12/14/06 Idaho-E.Oregon Seed Assoc

There's a huge industry in southwestern Idaho that a lot of people take for granted. Seed companies have set up shop in Canyon County because that's the place where sweet corn, alfalfa, bean and other types of seed are produced. The Idaho-Eastern Oregon Seed Association president is Jon Iverson of the Harris Moran Seed Company. IVERSON "We don't utilize a lot of seed ourselves in Idaho. It's all exported out and so those dollars come back into Idaho. The dollars are quite valuable." Idaho ranks at the top in production of some seeds and is second only to California is over seed production. Iverson says the industry faces challenges today and there's always the problem of water, something the irrigated seed crops must have but it's the same commodity environmental groups want for fish restoration. IVERSON "We have shared the water under the Nez Perce agreements. Currently right now we have a Judge Redden in Oregon that is trying to overturn all that and we've all come together, the water users, the cities, the businesses and we've all agreed on these agreements." Federal judge James Redden has thrown out the government's plan and ordered the biological opinion to be rewritten. That was one of the topics of discussion during the 62-year-old seed association's winter meeting and trade show this week in Garden City. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott