03/19/07 Growers seek crop management area

Some alfalfa seed growers in Owyhee, Canyon and Payette counties are asking the state to set up a crop management area. The petition to the State Department of Agriculture calls for a ban in parts of those counties on GMO seed like Roundup Ready alfalfa seed. A federal judge has temporarily halted the sale of Roundup Ready alfalfa seed and growers like Jim Briggs of Marsing applaud the ruling. Now, says Briggs, its time to protect growers from accidental pollination of their fields. BRIGGS "They set up an area saying in this area you cannot grow Roundup Ready alfalfa seed. Basically all the growers that grow alfalfa seed in that area will get together once a year and see if we want to make changes but the hay can be grown in the area but alfalfa seed itself cannot be grown." Following the Agri-BioTech bankruptcy, Idaho alfalfa seed acreage dropped dramatically from 30 to 40 thousand acres to about eleven thousand acres today. BRIGGS "Now that the glut of all of the seed coming from ABT is gone acres are starting to increase a little bit but I don't think its going to get back to that limit because the growers aren't there anymore." A crop management area, if approved following a public hearing, is managed by the growers with oversight from the Idaho Department of Agriculture. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott