Posts by Trista Crossley
CRP 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…
Read MoreHill advocacy
Despite a major late January snowstorm that disrupted travel through much of the country, leaders and staff of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) trekked to Washington, D.C., to take part in national wheat organization meetings and spend time on the Hill, meeting with congressional offices and administration officials. “The trip was very productive,…
Read MoreDisease, pest pressure increasing
An unusually warm, wet winter appears to be increasing the pest and disease pressure Eastern Washington growers are facing going into spring, and at the top of the list is stripe rust. According to the last update from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service research plant pathologist, Dr. Xianming Chen, stripe rust in…
Read MoreFinding financial balance
It can be hard to find stability in today’s topsy-turvy ag economy, but an accurate balance sheet could make all the difference. That was the message growers heard in January at a workshop focused on “The Business of Farming,” presented by Jon Paul Driver. Driver is an ag economist with a background in ag risk…
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