Crop insurance has to save the season for Idaho growers

It is dry in Idaho, the University of Idaho writes. A mild winter, one of the mildest ever measured, with little rain and snow is causing a challenging start to the growing season in the potato state par excellence of the US. There is hardly any moisture in the soil and the reserves for irrigation are insufficiently filled. In grains, disease pressure is high, the University of Idaho writes, partly due to fungi and partly due to virus because of the high aphid pressure. Winter barley, which normally does not head until the end of May, was already flowering in mid-April in some places this year. In the east of the state, late (night) frost may cause damage. It has not really been very cold this winter in Idaho. That causes problems with potato storage, explains Kasia Duellman, seed potato specialist at the University of Idaho, in the report. These volunteer potatoes can serve as reservoirs for potato virus Y, possibly increasing the risk of a year with high virus pressure in seed potatoes, Duellman said. Another risk with potato storage is the possibility that the overwintered tubers contain the notorious potato disease phytophthora and form a focus in the new season. The biggest problem for farmers in the state, however, is the lack of water. Some growers have chosen to spray off crops that came through the winter poorly. There are also growers leaving part of their acreage fallow, according to Juliet Marshall, associate director of the Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station. I really hope everyone has a good broad weather insurance policy, Marshall said. I don't know how everyone else is going to make ends meet this year.