Catching Up with CALS — Jan. 8, 2025

Dean's Message — CALS Legislative Asks

Once an average dairy state, Idaho is now home to about 663,000 dairy cows and ranks as the nation’s No. 3 producer of milk and cheese. Dairy has become the behemoth of Idaho’s agricultural economy, accounting for a third of the state’s farmgate receipts. The industry’s phenomenal growth is a result of Idaho’s well-earned reputation of being friendly to agriculture, which has enticed dairymen from surrounding states to relocate or expand into the Gem State. Idaho viticulture appears to be on a similar trajectory, as more commercial vineyards capitalize on the opportunity to do business in an environment in which regulators understand and prioritize food production. The state’s wine industry supported $314.1 million in business revenue, 3,100 jobs and $97.2 million in labor income in 2022 — the most recent year for which the Idaho Wine Commission has data. University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) has made a pair of significant funding requests of our state Legislature seeking to better serve both important, growing agricultural sectors.

Benefiting the dairy industry, we’ve requested an ongoing investment of $250,100 to cover a portion of the necessary building maintenance costs at the forthcoming Idaho Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Idaho CAFE), which will include the nation’s largest research dairy, based in Rupert. Thanks to strong federal, state, stakeholder and university investment, we’ve completed the first phase of construction of CAFE and expect to be milking cows by early 2026. This research, teaching and Extension facility will be representative of a typical Idaho dairy in size, scope and location, enabling our faculty to collaborate with industry on crucial research in agricultural economics, animal and dairy science, food safety and production and soil conservation. The solutions we identify should help Idaho dairies meet a bold goal their industry set to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

In Fiscal Year 2024, the Legislature approved funding for CALS to hire a ruminant nutritionist, forage agronomist and an air quality specialist to contribute to research based at CAFE. We’re also in the process of hiring an irrigation specialist who will be involved in research at the dairy. Funding building maintenance costs will enable CAFE to quickly meet its potential — the facility must adhere to stringent standards of cleanliness, air quality and equipment maintenance due to the nature of its research. The state stands to reap an enormous return on its investments in CAFE, as CALS researchers will tackle key questions facing dairies while bringing in millions annually in external funding.

On behalf of our wine industry, we’re requesting an ongoing investment of $157,900 to hire a viticulture research and Extension professor based at our new Idaho Center for Plant and Soil Health within the Parma Research and Extension Center. U of I currently lacks a research and Extension program to support Idaho’s wine industry. The new faculty member would share the pomology laboratory with our pomologist, broadening the body of knowledge about growing and marketing outstanding Idaho grapes and small fruits. This new hire would also be an asset for urban agriculture, dispensing valuable assistance for residents who raise vines in their backyards. The need for this position was made apparent in 2017, when we hosted listening sessions with more than 60 Parma-area growers who advised us to add it.

In Fiscal Year 2025, the state also approved funding toward construction of the Idaho Center for Plant and Soil Health in Parma. Adding a viticulture position would build upon the state’s prior investments in Parma. We’re extremely fortunate that our governor and state Legislature see value in the services provided by our CALS team and have been receptive to our asks. They aim to give Idaho agriculture every possible advantage. Agriculture and food processing drive our state’s economy, accounting for 17% of its total economic output in sales, according to a report by Phil Watson, a U of I agricultural economics professor. It’s not by happenstance that Idaho has become a place where food producers love to do business. We’re grateful that the future of food production is bright in Idaho thanks to the foresight of our state’s leadership.

Michael P. Parrella

Dean
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences

By the Numbers

University of Idaho Extension heightened its presence in Idaho communities in 2024, reaching far more people with its programming and messaging than during the prior year. UI Extension had 450,103 direct contacts with stakeholders during 2024, as well as a whopping 54,895,317 indirect contacts. By comparison, UI Extension had 397,435 direct contacts and 29,045,534 indirect contacts with stakeholders during 2023.

Our Stories

Precision Dairy Feeding

Researchers from University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences are aiding in a multi-institutional project to develop and test a precision feeding system that optimizes rations to meet the nutritional needs of individual dairy cows.

The research team’s Self-learning Dairy (SLDairy) technology works with existing equipment used by automatic milking systems, where cows may enter a stall with a robotic milker under their own volition and feed is automatically dispensed as an incentive to lure them inside. The team’s cloud-based system monitors each cow’s performance in real time to adjust delivery of food pellets from the automated stations as needed, based on nutritional models, herd management software data, feeding software data, and records from the robotic milking system about milk production and milk components.

