The first three quarters of 2024 saw over 300,000 agricultural workers enter the country through the H-2A program, which provides temporary visas for foreign workers to perform seasonal agricultural jobs. It is an important source of labor in the West, with California and Washington ranking third and fourth in the nation, respectively, for H-2A workers.

“It’s not a complete silver bullet, but nothing is,” says Jay Smith of the J Lazy S Angus Ranch of Carmen. He and his wife Chyenne are using virtual fencing to manage cattle grazing on their Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service (USFS) permits after the 130,000-acre Moose Fire scorched their USFS grazing allotment in 2022. “I think the proof’s in the pudding when I say we want to keep using it,” he says. “The cost and the work were worth it.”

“When we’re talking vaccines, the worst-case scenario is not vaccinating,” says Idaho County Extension Educator Meranda Small. “That means you’re not giving your animals the opportunity to be set up for success in a variety of scenarios.”

For some farms, innovation means introducing conservation practices ahead of the curve. For others, it may look like growing crops outside the “normal” local rotation. Elsewhere, it may mean introducing cutting-edge technology. At Uhlorn Family Farms of Ferdinand, all three are at play.

With agriculture using more than 40% of total U.S. freshwater withdrawals in 2015 and hay and forage crops weighing in at 37% of U.S. irrigation water use, environmental groups and the media have been known to blast alfalfa producers for excessive water use.

With 24,600 farms and ranches in Idaho, accessing remote fields and moving commodities to market place a big demand on the roadways. Never is that so obvious as when harvest is in full swing and motorists find themselves sharing the roads with trucks, combines and other large equipment.

“The bottom line is,” says Mike Thornton, “if you have a lot of smoke, you can expect potatoes to be less productive, especially top-grade potatoes.” He found that yield in the smoke-treated plots dropped 2% to 3% each year.

“I’m an optimist, but I have seen fields overrun by kochia, and last year we learned that we have Palmer amaranth and waterhemp,” says Dr. Albert Adjesiwor, University of Idaho Extension weed scientist in Kimberly.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a producer in possession of any type of farm or ranch must be in want of updated machinery. So what considerations should play into a producer’s decision to custom hire versus purchasing, maintaining and operating their own equipment?

“Wheat has been my bread and butter most of my life, and I wanted to give something back,” says the newest member of the Idaho Wheat Commission, Cliff Tacke. He was appointed District 2 commissioner in 2023, after a lifetime of farming near Greencreek.