AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho — Eastern Idaho farmers are contracting for significantly more mustard acres this season, enticed by competitive pricing and the need for a new rotational option in all-grain cropping systems, according to the region’s major oilseeds buyer.

Though it’s still a minor crop in the Gem State, Bill Meadows, with Mountain States Oilseeds, said the majority of his experienced mustard growers are stepping up their acreage. He’s also recruited about 10 new mustard growers, mostly in the Rexburg, St. Anthony, Newdale and Idaho Falls areas, where growers are looking for a profitable crop to break the disease cycle in grain-only rotations.

Last year, Meadows contracted for 5,000-6,000 mustard acres. This season, he expects to increase to 8,000-10,000 acres. His current price for mustard, 34 cents a pound, is a nickel below last year. Nonetheless, Meadows believes mustard remains “the best game in town” compared with wheat and other competing crops. He pays an additional 65 cents per hundredweight to help offset transportation expenses.

“We’ve been at it long enough now that people are starting to realize the benefits of mustard in their rotation. People we’ve talked to for three or four years are starting to grow it,” Meadows said.

Meadows said mustard creates a natural soil fumigant, controlling pests including nematodes and wire worms.

Following mustard, his experienced growers estimate they get a 10 percent yield bump in potatoes and a 15 percent increase in grain yields. He said their mustard yields have also risen steadily. His growers average about 2,000 pounds per acre under irrigation and 650-700 pounds on dry land. In certain areas, such as Swan Valley, he’s had growers push 1,500 pounds per acre on dry land.

Ririe, Idaho, dryland farmer Gordon Gallup will be raising mustard for a fourth season, planning to double his mustard planting this spring to 1,000 acres.

“Crop rotation was the main thing,” said Gallup, who likes mustard as a means of breaking up the disease cycle in a wheat and barley rotation.

In his first season with mustard, he averaged 800 pounds per acre. Last season, he was on pace for a 1,200- to 1,300-pound average, before hail damaged his mustard at flowering.

Gallup has noticed a decrease in wire worms in his soil. He said he hasn’t raised the crop long enough to become convinced of its benefits as a natural fumigant, however.

Meadows sells mustard to processors in the U.S. and Mexico and is currently working toward a contract with a processor in Peru. Though Canada has a sizable mustard crop, Meadows said eastern Idaho has earned a reputation for high quality and enjoys at least a 4.5- to 6-cent freight advantage over Canada when selling to buyers to the south.

Meadows said his flax acres have held flat this season, though he’d hoped to push the crop due to strong demand for it, and his safflower acreage will be down 10-15 percent, which he attributes to better soil moisture last fall for seeding winter wheat compared with the fall of 2012.