07/22/05 Idaho wheat harvest underway

The rain couldn't have come at a better time. May and June brought plenty of rain to Idaho wheat fields but unfortunately something else blew in with the clouds. Stripe rust was a factor in many Idaho fields this year says Agrisource's Bill Mendenhall. MENDENHALL "Turns out that because we've had so much moisture we've have rust in a lot of these varieties and most of the varieties are susceptible to rust, they're not resistant. Just because it takes the yield down nobody's bred that into them. We have a little bit of a reduction in yield in southern and eastern Idaho" How much remains to be seen. University of Idaho's Juliette Windes says the first cases were reported in Power County near American Falls. WINDES "But I can tell you that as the season progressed it progressed northward and areas west into the Magic Valley. I know Parma had it and the Treasure Valley also had it this year but the spring grains even have it bad even though it hit first in the winter. Pretty much all of southern and southeast Idaho have some areas that are really hard hit with the stripe rust. And there's always a concern that some of the disease could carry over into winter wheat when it's planted. Which begs the question, what is the future for stripe rust in Idaho? Some answers next week. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott