USA, ID: Barley crop looking good in Idaho this year

Barley is looking good in Idaho this year, and growers are looking forward to a favorable harvest and one vastly improved from 2014, as many growers still haven’t forgotten the disaster August rains brought on their crops, the Post Register reported on August 12.

This year is considerably better, provided it doesn’t rain in the next few weeks.

Kelly Olsen, administrator for the Idaho Barley Commission in Boise, agreed saying that growers are hopeful for a dry harvest period to get their crop in.

“The crop is looking favorable, looking good throughout the region,” she said. “The extended forecast is good so we are hoping for a favorable harvest.”

She said that fields look like they have a good yield potential but until the combines get rolling they won’t know for sure what type of a crop is coming in.

“We are looking for as good as a crop as we got last year, but we need more warm, dry days to get a really solid crop,” she said. “It’s hard to dial in on what makes a perfect crop, but we know we need more warm days to get the harvest in.”

Area farmers are at differing stages of their harvest with results all across the board reported so far, but mostly seeing a better-than-average harvest. It’s not as good as last year’s but considerably better than 2014.

Scott Brown, the barley commissioner for Region 3 that encompasses the Upper Snake River Plain, grows barley near Soda Springs. He said that his crop looks good for the most part.

“I am growing 7,500 acres of dryland barley and it looks good with a pretty average crop,” he said. “My later crop looks a little stressed and the barley heads seem a little smaller, but it was probably too hot and dry when the heads were growing.”

He said that last year he got a bumper crop with between 80 and 90 bushels per acre, depending on where the field was. This year looks more average with roughly 50 bushels per acre.

“You want the same bumper crop each year but that just isn’t reasonable,” he said. “The prices are down this year also — wheat is down and barley is also. You can’t have it great every year; that is just the law of averages.”

Lynn Pack grows his barley closer to Idaho Falls and he said that his crop is looking good. He said that he has been under contract with Anheuser-Busch since 1972, but this year is the second year he has been raising Voyager for his barley contract. While he had a terrific crop last year, this one doesn’t look bad at all.

“I got 20 percent more barley last year, but I have a great crop coming,” he said. “I am hoping to get between 110 and 120 bushels per acre. The heads are looking really good as we get close to harvest.”

He said that 2014 was a tough year, and last year had its own issues but things are overall looking much better now.

Ken Mortensen raises his barley up near Thornton and during 2014, he lost more than 40 percent of his crop in the field. He ended up turning his cattle lose to eat it out of the field and eventually made up the difference the next year. This year’s crop is looking even better than the one he got last year.

“I recently changed fields to one that I haven’t grown barley in before so I should be getting better yields with the improved fertility,” he said. “It’s looking better than last year, but I’ll know in a bit, we start harvesting (this) week.”

Mike Munns already has his harvest in the bin this season and he said he had a pretty fair growing season.

“The kernels seemed a little thin, but I think I got about 100 bushels to the acre,” he said. “I was growing Merit 57 under contract and it seemed to be pretty average, pretty close to the same return I got last year.”

Eric Peterson grows barley just south of Idaho Falls and he said his crop is looking good but not exceptional this year.

“I haven’t started yet and it always seems fantastic until you start cutting it,” he said. “I am hoping to get about 90 bushels to the acre, but I have one neighbor that is getting close to 120 bushels to the acre.”

He said he is growing a variety that is new to him so he isn’t sure how it will perform yet.

“The heads do look a little smaller than last year but again, that might just be the difference in the variety,” he said. “I’m still working on my hay so it will be a little bit until I actually know.”

13 August, 2016