Idaho Bean Commission leaders seek legislative approval to increase the assessment collected from growers and dealers by one-third overall and to have dealers pay an equal share with growers.

The proposed increase is the first since 1992, executive director Andi Woolf-Weibye told the Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee Feb. 4. The panel voted to print the proposal for future consideration as Senate Bill 1054.

In addition to inflation of recent years that has “eaten away at our functionality and purchasing abilities,” the commission is doing more work, she said.

The commission in the past decade has gone on several international trade missions organized by the governor’s office, including a mission to Mexico in November 2023.  And recently, “we have identified some research deficits in our industry, most notably in entomology,” Woolf-Weibye said.

The commission recently has funded research at the University of Idaho Parma Research and Extension Center, and separately has worked to make sure bean seed meets European Union standards for the absence of Curtobacterium.

Woolf-Weibye said the commission has been judicious in selecting and funding research projects, and “we want to make sure we are able to fund valuable research in the future.”

Idaho traditionally ranks fifth in bean acres and first in production of certified disease-free bean seed, she said.

Idaho plantings of dry beans, a rotation crop, totaled 45,000 acres in 2024, up 29%, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Acreage was below the long-term average in 2022 and 2023 before rebounding last year, Woolf-Weibye said.

The industry is centered in the state’s irrigated southwest and south-central regions.

Acreage is down since the 1990s, “and some of that is because of better varieties that yield more,” said Monty Hamilton, a dealer member of the commission.

The commission’s current assessment is 12 cents per hundredweight. Growers pay 8 cents, dealers pay 4 cents.

The proposed new assessment is 16-24 cents per hundredweight, shared equally by growers and dealers.

If approved by the legislature, the new assessment would be 16 cents per hundredweight initially, Woolf-Weibye said. The commission would be allowed to approve future increases up to 24 cents.

As for dealers paying a larger portion of the commission assessment, “so far, I have heard zero pushback,” Hamilton said.

Growers and dealers see value in the commission, he said.

Discussions about raising the assessment started in 2023, Woolf-Weibye said.