If you’ve lived in Idaho for any length of time, you’ve probably said it. You’re driving by a subdivision or other development, you look out and tell your passenger, “I remember when all that was fields.” But that cute little phrase demonstrates a major loss of agricultural land in Idaho. And a nonprofit organization wants to do something about it. As Idaho keeps growing and developers keep building, it's important to remember what they're building on. "Over the past 20 years, Idaho's lost literally tens of thousands of our productive agricultural land." That’s according to Roger Batt, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Agriculture's Future. They're a nonprofit made up of a lot of different agricultural organizations and companies. They want more people to understand how important agriculture is to the state, and how much losing agricultural land can harm us all.

Grains are offering an opportunity to minimize expenses as southwest Idaho farmer Matt Dorsey plans his 2024 crop mix. “This year, I find myself thinking not about how much I’m going to make, but how much it’s going to cost,” he said. “You’re not going to pencil much of a profit this year.” An overarching goal is “to try to minimize losses.” The high costs of many inputs and expected lower prices for some commodities will prompt some changes to planting strategies this year, several farmers said. “We’re watching reservoir levels and watching commodity prices,” said Bo Isham of Homedale-based Ag Idaho Consulting.

Republicans in Congress on Tuesday denounced what they called a secret agreement with the Biden administration and four Northwest Pacific tribes meant to eventually breach four dams on the lower Snake River that are considered critical to hydropower generation and U.S. wheat exports. A subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing over an agreement announced back in December involving the Biden administration, the states of Oregon and Washington, as well as the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes, and some environmental organizations.

About 200 people attended the second-ever statewide conference dedicated to addressing farm stress and farmer suicide.One of the main topics of the conference was addressing farmer suicide and understanding some of the warning signs to look for. The conference was free to attend and was held in Boise by the Idaho State Department of Agriculture’s Idaho Farm and Ranch Center. This is the second time the ISDA has held this type of conference, the first one occurring in October 2022. Part of the conference focused on tools and advice farmers and ranchers can use to deal with financial challenges. That included a presentation on farm management strategies and farm transition and estate planning by consultant Dick Wittman.

The donut category, in various ways, keeps growing globally. The sweet treats are showing up in new countries, more retail outlets and increasingly at quick-service restaurants, including McDonald’s. Krispy Kreme, Inc., Charlotte, NC, is leading the charge. The company has a goal of achieving 75,000 points of access and introducing Krispy Kreme in three to five countries a year, said Josh Charlesworth, then incoming chief executive officer, on Dec. 5, 2023, at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer & Retail Conference in New York. Global points of access were nearing 14,000 after the fiscal year’s third quarter ended Oct. 1, 2023.

Whole grains are one of three food groups that are fundamental building blocks of a healthy diet, according to the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs). But not all whole grains are created equal. They come in different shapes and sizes, colors, flavors and nutrition profiles. Whole grains, as well as foods made from them, consist of the entire grain seed, usually called the kernel. The kernel is made of three components: the bran, the germ and the endosperm. If the kernel has been cracked, crushed or flaked, then it must retain nearly the same proportions of bran, germ and endosperm as the original grain to be called whole grain.

Although down from the historic gain of 13% in 2022, the Consumer Price Index for baked foods and cereal products again advanced at a level not seen in many years outside of 2022. The index increased 8.4% in 2023, which followed the increase of 13% in 2022 and advances of 2.3% in 2021, 2.2% in 2020, 1.4% in 2019 and 0.4% in 2018. The gains followed declines of 0.5% in 2017 and 0.3% in 2016. The only other years in the past 40 years that the index increased more than 8% was a 10.2% increase in 2008 and an 8.4% jump in 1989, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor.