A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months. A thief fell and broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened criminal. Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be charged with stalking. We'll never run out of math teachers because they always multiply. When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U C L A. The math professor went crazy with the blackboard. He did a number on it. The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground. The dead batteries were given out free of charge. If you take a laptop computer for a run you could jog your memory. A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail. What's the definition of a will? (It's a dead giveaway).

Top of Page