The next farm bill is high on lawmakers' list of priorities, but Congress must clear the path in order to make progress, according to the National Association of Wheat Growers. "With there being a couple fiscal cliffs in front of us, there's a need to pass another stopgap spending measure – that does take precedent, just from a 'keeping the government open' point of view," Jake Westlin, vice president of policy and communications for NAWG, told the Capital Press. The organization lobbies in Washington, D.C., on behalf of wheat farmers across the country.

A few years ago, Owyhee County leaders noticed a sort of loophole in their comprehensive plan. Under the plan, it was perfectly above board for someone to buy a parcel of agricultural land, then undergo a rezoning or conditional use permitting process to allow one or more houses to be built. To assess the scope of the issue, county leaders made a map of the conditional use permits approved in the past 20 years, recalled Mary Huff, the county’s planning director, at a panel on farmland preservation at the Idaho Farm and Ranch Conference on Jan. 4. She called the results — how much ag ground the county had been ceded to low-density residential development not tied to a farm or ranch operation — “horrifying.

Idaho wheat growers seeded slightly fewer acres of winter wheat for the 2024 crop, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported this week. There are 740,000 acres of seeded winter wheat in Idaho, down 1% from the year before and 4% less than the 2022 crop, according to the federal agency. Washington winter wheat growers seeded about 1.8 million acres of winter wheat for harvest this year. That is unchanged from 2023 but a 3% decrease from 2022.

The 2024 Direct Seed Workshop will be held Friday, March 8th in Idaho Falls at the Hilton Garden Inn. More details and information about registration coming soon.

‍Lance Pekus is not your ordinary Idaho rancher. He has competed for 12 seasons on American Ninja Warrior, the reality TV show where contestants run, leap, and swing their way through a slew of challenging physical obstacles. Even Pekus, a natural athlete who played football, baseball, and wrestled, had to train for months before feeling prepared to battle it out on American Ninja Warrior. He says he became “a connoisseur of overcoming hurdles,” drawn to staying physically fit and navigating the physical and mental challenges required to succeed. There are many parallels between the physical and mental fortitude required to succeed in ranching and farming and a physical feat like American Ninja Warrior, Pekus said.

Cibus, Inc. said it has successfully regenerated plants from single cells in a wheat cultivar, a breakthrough the agricultural technology company intends to use to develop a family of traits to address the most pressing challenges faced by wheat farmers globally, focusing initially on disease resistance and nitrogen use efficiency. Cibus, based in San Diego, California, US, said its breakthrough is believed to represent the world’s first successful regeneration of a wheat plant from single cells. It provides another single-cell regeneration system to make its proprietary high-throughput breeding process, called the Trait Machine, operational for a key cereal crop integral to food security globally.

Utah Flour Milling, LLC has officially broken ground for its new flour mill and custom mix facility in Richmond, Utah, with operations expected to begin before the end of the year. Utah Flour Milling is a partnership of Denver-based PHM Brands’ Panhandle Milling and NIPPN Corp., one of Japan’s largest flour milling businesses. Construction of the facility will be led by Bratney Companies of Des Moines, Iowa.