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Minidoka
County is located in the fertile Snake River Plain of South-Central
Idaho. The county contains 486,000 acres of land, of which 47.5% is
privately owned and used in production agriculture.
The publicly owned portion of the county is split among
Federal (36%), State (2%), and city and county (1%).
The remainder is private, non-agricultural.
The southern portion of the county runs along the Snake
River, originally part of the riverbed, while the northern and
eastern boundaries consist of lava flows with large and small
areas of arable land.
Agriculture
is the basis of the economy in Minidoka County and sugar
beets, potatoes, cereal grains, and alfalfa are the major
commodities. There were 50,000
acres of beets grown in 2004, the most in any county in Idaho.
The county also produced 28,500 acres of potatoes, 32,700 acres of
wheat, and 51,000 acres of barley, 5th highest in the state
(2005 Idaho Agricultural Statistics).
There were 27,500 acres of alfalfa grown in the county. According
to the 2002 USDA Agriculture Census, there were 694 farms
in the county averaging 329
acres per farm .
Of the 694 farms, 98 had over 500 acres per farm.
Farming and agricultural services employ approximately
15% of the labor force.
The climate is typical of semi-arid valleys
of southern Idaho with an annual rainfall of approximately 9.48
inches, mainly in the form of snow. The winter of 2005-06
brought higher than normal precipitation to watershed areas.
The irrigation outlook for 2006 is favorable and there is some
concern of flooding in isolated areas as the runoff reaches its
peak.
The
Minidoka County Extension office provides leadership for county,
multi-county, and district programs in crop production
management and for county programs in production-related
environmental issues. The Extension
Educator is responsible for maintaining contacts with fellow UI
faculty members, industry representatives, government agencies,
commodity groups, and area crop and livestock advisors to provide support and
develop programs to advance agricultural production and
profitability. Programs are delivered by a variety of
methods including workshops, field tours, news media releases,
and personal contacts.
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