Salute to Idaho Agriculture: Harvest Season

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) —

“Harvest season is really the culmination of yearlong effort for farmers and ranchers”

We are at the tail end of the harvest season, where farmers get to know their yields for the year.

Sean Ellis, a spokesman for the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation, calls 2024 an, “Average year with average challenges.”

“Kind of the consensus is that it is a good average year. As for fall, when you look at all the crops, you look at it from county to county and farm to farm, region to region. It’s going to be different, no one is going to be the same. But in general, synopsizing everything, I’m hearing it’s a good average year”

Ellis says some of those general challenges farmers face include disease and insects.

However, there is another issue that has been more common this year than in years prior.

“One of the big things, one of the things, I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s different, but people saying it seems to be a little concerned about it this year, but it seems there is a lot of rodent damage, so crops across the board, a lot of rodent damage, in certain areas”

Also, complicating things is a rough spring and summer when it comes to the weather.

A late spring frost caused issues for some farmers, and all the smoke that was dealt with in the summer did not allow crops to grow to their fullest extent.

But Ellis says autumn is bringing some optimism.

“The fall weather has been phenomenal. If it’s too warm out, you don’t want to harvest your potatoes. But it will allow the plants to catch up on direct sunlight, photosynthesis, I’ve heard this fall has been just perfect weather”

This year’s projections, according to Ellis, are showing an average of 106 bushels per acre-just shy of last year’s record of 112 bushels.

With winter approaching, farmers still have plenty of work to do during their busiest time of the year.