Idaho
Made in Idaho: A behind-the-scenes look at the final days of onion harvest with J.C. Watson Co.
PARMA, Idaho — J.C. Watson Company — a fourth generation grower, packer, shipper in Parma and Wilder — is projected to pack around 200 million pounds of raw onions this season. We take you behind the scenes on the final days of onion harvest to show you how it all works.
- J.C. Watson ships millions of Idaho onions all over the United States and Canada.
- J.C. Watson received a $1.55 million grant from the USDA through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program — which aims to strengthen the food supply chain— to upgrade infrastructure for their rail shipping operation.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
Onion harvest is coming to a close, but the folks at J.C. Watson are still hard at work.
“The machines we’re using are Top Air onion loaders,” says Brad Watson, the President of J.C. Watson Company.
He tells me the Treasure Valley is the perfect place to grow onions because of the low humidity, long growing season, and ample irrigation.
These onion loaders pick up cured onions off the ground.
“They cut off the excess tops and then load them into the back of the semi trucks that will then take them to storage,” Watson said.
Those semi trucks then bring them to the packing shed where they are unloaded, inspected, weighed, and sorted before being packaged to be stored or sent to a variety of different buyers by truck or by rail.
“So this is kind of the whole purpose of this facility we’re in currently, right now we have two rail doors,” says Emily Watson-Libsack, VP of Sales and Marketing at J.C. Watson.
She tells me they just received a $1.55 million dollar grant from the USDA through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure program — which aims to strengthen the food supply chain.
They’ll use that money to improve infrastructure and upgrade equipment for their rail loading operation.
“The biggest improvements will be to the rail, which is kind of hard to see, but this rail track has been here for, I think, close to 100 years,” says Watson-Libsack.
She tells me they can fit 4.3 truckloads of onions in one rail car— a much more efficient option for getting onions from Idaho to buyers across the country.
“So we have different equipment that we submitted as part of the grant, so some of that is some racking systems, again it just makes it easier for loading our rail cars,” says Shelly Bateman, Director of Organizational Effectiveness at J.C. Watson.
She tells me along with a new high-tech racking system, refrigeration units will also help extend the season for local growers.
“This expansion and this grant is kind of allowing us to kind of prepare for the generations. And in order for us to do that in Idaho we have to expand our shipping, have high-tech equipment that we’re putting in, and be able to be competitive in the marketplace,” Watson-Libsack said.
Bryan Kohberger, who pleaded guilty this week to the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students, will likely spend the rest of his life in what’s widely considered one of the worst prisons in the country.
Tucked away in a desolate area on the outskirts of the capital Boise, the Idaho Maximum Security Institution (IMSI), has earned a grim reputation for its harsh conditions with allegations of abusive guards, violent brawls, feces-covered recreation “cages” and a dirty ventilation system described as being “biohazard.”
The maximum-security facility houses some of the state’s most dangerous criminals — including convicted killer Chad Daybell, the husband of “Doomsday” cult mom Lori Vallow.
And now, 30-year-old Kohberger is expected to join them after he is sentenced later this month for the sayings of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, a case that rocked the small college town of Moscow in November 2022, the New York Post reported.
In the two and a half years since Kohberger’s arrest, his attorneys unsuccessfully attempted to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty and challenged DNA evidence, leaving a plea deal their final option to spare his life before the start of Kohberger’s highly-anticipated trial in August.
Kohberger avoided the death penalty in pleading guilty to the crimes this week in exchange for spending the rest of his life in prison.
He has been held at the Ada County Jail in Boise under maximum security since the trial was moved from Moscow. But now he will live out the rest of his days at a remote prison about 10 miles south – a place surrounded by a double perimeter fence with razor wire, an electronic detection system, and 24-hour armed guards.
It’s a place that was designed for what the Idaho Department of Correction describes as the state’s “most disruptive male residents.”
In 2024, the Security Journal Americas named IMSI one of the “15 Worst Prisons in America,” along with the Louisiana State Penitentiary known as The Farm, California’s San Quentin, and New York’s Attica Correctional Facility.
The unfavorable recognition came after 90 inmates went on a hunger strike demanding better treatment and services.
Reports at the time cited excessive use of solitary confinement, a lack of mental health resources, and a “tense and volatile environment” stemming from overcrowding and inmate violence, according to the Idaho Statesman.
Solitary confinement at IMSI has long been a point of concern. In 2016, then-Director of the Idaho Department of Correction, Kevin Kempf, launched efforts to reform the practice, noting that many inmates were confined alone for up to 23 hours a day, with minimal human contact, meals delivered in their cells, and showers limited to three times a week — a routine that, for some, lasts years, local outlet KBOI reported.
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“Ninety-seven percent of these guys are going to get out and walk into an Idaho community,” Kempf told KBOI at the time.
“If we treat them like animals, they’re going to walk out of prison like that.”
For Kohberger, his likely transfer to IMSI would mark the beginning of the life sentence without the possibility of parole plea deal he accepted in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table.
The 11th hour bombshell decision came about just weeks before Kohberger’s long-awaited trial was set to begin.
At his plea deal hearing on Wednesday, the former criminology student remained impassive as he admitted to breaking into the off-campus home and killing the four students who appeared to have no connection with him.
Prosecutors did not reveal a motive behind the slayings.
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IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — Saturday was a busy day across Eastern Idaho, with events filled with friends and family.
The Greenbelt in downtown Idaho Falls was a major hot spot. Hundreds of people visited the weekly Farmers Market and celebrated Pride Month.
People enjoyed all kinds of food and got to check out items for sale from blankets to soaps to jewelry.
Local artists also showed off and sold their work on B Street.
“We’re just here meeting people. I’m really having a good time discussing the artwork and showing people my portfolio and having different interactions with people,” said Local Artist, Meredith Bobb.
Over in Shelley, dozens of people gathered for the Motorized Marvels Car Show. People brought in their prized vintage cars and trucks, some of which dated as far back as the 1930s.
“Back in the day, driving down the highway, you could see a car coming towards you and know, is it a Ford? Is it a Chevy? You could tell because the body designs were similar, not like today’s cars, where they’re kind of all the same,” said Car Show Participant, David R.
The event also featured raffles. Even some of the children got to take part in judging the cars for the competition.
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