That Idaho is famous for its potatoes is well acknowledged; just look at the traditional red, blue, and white automobile licenses that proclaim so. Folks who pass through the emerald green rolling hills of the Palouse would make a claim for Idaho’s famous wheat.

Photo: Shoulder-high seed onions have contributed significantly to Idaho's agricultural base since the 1950s. College of Agricultural and Life Sciences files.

But to focus on those two would be a disservice to the diversity of agricultural crops and products that position Idaho as a national leader, and the University of Idaho as a dominant educational resource.

Potato research and breeding began in about 1910, less than a decade after creation of the College of Agriculture. J. Shirley Jones organized the Department of Agricultural Chemistry in 1906 and played a prominent role in early wheat research. But other crops that have grown to prominence in Idaho also date back to the infancy of the College of Agriculture.

W. H. Pierce began working with bean growers in Twin Falls County in about 1925 to develop a solution for common bean mosaic that had become widespread and economically threatening in the region. Pierce’s work led to the release of four mosaic-resistant varieties: UI 56, UI 59, UI 81, and UI 123. Bean research remains a priority for Singh Shree at the UI’s Kimberly Research and Extension Center three-quarters of a century later.

The College of Agriculture initiated an apple-breeding program in 1910 under the direction of C. C. Vincent. Thirty years later the newly released Idared, a cross between the Wagner and Jonathan varieties, drew widespread praise.

Extension home demonstration leader Marion Hepworth predicted the value of sugar beets in the early ’20s writing: “The use of sugar beets in the Northwest and Idaho might help increase the sale of beet sugar.”

Producers achieved record crops in the early 1940s as the U.S. entered World War II and the government changed acreage restrictions. The industry was bolstered by the construction of a $2 million sugar beet processing plant in Nampa.

Crop diversity was a hallmark for Aberdeen, Idaho, where the nation’s largest cereal experimental project began in the 1930s. At the dawn of that decade, 400 strains of wheat, 240 of oats, and 225 of barley were grown in experimental plots. Cereal researchers tested several thousand experimental breeding lines at the center in southeastern Idaho.
The dairy industry began flourishing in the early 1930s, sending milk sales rushing past potatoes as the premier agricultural product. Idaho dairy farmers earned $15 million in 1930, passing potatoes ($12 million) and wheat ($11.8 million). Butter production in Idaho increased nearly 30 percent from 1927 to 1931.

A new underground crop began to rise in prominence in the early 1950s—onions. The agricultural experiment station in Parma predicted that its new hybrid onions held “promising possibilities in prolonging the storage, and therefore, the marketing season for Idaho growers.” The University of Idaho joined Iowa State College and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in introducing 11 new varieties of hybrid onions in 1953.

W. R. Simpson of Parma developed new varieties of table beets, Swiss chard, and tomatoes that showed promising resistance to curly top virus in the 1960s.

Peas and lentils came into their own in the early 1960s, grown primarily on non-irrigated land in northern Idaho. The Dry Pea and Lentil Commission was formed in 1962 to guide marketing efforts. In the early 1960s, U.S. lentils were exported to 15 countries. That more than doubled, to 35 countries, by 1965. Pea exports followed suit, increasing by more than three-fold to 1.8 million bags from the 1950s to 1960s.

By 1980, Idaho’s fruit tree acreage expanded to 12,152 acres, with apples accounting for two-thirds of the total sales. Industrious growers also began developing Christmas trees, ornamental nursery crops, fresh market berries, and vegetables by the 1980s.
Today’s cornucopia of agricultural crops includes an array of fruit (most prominently in southwestern Idaho), an abundance of vegetables, and unique products such as specialty herbs, mushrooms, and even commercially grown fish, all of which have been enhanced by UI researchers and extension educators.
 

previous | next