Updating Idaho’s wheat growers
Keeping Idaho’s wheat growers advised of new varieties and strategies is another University of Idaho role.
UI Extension county educators are “the first stop when growers have a question,” says Idaho Wheat Commission (IWC) Executive Director Blaine Jacobson. “When several growers have the same problem, UI Extension educators are able to respond to it. There’s a great deal of credibility, respect, and information transfer that happens at that level.”
Cereal schools. To keep growers informed of research-based advances in wheat genetics and production, the IWC and UI Extension co-sponsor nine Cereal Schools throughout Idaho each winter.
“The schools are very effective,” says Jacobson. “They occur at a time when growers are making their spring planting decisions. Growers go to get updated on everything before putting their operating plans in place.”
Stan Gortsema, Power County’s UI Extension educator, says the IWC’s input is “integral” to the schools’ agendas, which include progress reports on varieties and pests as well as the season’s “hot” topics. “The Cereal School is meant to be the ‘teachable moment,’” he says.
Newsletter/Magazine. By funding Brad Brown’s Cereal Sentinel newsletter and providing space in Idaho Grain magazine, the commission also helps CALS research and UI Extension faculty get the latest word out. Brown is UI Extension crop management specialist in Parma.
In Moscow, UI’s Donn Thill is convinced the UI CALS-IWC relationship “strengthens” the information’s value in the eyes of users.
Retired wheat grower Don McCormick of Parma kept tabs on CALS’ studies, like Brown’s work showing the yield-enhancing effects of early planting for both spring and fall wheats. “There was always a discussion of when winter wheat should be planted for the best yields, and we headed for the university’s recommendations,” McCormick recalls.
 top |