One of the expected outcomes is that the technology will help dairies select animals to breed that most efficiently convert feed into milk and nitrogen into milk protein.

The project, which launched in October, is funded with a four-year, $1.15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. U of I will receive about $370,000 of the funding. Most of U of I’s share is supporting nutrition and modeling work by Izabelle Teixeira, a UI Extension dairy specialist. Teixeira will recruit a doctoral student and a postdoctoral researcher to aid in the project. UI Extension Agricultural Economist Hernan Tejeda is helping with an economic analysis of the savings achieved through implementation of the system.

The team also includes Virginia Tech University as the lead institution and researchers from University of Nebraska, Colorado State University, University of Tennessee and Emory University.

Though cows within a dairy herd have varying nutritional requirements, most dairies feed a ration designed for an average cow. Teixeira uses the analogy of giving medium-sized shirts to a large group of people. The shirts will fit about a third of the group members but will be either too small or too large for about two-thirds of them. Optimizing rations should help dairies avoid both underfeeding at the expense of milk production and overfeeding, which results in unnecessary feed costs while increasing nitrogen levels in dairy waste that may pollute the environment.

“Our expectation is feeding each cow in a proper way is going to save money, help the environment and boost production,” Teixeira said.

SLDairy provides a partial-mixed ration in a feed bunk. Individual cows supplement what they receive from the feed bunk at the automated milking stalls, which each have two feed lines filled with different grain blends in pellet form. Pellets are dispensed based on each cow’s specific protein and amino acid needs, as determined by modeling of data.

In small-scale testing at a Tennessee research dairy, the team documented considerable savings made possible by the system. The system will be tested at two commercial dairies in participating states next fall, followed by testing at two more commercial dairies in the spring of 2026.

In addition to assisting with nutritional modeling, Teixeira will also help with an Extension component of the project starting next year, initially sharing general information pertaining to dairy cow nutrition and eventually sharing results of the project, as well as instructions in how to implement the SLDairy system.

“Dairy farming has always required a careful balance between maximizing production and reducing costs, all while managing environmental impact,” Teixeira said. “SLDairy is a self-learning feeding system that aims to make this balance easier by using available technology to refine how we feed dairy cows.”

The project is funded by a four-year, $1.15 million USDA-NIFA-IDEAS grant under award No. 2024-68016-42391, of which 100% is the federal share.

Idaho Ag Record

Idaho agriculture achieved record earnings during 2024, according to a new University of Idaho Extension economics report, though the gains weren’t enjoyed by most food producers who raise crops.

Propelled by the strength of the livestock sector, Idaho farmgate cash receipts rose 4% from 2023 to all-time high levels of $11.3 billion, according to “The Financial Condition of Idaho Agriculture: 2024” by U of I agricultural economists Brett Wilder and Xiaoxue “Rita” Du.

Net farm income for the year rose 12% to $3.3 billion — the second highest total ever.

Thanks to exceptional beef prices, Idaho ranchers earned $2.9 billion in revenue during 2024 from cattle and calves, which posted a third consecutive year of record revenue. Contrary to the national beef inventory, which has been contracting, Idaho grew its beef herd by 2% from 2023 to 2024, though the state’s herd rebuilding may be slowed by the loss of range to wildfires last summer. Milk prices that were up 10% from 2023 contributed to milk revenues rising from $3.5 billion to $3.8 billion.

Revenue from other livestock — including trout, sheep, goats, chickens and eggs — was up by 12% at $321 million.

Feed prices, however, plummeted. Hay cash receipts during 2024 were estimated at $448 million, down 27%.

Furthermore, revenue from wheat dropped 7% to $564 million, and barley revenue dropped 5.5% to $398 million. Potato revenue dropped by 7% to $1.25 billion. Sugarbeet revenue rose by 1% to an all-time high of $470 million, though Amalgamated Sugar Co. reported that 18% of the crop had to be replanted, raising production costs for many growers.

Livestock represented 62% of the state’s cash receipts in 2024.

Agribusiness is one of the state’s major industries, responsible for one of every six dollars in sales in Idaho.

“Agriculture seems strong, but as a whole there are going to be winners and losers. It’s going to be a pretty tough year for those in the crop sector,” Wilder said. “Only a few small sectors of the industry are actually doing well, and within those sectors it’s only a few individuals — legacy folks who aren’t overleveraged and have economies of scale. Let’s say you’re a young hay farmer — you had a bad 2024.”

Federal government payments to Idaho producers fell 13% in fiscal year 2024 to $111 million.

Largest Cereal School

University of Idaho Extension will host its biggest cereal school ever, covering a range of topics of interest to eastern Idaho grain farmers, on Feb. 5 at the Shoshone-Bannock Hotel and Event Center, 777 Bannock Ave.

In prior years, UI Extension hosted six smaller cereal schools — each drawing between 20 and 60 guests — in St. Anthony, Idaho Falls, Soda Springs, Preston, Pocatello and Burley. For 2025, Extension is planning a single “East Idaho Cereals Conference” in Fort Hall that will serve up to 280 eastern Idaho farmers, as well as others who work in the agricultural sector.

“It’s always been a struggle for us to get speakers because they have to come and travel around with us for the whole week,” said UI Extension Educator Justin Hatch, Caribou County, who is the head of the event’s planning committee. “Our hope is that this will bring in speakers and make it a bigger event that’s more beneficial to more people and consolidate our efforts into one event that’s really good.”

Registration for the event will be $25 in advance, with preregistration available through Jan. 23, or $35 at the door. Lunch is included. Onsite registration will open at 8 a.m., followed by a welcome in the main conference room at 9 a.m. The day’s final session will end at 4 p.m.

Presentations open to all participants in the main conference room will include an economic outlook by UI Extension Agricultural Economist Brett Wilder; talks by leaders with the Idaho Wheat Commission, the Idaho Barley Commission and the Idaho Grain Producers Association; and a panel discussion on the water outlook and details of an agreement to avert water-call curtailments. The water panel will include Craig Chandler, watermaster of Water District 1; James Cefalo, Idaho Department of Water Resources eastern regional manager; Mark Dallon, hydrologist with the National Weather Service’s Pocatello field office; and Pocatello-based water attorney T.J. Budge.

The agenda also includes multiple breakout sessions that will be offered concurrently. One room will be devoted to pesticide-related topics, and pesticide applicator recertification credits will be awarded. Other breakout rooms will focus on local research covering topics such as lime applications, variety selection, cost of production, nutrient barley residue biomass, new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations related to endangered species, mitigating drift while using drones for pesticide applications, mixing growth regulators with herbicides, wild oat control and risk management.

Furthermore, several researchers will display posters on their projects, and vendors will showcase their products and services in the hall outside of the conference rooms.

“I think this format will allow us to share more topics people are interested in. We’ll be able to branch out to hot topics that are going on and still present local research, and we’ll meet the needs of our growers better,” Hatch said.

• Please fill out Registration form by Thursday, Jan. 23
• Cost is $25 through Jan. 23 or $35 at the door
• For more information, contact Justin Hatch at 208-547-3205 or jlhatch@uidaho.edu

Faces and Places

Several CALS faculty, staff and students participated in the biennial meeting of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation in Charleston, South Carolina in December. Graduate student Alex Gogel earned an award of excellence from the Journal of Human Lactation for her research poster.

Shelley McGuire, director of the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences and a leading researcher of human milk science, was one of nine experts who were part of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) committee that recently released a report based on a review of scientific literature on health outcomes of moderate alcohol consumption. The report will help inform the next edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Rhett Spear, an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Sciences based at the U of I’s Aberdeen Research and Extension Center, discussed the versatility of potatoes, how they’re grown and what scientists look for when they’re developing new potato varieties as a guest on the popular public radio program Science Friday. His episode, titled “A Horn of Potato Plenty,” aired on Nov. 22, 2024.

Alexander Karasev, a university distinguished professor in the Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Nematology, was one of 13 researchers serving on a National Academies of Sciences special panel during 2023 and 2024 assigned to assist the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The panel reviewed literature and visited sites to make recommendations for the industry to protect itself against two important diseases affecting viticulture — grapevine leafroll disease and grapevine red blotch virus. The panel released its report in December 2024.

A total of 341 CALS students were named to the Fall 2024 Dean’s List. These students achieved a GPA of 3.5 or better in at least 12 graded credits for the fall semester.