Spelling Disaster for Idaho Ag
By Matt Christensen, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho
Nov. 22–Climate change is likely to significantly impact southern Idaho’s agriculture industry by increasing pests and disease, limiting the variety of crops that can grow and straining an already short water supply, says a University of Idaho agronomist.
The changes, which may include decreased potato and sugar beet quality, dried out soils and increased survival rates for pests, could mean disaster for farmers and Idaho’s economy, according to a report by U of I agronomist Juliet Windes.
The situation could become dire, Windes said, unless Idaho better manages its irrigation water supply, the lifeblood of most of southern Idaho ag.
“The water is the most important component in this thing,” Windes said in a Monday interview. “If we take the water away, we may only be able to produce dry-land wheat and barley.”
Windes in her report specifically avoids any discussion of the “global warming” debate. Instead, she bases her conclusions on data recently collected by other scientists.
Windes predicts that as temperatures rise, growing seasons will begin and end earlier as less snow falls and storage water decreases. At the same time, cattle will need more water to stay cool.
Other animals could thrive in warmer weather, though not to the boon of farmers. Higher temperatures will allow pests, such as aphids, to better survive winters and reproduce earlier and faster, enhancing their ability to spread disease. Farmers will likely adapt by applying more pesticides, which could increase the rate at which insects and weeds build resistance to chemicals.
The problem could be especially bad for southern Idaho spud farmers, who supply nearly a third of the nation’s potato crop. The root knot nematode, a microscopic worm that feeds on potatoes, is likely to reproduce much faster in warmer soil, allowing the species to more quickly adapt to chemicals. Without fumigation, potato yields drop dramatically and production is no longer economical.
Higher temperatures could also create a haven for new potato diseases, including Southern bacterial wilt, a pathogen that threatened geranium crops in the South twice in the past eight years.
Both times, the disease was eradicated. But Southern bacterial wilt is a re-emerging disease, meaning it continues to threaten because of its ability to adapt to management and chemical changes.
The key to staving off a Southern bacterial wilt strike or other disasters, Windes said, is adapting faster than the pests and pathogens — something the sugar beet industry may already be aware of.
Idaho experienced one of the warmest summers on record this year, including the hottest July since temperatures have been recorded. Yet sugar content in this year’s beet harvest was high, said Vic Jaro, a spokesman for Amalgamated Sugar, a company that buys millions of dollars of southern Idaho sugar beets every year.
In fact, sugar content has climbed with recent global temperature rises. “We have seen over the last few years sugar contents that are higher than previously,” he said.
Jaro credits the sugar increases to new beet varieties and better land management, though the developments weren’t prompted by concerns about rising temperatures.
Climate change isn’t on the minds of many in the industry, ag officials say. The Idaho State Department of Agriculture says it hasn’t studied its effects, and that concerns Windes.
“Significant advances must come from the agricultural industry in production, crop adaptation, crop storage, disease and pest resistance, and in reducing post-harvest losses,” she said in the report. “We must use all the available tools at our disposal â€- to advance science and technology in agriculture to feed the growing demand.”
Matt Christensen may be reached at 735-3243 or at matt.christensen@lee.net.
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