Museum: Agriculture in Idaho - Current Farming Practices

From horse power and hand tools, to steam driven machines, motor plows and crawler tractors, and finally to the gasoline and diesel engines of today, the face of farming has changed and continues to change with technology and production demands. Farm equipment of today can replace several machines and tools of yesteryear into one multi-tasking, gigantic harvester.

Farmers in Boundary County treasure the lifestyle their hard work and investments provide. What a sense of pride to look out across the valley in full bloom surrounded by timbered mountains, and the meandering Kootenai River realizing their accomplishments and mission in food production.

Most of the fertile valley land is utilized for commercial grain enterprises. Almost all of the approximately 400 farms are owner-operated with amazingly few absentee owners. An estimated one-half the operators work off the farm, often in the timber industry.

Modern tractors, combines, and other farm equipment have replaced the “horse power” of the past and the steam power as well. Armies of combines can be seen cresting a rise on the horizon, crawling over hundreds of acres of grain reducing acre after acre to stubble in a matter of days and sometimes just hours.

Huge rolls or bales of alfalfa and grass hay dot the landscape on both valley and bench lands. Hay crops are stored as bales or chopped as silage and stored in bags or silos. Today hay is grown for shipment to many places outside Boundary County. Dry land alfalfa hay production averages 3-3.5 ton/acre. Beef ranchers may graze cattle on federal or state lands to supplement the grazing pastures and ranges often located along free flowing streams.

It is customary practice to use fertilizers and control applications to varying degrees based on best management practices. Crops are protected from disease, insects, and excessive weed pressure. These practices are highly variable based on the requirements of the specific crop and cost effectiveness. Crops are protected and enhanced for growth by the use of low-flying airplanes or giant sprayers creeping along the fields. Growers continually seek education on matters relating to their agricultural practices from associations and organizations that promote research for the best practices.