07/25/05 Potato field day; ICA reacts to action

University of Idaho agricultural scientists will describe their most recent findings on research at the Famous Potatoes Field Day in Blackfoot tomorrow. On the agenda says Bryan Hopkins are the results of the university's four year best management practices trial, side-by-side comparisons of new and traditional potato varieties and more. HOPKINS "Various vendors demonstrating auto steer, harvesters, planters you name it. We've got our drip irrigation project which I'm pretty excited about, I think we've seen some really good results with that. Something new we've added this year we're got potato, wheat, barley and oat varieties for folks to take a look at." Idaho Cattle Association leaders are praising a series of enforcement actions by the state against Double C Farms of Cassia County. ICA president elect Mike Webster says Idaho's beef producers have a long and proud history of being good stewards of the environment and he applauded state agencies for taking action against "an operator that appears to have ignored both state and federal law as well as sound environmental practices." Three state agencies are involved and accuse Double C of illegally diverting water and lagoon waste water into the Eastern Snake River plain aquifer. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott