Increasing Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Idaho

The 2022 Agriculture Census data shows that nationwide, the average of ranchers/farmers is 57.5 years old and only 9% of producers are under the age of 35.   In Idaho, the average age is 56.6 years old.  Of the 43,333 producers in Idaho, only 3,859 identified as young producers.  Idaho producers over the age of 55 number 25,243.  This indicates a need for ranch/farm succession planning if Idaho is to maintain its agricultural economy, businesses, and open spaces.  An introduction to succession planning was one of the workshops at Cattlemen’s Winter School in January.  At that time, many producers indicated interest in a more comprehensive workshop.

The Integrated Crop-Livestock System (ICLS) initiative aims to foster sustainable agricultural practices in Idaho by integrating crop and livestock systems. This project addresses the pressing need for a resilient and productive agricultural system in response to changing market demands, environmental challenges, and the need for improved sustainability.

Globally, ICLS has emerged as a viable strategy for enhancing agricultural sustainability, particularly in the Global South. In North America, challenges such as low biodiversity, intensive inputs, and stagnant yields from monocultures underscore the necessity for innovative solutions. Research indicates that integrating livestock with cropping systems can enhance soil health, diversify crop rotations, and improve overall farm resilience (Abigail et al., 2023).

ICLS could aid producers looking to diversify their operations by incorporating small livestock enterprises in identifying strategies that will help improve soil quality and health, manage pests, diseases, and weeds, and reduce economic risks. In the United States, raising livestock and crops together is an old practice in farming, yet increased specialization in farm production is noticed because of presumed management efficiency. Research suggests integrating animals into crop production systems yields considerable benefits with effective management techniques. However, producers are aware of grazing and its benefits on soil health and productivity, information, and knowledge on region-specific cover crops, and management techniques for grazing cropland is the quest. Managed grazing and crop rotation techniques work best with this approach to avoid over-compaction of the soil can be counted as one of the many benefits of ICLS. Adopting ICLS includes effective management strategies to achieve benefits from the system. ICLS provides long-term benefits, offsets costs, increases livestock density and builds overall soil health and crop productivity. There is a current knowledge gap in the management of cover crops and grazing among agriculture professionals and growers of the region. Fostering region-specific educational initiatives on ICLS is the need of the hour. This proposed project is an initiative to establish and improve platforms to bridge the knowledge gap and promote a more informed and engaged community around ICLS in Idaho Agriculture.

We hosted an extension outreach meeting and tour at the US Sheep Experiment Station August 8-9, 2024. The project included a tour of the properties and current collaborative research ongoing between U of I researchers and ARS, as well as research talks from researchers and partners. This included research on: sheep genetics, livestock nutrition, fire and grazing on rangelands, camera trap and other technologies on rangelands, and social science. The event included discussions of rangeland economic research and outreach needs, as well as feedback from participants about how to develop a future collaborative grazing experiment inclusive of economic, social, biodiversity and livestock goals. The event included tour stops across the sagebrush rangelands and high elevation grazinglands used by the Sheep Station in the Centennial Mountains. The meeting concluded with a meal and camp-out, followed by an optional hiking tour the following day to further explore the rangeland systems on the property.

Effective pest monitoring in agriculture involves overcoming challenges related to identification and detection, monitoring techniques, environmental variability, economic constraints, integration with pest management strategies, biological and behavioral factors, technological adoption, regulatory compliance, and ecological interactions. Addressing these challenges requires a combination of scientific research, technological innovation, farmer education, and collaborative efforts among stakeholders.

The hop industry in the Pacific Northwest is facing increasing concerns on pest control, especially regarding new ways to monitor recurrent insect pests that feed on the root system. This is not the exception in Idaho, where the California Rood Borer (Prionus californicus) is perhaps the less understood insect pest. Predicting the populations of this beetle on hopyards has long relied on pheromone traps that attract adults. However, this is by far the most impractical method as the traps are set underground and revised every day to count the number of individuals inside.

With the development of new technologies using Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, some smart solutions can become reality and save a lot of time, effort and money for the farmers. Although there are a few companies (both US based and non-US based) offering smart traps and AI solutions for agricultural pests, none of them has designed a system focus on P. californicus.