12/28/07 Ag year in review

Only a few more days left and 2007 fades into history. But it was the year of massive wildfires in Idaho especially the monstrous Murphy Complex in southern Idaho. RANCHER "Our fuel load out here has been horrendous. We're been scared to even go out in the pickup." The drought lingers on and there was a lot of scrambling to make sure farmers and ranchers had the water they needed. That issue is very much unresolved at year's end and there's a threat of some wells being shut off next year because of a lack of water. Just about every agricultural segment enjoyed some kind of price increase. Corn and wheat led the way to record highs, thanks in part to the growing demand for ethanol. FARMER "Our input costs have definitely been up there too and you know we're very fortunate to have the price of grain the way it is." Field burning ended this year, Celia Gould's tenure at Idaho State Department of Agriculture Director began with the first year of the Butch Otter administration, a mysterious bee die-off continued, Congress went down to the final days before approving a Farm Bill but refused to do anything about immigration reform. DAIRYMAN "Our legislators right now aren't making sound decisions for us, they're making sound decisions based on whether they can get re-elected or not." All in all, not a bad year for agriculture. From all of us at the Northwest Ag Information Network, Happy New Year and a safe, healthy and prosperous 2008. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott