Posts by Trista Crossley
Headaches ahead?
According to the National Association of Wheat Growers, countervailing duties on phosphate fertilizer cost Washington wheat farmers about $14 million from 2021-25, but Andy Juris predicts nitrogen and sulfur are shaping up to be bigger headaches for the state’s wheat growers. Juris, a farmer from Bickleton, Wash., and chair of the Washington Association of Wheat…
Read MoreOne call to rule them all
Do you know what’s buried beneath that field of wheat on the back 40? It could be nothing, or it could be a large pipe full of pressurized natural gas, and the only way to be sure is to call 811 before you do any digging. “There’s a lot of pipeline up in Eastern Washington.…
Read MoreView from the inside
Patrick Bell, the recently appointed Farm Service Agency (FSA) state executive director, is no stranger to the state’s agricultural industry, but the scale of it took him a little bit by surprise. “I always knew the importance of commodities and the row crops, especially being based in Spokane, growing up in Springdale for part of…
Read MoreCRP frustrations mount
For more than 40 years, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has been helping Eastern Washington growers address natural resource concerns. But lately, some growers in low rainfall zones have been feeling like their participation in CRP is more likely to break the bank than help keep the farm afloat. The Washington Association of Wheat Growers…
Read MoreFSA’s Bell responds to grower CRP concerns
Wheat Life reached out to Patrick Bell, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) state executive director, to ask him about growers’ concerns with the Conservation Reserve Program. These are the written answers Bell provided. As rental rates continue to decrease in Eastern Washington, CRP is becoming less attractive to growers. What factors are causing rental rates…
Read MoreWheat College to commence
The 2026 Agricultural Marketing and Management Organization’s (AMMO) Wheat College will be held June 2, in Colfax, Wash., at the Palouse Empire Fairgrounds. The keynote speaker will be Dennis Pennington, a wheat systems specialist at Michigan State University (MSU). His presentation is titled, “Stacking the Bushels: Small Decisions, Big Yield.” This annual event will offer…
Read More‘YEN’ing for more information
The devil’s often found in the details, and one Lincoln County grower is shifting through a wheat field of data to find answers. Jesse Brunner, a fifth-generation farmer north of Almira, Wash., is going into his third year participating in the Great Lakes Yield Enhancement Network (YEN). The program, which is based on a similar…
Read MoreSprouting an interest
Returning to her family’s Whitman County farm may not have been in the cards for Carrie Bellecourt, but she’s found a way to honor her background by sharing her wheat-growing knowledge with her first-grade classes. Bellecourt grew up in Steptoe, Wash., the daughter of Jim and Cathy White. Jim was the fourth generation to farm…
Read MoreHedging Risk
In February, wheat growers had the opportunity to learn some basic information about using options as part of their portfolio of risk management tools. The seminar was presented by Allison Thompson, a commodity broker and owner of The Money Farm, a commodity advisory service based in Minnesota. Thompson’s family owns a farm that grows corn,…
Read MoreState of the estate
Financial presentations are usually popular with growers, but adding fried chicken and jojos from Sonny’s Tavern in Washtucna made February’s Agricultural Marketing and Management Organization’s (AMMO) seminar a slam dunk. Before getting to the victuals, growers heard about estate planning from Corey Brock, financial advice from Tara Wiswall, and an estate tax update from Jared…
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