Page 10 - Flathead Beacon // 7.13.16

NEWS
Valley’s Crops Coming In Ahead of Schedule
Warm weather and precipitation bode a bumper crop for many of the Flathead’s ag industries
BY MOLLY PRIDDY OF THE BEACON
The Flathead Valley’s crops are big, healthy, and ahead of schedule so far this summer, a total reversal from last year’s drought-plagued elds.
“The crop out there is really a beautiful crop,” Mark Lalum, general manager at CHS in Kalispell, said. “It’s huge, it’s big, it’s looking real good, the weather’s great. It’s day and night from last year.”
So far, the wheat and canola crops are growing very well, Lalum said, with timely rains helping out. Some of that rain has been harassing the hay crop a bit, he said, but farmers and ranchers do not anticipate a hay shortage. Last year’s hay crop was so depleted, the usu- ally bountiful crop had to be shipped into the valley to feed livestock.
Lalum said the valley’s crops are about a week ahead of schedule, and their size so far is looking larger than average. The 2015 crops were about 40 to 50 percent of the average, Lalum said.
The only downside of the season so far is that the commodity prices for these crops are low, Lalum said.
“They’ve got a big crop and that’s great, but they’re going to need it,” he said. “These low prices, it’s going to take every bit of this crop just to break even.”
Global and national wheat production is looking very strong, which doesn’t help the commodity prices, he
A dry wheat eld near Columbia Falls on July 9, 2015. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
said, and the dollar’s strength also weighs on exports. “We’re probably down 30 to 40 percent on price,”
Lalum said.
Bruce Johnson, president of the Flathead Lake
Cherry Growers Cooperative, said the cherry crop is about 10 days ahead of schedule, with at least one of the orchards within the cooperative already being picked as of last week.
“A larger percentage of co-op members, if they have early cherries, will be picking on Tuesday, the 12th,” Johnson said.
The relatively cool weather so far this summer has provided a nice balance for the fruit, with heat in the day and cooler temperatures at night, Johnson said, and the
precipitation has helped more than hurt.
Some orchards have hired helicopters to help blow
the sitting rainwater o of the fruit – if water drips into the cup holding the cherry’s stem, it can absorb into the fruit and cause it to crack or burst.
Johnson said he expects this year to be a large crop, given what he’s seen in the orchards so far. Last year’s crop was hurt by not only the heat of the 2015 summer, but also the winter damage caused in the winter of 2014 to 2015. Neither seem to be factors this summer, John- son said.
“I’ve seen cherry stands open and down the highway already,” he said. “People can get fruit right now if they want.”
An early crop doesn’t hurt the Flathead cherry mar- ket this year either, Johnson said. Typically, Flathead cherries are picked and sold later in the year than the huge crops in Washington state, but a late crop here can mess with that schedule. But the early season also a ected fruit growers in Washington as well, Johnson said, so the Flathead’s market space is still intact.
“They still have some stu , because they have tried over the years to plant on higher elevations and northern aspects, something to give them a little later of a crop over there,” Johnson said. “But still, they told me that pretty darn quick here we’re going to be the show in town.”
mpriddy@ atheadbeacon.com
Skijoring Damages Top $28,000, Close White sh Airstrip Popular event looks for new home as Glacier Park International considers transfer of authority
BY TRISTAN SCOTT OF THE BEACON
Damages from the popular skijoring races last winter have closed the White- sh Airport for the season, potentially forcing the popular winter event to relo- cate to a new venue.
Cindi Martin, executive director of Glacier Park International Airport, said the airstrip is normally open seasonally from the beginning of June until the end of October, but will not open this year because “the eld is not in a condition to sustain airport operations.”
Damages from the World Invitational White sh Ski Joring races, which were held Jan. 30-31 at the airport and are a tra- ditional White sh Winter Carnival event, totaled $28,435, Martin said, and included deep ruts and 6- to 8-inch postholes in the ground from the horses’ hooves.
In May, the Glacier International Air- port Authority (GIAA) Board of Direc- tors voted to not allow the event at its air- strip after discovering that, when owner- ship of the airport passed from the state to the county in 1964, it included a clause to allow use of the property strictly for
airport purposes. Authority of the air- strip was transferred to GIAA in 1985.
But the board was scheduled to vote on the transfer of authority to the state Department of Transportation’s aviation division at its July 12 meeting, and organiz- ers of the skijoring event are hopeful they can work out an agreement for the future.
Martin said if the state does take over management of authority of the airstrip, public use of the airport would not be a ected.
At this year’s skijoring event, a com- petition in which skiers are pulled by a
horse-and-rider team, Martin said the damages occurred while setting up for the event and grooming the course, as well as during and after the races, both from spectator tra c and horses.
While damage has occurred in the past, Martin said a period of thawing in late January created muddy conditions, making the grounds more susceptible to damage.
The total area damaged was 2.09 acres spread out over the western third of the airport, which totals 9.4 acres.
tscott@ atheadbeacon.com
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JULY 13, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM