1. Conference detail

The East Idaho Cereals Conference next month consolidates and expands upon six smaller local sessions held in previous years.

“It’s always been a struggle for us to get speakers because they have to come and travel around with us for the whole week,” Caribou County-based University of Idaho Extension Educator Justin Hatch said in a news release. “Our hope is that this will bring in speakers and make it a bigger event that’s more beneficial to more people and consolidate our efforts into one that is really good.”

The conference, to be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 5 at the Shoshone-Bannock Event Center in Fort Hall, is expected to attract up to 280 farmers in the region as well as others who work in agriculture. In previous years, cereal schools drew 20 to 60 people in St. Anthony, Idaho Falls, Soda Springs, Preston, Pocatello and Burley.

The water supply outlook and details of the 2024 agreement to avert curtailments are to be discussed by panelists including state Water District 1 watermaster Craig Chandler, state Department of Water Resources eastern regional manager James Cefalo, National Weather Service hydrologist Mark Dallon, and Pocatello-based water attorney T.J. Budge.

Scheduled presentations will cover the economic outlook, and current work by state wheat and barley commissions as well as the policy-focused Idaho Grain Producers Association.

Breakout sessions are planned on new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chemical regulations related to endangered species protection and various research findings.

Research topics to be discussed include mitigating drift when applying pesticides with drones, lime application, cereal variety selection, production costs, nutrient barley residue biomass, mixing growth regulators with herbicides, wild oat control, and risk management, according to UI.

The new format is expected to “allow us to share more topics people are interested in,” Hatch said. “We’ll be able to branch out to hot topics that are going on and still present local research, and we’ll meet the needs of our growers better.”

Cost is $25 by Jan. 23, $35 at the event.

Information: Hatch, 208-547-3205 or jlhatch@uidaho.edu.