Washington County: Spring planting underway!

WEISER--Just Northeast of Weiser, Idaho’s 2020 farm season gets underway under cloudy skies.

Washington Farm Bureau President Tristan Winegar says the 2020 farm season is in full swing in Idaho's west-central county. The first stop was just east of town.

"This would be Woods farm, they own Appleton in town, that's an onion packing operation. They have a sorting facility and they have a big machine shop and build most of their own equipment," said Winegar.

Early spring is always 'iffy' in Western Idaho this time of year, according to Winegar.

"The soil temperatures are such that they'll be okay. We don't have water yet, the canal isn't ready for the water. Soil moisture is starting to go away but if we can get tractors in the field and get ahead, they'll keep working, and get the drip tape in and be there till they plant the onions," said Winegar.

Three miles away at Weiser Flats, Tyler Amano of Amano farms plants sugar beets. Despite no rain last week the soils are dry and perfect for early planting. "Beets are big here," said Winegar. "Beets and onions are counties' biggest row crops and definitely the big moneymakers But onions are number one on this county with many more tons of onions but beets are a big part of the rotation," he adds.

Washington County is ranch country, and at Winegar's ranch, they’re calving.

"Usually, except for this year, the weather is kind of rough and calving is hard. The end of February the first of March is our traditional calving season. This year we have dodged the worse weather. We usually get rain at least but this year its been dry and we haven't had rain or snow in 6 weeks," said Winegar.

And that’s helped farmers get ahead in Washington County,, with an easy calving season and more than half the county’s planting completed.