9-16 IAT Ag Tour

"Just a few things about Canyon County. We are so fortunate because we are by far the most diverse of side agricultural County in the state of Idaho." Canyon County Commissioner Kathy Alder is addressing state lawmakers as they prepare for a two day tour of agriculture in the Treasure Valley region of Idaho. One important element to successful agriculture is a reliable and plentiful power supply. The tour's first stop is Langley Gulch power plant. This is Idaho Power's newest generation resource. "This is Idaho Power's newest combined cycle plant in our history, we have a lot of generating plants, mostly hydro-". The 50 or so legislators then tour the University of Idaho research Center in Parma where 20 different plots were planted with various crops grown in the area and industry experts provided information on each crop. Here is Dennis Dempshire who is a popcorn breeder for Crookhum Seeds: "It is a seed crop and many seed crops come from Idaho and popcorn seed is no different. When growers in the Midwest grow our seed, they find better vigor, better cold tolerance and better high elevation adaptability. It is just like many other seeds grown in this Valley, it just makes a higher quality seed crop."