Every farmer knows the cost of irrigating their crops, and anyone who has lost yield to disease and drought knows the cost of over- and underirrigating their crops.

There are voices within Idaho suggesting that hydroelectric generating plants on irrigation canal systems are focused more on generating power (and selling it) than they are on serving the irrigation needs of Idaho agriculture.

Idaho Irrigation Pumpers Association Inc. has one job – to ensure a reliable power supply at a reasonable cost for Idaho’s irrigators.

Technology is like a mushroom – generally, the main spore produces countless side spores. Take the smartphone technology, for example – from it sprang businesses that exclusively design cellphone covers; businesses that designed add-ons like pop-ups for grips, selfie sticks and camera tripods to hold them steady; refurbishing sites to replace those cracked screens; and cloud-based storage sites to hold all those photos you’ll never use again.