2026 was a tough growing year for Idaho farmers

By Sean Ellis

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation

POCATELLO – This year’s growing season for Idaho farmers was a tough one and average yields for some crops were way below average.

Many Gem State farmers were hard-pressed to get enough water to finish off their crops, but unfavorable weather conditions were the real killer and wreaked havoc on yields.

Some of Idaho’s main crops reported near-average yields, but others, especially the small grains, experienced average yields way below normal.

For example, the average yield for wheat fields in Idaho this year was 77.2 bushels per acre, down from 93.5 last year. For barley fields in Idaho, the average yield dropped from 112 bushels an acre in 2025 to 100 in 2026.

“This is probably the lightest grain crop we’ve cut in years,” said Teton farmer Dwight Little. “Environmentally, it’s been a struggle the whole year.”

He said some farmers planted their crops pretty early because of unseasonably warm weather, but then they were hit with some real hard frosts.

Little got nothing this year from his fruit trees, which include peaches, apricots, apples, plums, cherries and prunes. While his family picked 32 gallons of strawberries last year, they got a total of three this year.

“Everything was just different this year,” he said.

North Idaho farmer Bill Flory said farmers in his area had trouble getting rain at the right times this spring “and it really shows on yields. Yields are not stellar on the spring crops.”

Winter crops did fine this year, he said, but “it’s been a struggle for our spring crops. None of (them) have a lot of glitter to them economically.”

Total barley production in Idaho dropped from 55 million bushels in 2025 to 38 million bushels in 2026, while total wheat production fell from 108 million bushels in 2025 to 89 million bushels this year.

“Some areas of the state faced late frost, hail, or extended hot weather conditions that impacted the crop, besides overall contacted acres being down due to supply on hand,” said Idaho Barley Commission Executive Director Laura Wilder.

“It was a year of weather extremes,” said Brett Wilken, who oversees Scoular’s Barley MVP program.

Rockland grain farmer Cory Kress said the lack of water this year didn’t help, but it was the spring freezes that did the most damage.

“We went from a record warm spring to ... it seemed like it froze non-stop,” he said.

Kress said he knows farmers in his area who ended up re-planting sugar beets three times.

A record hot July didn’t help yields, he added. “This is just a year of extremes. It’s been one extreme to another. My friend group, we’re all looking forward to the end of this year.”

Other main crops in Idaho, like sugar beets, also reported low yields and production this year. Sugar beet fields in the state averaged 40.6 tons per acre this year, down from 45.1 tons an acre last year, and total production was 6 million tons, compared with 7.5 million tons last year.

The primary reason sugar production is down this year is that Amalgamated Sugar Co. intentionally reduced sugar beet acreage following an exceptionally large 2025 crop, said Amalgamated communications manager Holly Luna. The goal, she said, was to better align production with market demand and existing inventories.

“With that said, this spring proved to be one of the most challenging in the Magic Valley and Upper Snake for establishing the crop,” she said. “The cooperative saw the highest percentage of replants this year due to multiple frost events and wind.”

Corn yields in Idaho dropped from 209 bushels per acre in 2025 to an estimated 194 bushels an acre in 2026, average yields for dry edible peas fell from 1,670 pounds per acre last year to 1,550 this year and hop yields fell from 2,281 pounds an acre last year to 2,130.

Although the final numbers aren’t in yet, potato yields are also forecast to be down this year.

“Growers report that several frost events, the summer heat, and water availability in eastern Idaho held back (potato) yields …,” North American Potato Market News owner Ben Eborn wrote in the Oct. 8 edition.

Eborn is forecasting that average potato yields in Idaho will fall from 445 hundredweight per acre in 2025 to 425 hundredweight in 2026.

Not all crops in Idaho experienced lower than normal yields this year. Canola yields averaged 1,900 pounds per acre this year compared with 1,800 last year, alfalfa yields are expected to average 4.3 tons an acre this year compared with 4.1 last year and dry bean yields are forecast to average 2,900 pounds an acre, up from 2,860.