Posts by Trista Crossley
Wheat College recap
According to Peter Johnson, better agronomy is the key to unlocking a crop’s yield potential. Johnson, an agronomist from Ontario, Canada, was the featured speaker at the Agricultural Marketing and Management Organization’s (AMMO) 2022 Wheat College, held last month in Ritzville, Wash. More than 75 producers spent the morning learning about factors that impact yield…
Read MoreConnection with end users drives farming family
Down in the Horse Heaven Hills, Garrett Moon and his wife, Jessica, have begun selling small grains to regional flour mills and directly to consumers in an effort to look beyond the commodity market. “I think part of it was a little bit of curiosity to break outside of the commodity mold and see if…
Read MoreLandrace grains help diversify commodity farmer’s income
Neil Appel and his wife, Liz, have been growing commodity crops on their family’s Dusty, Wash., wheat farm for nearly two decades, but in the last couple of years, they’ve given over some of their acreage to raising landrace grains for Don Scheuerman at Palouse Heritage. Read more about Palouse Heritage. “That first year, I…
Read MoreBrothers find success in landrace, heritage grain
Surrounded by a sea of grain, Palouse Heritage is making its own waves in the local and regional food system with their landrace and heritage crops. Located between Endicott and St. John., Wash., Palouse Heritage was established in 2015 by brothers Don and Richard Scheuerman who grew up on a small Whitman County farm. The…
Read MoreAgriculture by the numbers
For 35 years, Chris Mertz has been helping the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) tell the story of agriculture through numbers. “I’m sure I’ve gotten biased over time, but I just think any story is better when you toss in some figures,” he laughed. “It’s exciting to see people see the value in numbers. Who…
Read MoreA good food fit
As consumer awareness of where and how food is grown continues to increase, some farmers are finding success selling into their local and regional food systems. For more than 25 years, Colette DePhelps has worked with multiple partners in the Inland Northwest to develop community food systems and small farms programs. She is currently the…
Read MoreTrouble on the tracks
In recent months, the Class 1 railroads have come under scrutiny for inconsistent and unreliable rail service particularly from agricultural shippers in the Midwest. In letters and federal hearings, rail customers have detailed labor and locomotive shortages, off-the-rail prices for cars, and one-sided financial penalties for loading and unloading delays. Pacific Northwest (PNW) shippers are…
Read MoreWheat College Preview
One of the Agricultural Marketing and Management’s most popular workshops is back on the 2022 calendar as an in-person event. Wheat College will be taking place June 1 in Ritzville, Wash., with presentations by Peter “Wheat Pete” Johnson, Corteva Agriscience and Washington State University Extension. Johnson, this year’s featured speaker, will be discussing “The Yield…
Read MoreCRP rate redux
There’s good news for some growers who enrolled in the 2022 Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up despite the overall lower rates. The national Farm Service Agency (FSA) office has decided to increase the rates in Asotin and Franklin counties after reviewing data compiled by the state FSA office, the FSA county offices, the Washington…
Read MoreCommunity organization helps facilitate charitable giving
Corinne Isaak calls the Columbia Basin Foundation (CBF), variously, an umbrella, a vehicle, a conduit and a gathering place for charitable generosity, but those descriptions just scratch the surface in describing an organization that manages more than $14 million in charitable assets and distributed more than $1 million across 10 Eastern Washington counties last year.…
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