LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Wheat is wheat. Right? Since I moved to the Palouse in 1999,
surrounded by rolling hills of wheat, it hadn’t occurred to me to ask what kind
of wheat, other than winter and spring. As usual, assignments for this magazine
end up educating me, and hopefully you too. I was surprised to realize there
are six classes of wheat. Idaho grows at least five of them. The best wheats
for making bread, for example, aren’t necessarily the best wheats for producing
noodles. Growers have to choose each season which of hundreds of varieties of
wheat they will grow and for which uses. Our stories by Marlene
Fritz may give
you more respect for the growers, millers, bakers, noodle makers, and scientists
who come up with the best varieties to serve Idaho’s important
wheat industry.
UI alums waste no time. With
new degrees fresh in hand, alums from our college are heading of f to all ends
of the earth to help solve problems, from Sub-Saharan Africa, where soils are
badly depleted, to former Republics of the Soviet Union, where growers are still
scrambling to move from the Soviet era of mono-crops to more diverse crops to
feed their now smaller nations. Then there are Idaho-born honeymooners who star
ted their married life helping youth and farmers in Jamaica. Staffer Marlene
Fritz and UI alum/free-lancer Andrea Vogt tell their
stories.
Want to discourage stinging insects from your picnic? Find
tips and much more in a trio of new publications free online.
Why not go to college while you’re in high school? Five Idaho students doing just that—thanks to a new UI CALS Dual Credit program—tell staffer Bill
Loftus about challenges they’ve faced. We hope you enjoy this issue. If you have story ideas or suggestions, please share them with me.
MARY ANN REESE, Editor
mreese@uidaho.edu
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