{"id":10031,"date":"2012-08-21T06:30:10","date_gmt":"2012-08-21T12:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=10031"},"modified":"2012-08-21T07:38:45","modified_gmt":"2012-08-21T13:38:45","slug":"one-drought-two-idaho-farmers-very-different-outcomes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/21\/one-drought-two-idaho-farmers-very-different-outcomes\/","title":{"rendered":"One Drought, Two Idaho Farmers, Very Different Outcomes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_10033\"  class=\"wp-caption module image center\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Jim Tiede and Hans Hayden in Power County, in southeast Idaho.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Tiede-Hayden.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-10033\" title=\"Tiede &amp; Hayden\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Tiede-Hayden-620x217.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"620\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Tiede-Hayden-620x217.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Tiede-Hayden-300x105.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Tiede-Hayden.jpg 1591w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jim Tiede and Hans Hayden in Power County, in southeast Idaho.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Some of Idaho\u2019s most fertile farm ground has been hit by the drought that\u2019s crippling crops nationwide.\u00a0 Farmers who have deep wells and irrigation are faring well.\u00a0 Those who don\u2019t aren\u2019t.\u00a0 It&#8217;s one indication of the very different economics of dry-land and irrigated farming.<\/p>\n\n<p><!--more--><div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/20\/some-idaho-farmers-suffer-others-succeed-in-summers-drought\/\">Some Idaho Farmers Suffer, Others Succeed In Summer\u2019s Drought<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/05\/29\/dry-conditions-for-idahos-dryland-farmers\/\">Dry Conditions For Idaho\u2019s Dryland Farmers<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2011\/08\/RussetPotatoes_ErikRank_Getty-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/topic\/agriculture\/\">The Business of Food: Idaho\u2019s Agriculture Economy<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<p>Not long ago, farmer Hans Hayden stood at the edge of his drought-withered spring wheat field, and described how it should look at this time of year<em>. <\/em>&#8220;It should be twice this tall,&#8221; he said.\u00a0 &#8220;It would actually look like a wheat field!\u00a0 At this point in time it kind of looks like a desert.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Not far away, farmer Jim Tiede marveled at his own beautiful crop.\u00a0 Looking out at it, Tiede had a different note in his voice: one of barely contained glee.<em>\u00a0 <\/em>&#8220;You spend all year babying it and pampering it and watering it and fertilizing it just right and now\u2019s the payday!&#8221; he said, chuckling.<em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Tiede\u2019s farm sits over the Snake River Aquifer.\u00a0 He can pump 3,000<em><\/em> gallons of water per minute onto his fields of wheat, potatoes, corn and sugar beets.\u00a0 In this year when drought has decimated crops across the country, pushing prices up, that water will make a big difference to Tiede\u2019s bottom line. \u00a0Hayden has no such luck.\u00a0 He is what\u2019s called a dry-land farmer, one who has no choice but to wait for rain.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10034\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 234px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Stan Gortsema was Power County's extension agent for more than 30 years.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Stan-Gortsema.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10034\" title=\"Stan Gortsema\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Stan-Gortsema-234x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"234\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Stan-Gortsema-234x300.jpg 234w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/Stan-Gortsema-620x793.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stan Gortsema was Power County&#39;s extension agent for more than 30 years.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Here\u2019s the thing about Hans Hayden and Jim Tiede: they make their livings on southeast Idaho\u2019s fertile farm ground.\u00a0 It\u2019s land passed down from their homesteader grandfathers.\u00a0 But the similarities more or less stop there.<\/p>\n<p>Stan Gortsema spent 34 years as the extension agent in Power County, where Hayden and Tiede farm.<em>\u00a0 <\/em>&#8220;It\u2019s called the opportunity you have in water,&#8221; he exclaims.<em>\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you can grow higher income crops than grain, such as field corn, sugar beets, potatoes \u2013 the dry farmer doesn\u2019t have that option.\u00a0 His option is if he wants to farm, he can grow grain, he can grow safflower, or he can have a summer fallow field.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>An irrigated farmer has more options, but his costs go up, too.\u00a0 Jim Tiede estimates he spent $300 per acre to grow wheat this year.\u00a0 For dry-land farmer Hans Hayden, the per-acre cost was much lower: about $80.<\/p>\n<p>In a normal year, even though Tiede\u2019s fields are more productive, his high costs mean he breaks even on wheat.\u00a0 He grows it only because he needs it in his crop rotation.\u00a0 Hayden, on the other hand, usually makes a pretty good profit.\u00a0 For him, this is the rare year when that won\u2019t be the case.\u00a0 But Tiede\u2019s wheat will pay him well, because prices are high.<\/p>\n<p>At the General Mills grain elevators in American Falls, giant trucks full of freshly harvested wheat line up every which way waiting to unload.\u00a0 Inside, superintendent John Peake looks on as grain pours from the back of an idling semi.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10035\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"John Peake examines wheat as its delivered to the grain elevators in the Power County town of American Falls.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/John-Peake.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10035\" title=\"John Peake\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/John-Peake-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/John-Peake-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/files\/2012\/08\/John-Peake-620x465.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Peake examines wheat as its delivered to the grain elevators in the Power County town of American Falls.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;We dumped 325 trucks yesterday which is roughly 175,000 bushels,&#8221; he says.\u00a0 &#8220;That\u2019s a lot of wheat.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He says the drought that\u2019s hurt dry-land farmers like Hans Hayden won\u2019t have a big impact on local production.\u00a0 Peake will still send out railcar after railcar, each holding 220,000 pounds of wheat.\u00a0 But he knows some farmers won\u2019t fare well.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I mean, being a dry-land farmer in southeast Idaho is a tough deal,&#8221; Peake says.\u00a0 &#8220;It was a windy year, it was hot early.\u00a0 It was just a tough year to be a dry-land farmer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>What everyone here will tell you, though, is that irrigated farmers aren\u2019t immune.\u00a0 They have enough water this year thanks to the heavy snowfall that came the winter before last.\u00a0 It filled reservoirs to their brims.\u00a0 But if the dry conditions keep up, stores could run low.\u00a0 And if that happens, Hans Hayden says, irrigated farmers, with their big upfront costs, will be in a tough position.\u00a0 He and other dry-land farmers will have less at risk.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We\u2019re playing the penny slots and they\u2019re playing the $100 poker game,&#8221; Hayden says.\u00a0 &#8220;We both can win and we both can lose.\u00a0 They just make a lot of money when they make it and they lose a lot of money when they lose it, because there\u2019s so much more money involved.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And that, Hayden says, is one more reason why he\u2019s glad to be a dry-land wheat farmer, even in a bad, hot year like this one.<\/p>\n<p><em>This is the second story in a two-part series.\u00a0 To listen to the first piece, <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2012\/08\/20\/some-idaho-farmers-suffer-others-succeed-in-summers-drought\/\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of Idaho\u2019s most fertile farm ground has been hit by the drought that\u2019s crippling crops nationwide.\u00a0 Farmers who have deep wells and irrigation are faring well.\u00a0 Those who don\u2019t aren\u2019t.\u00a0 It&#8217;s one indication of the very different economics of dry-land and irrigated farming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":10035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[49,68,97],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10031"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}