Posts by Trista Crossley
Wheat heads to Olympia
Last month, wheat representatives visited state legislators and agencies to talk about the industry’s priorities during the Washington Association of Wheat Growers’ (WAWG) annual Olympia Days trip. Cookies were involved. “Growers spent two impactful days in Olympia, advocating for critical issues like tax exemptions and the Climate Commitment Act fuel rebate. With over 20 farmers,…
Read MoreThis Wonderful Place
Best-selling Western author and conservationist Zane Grey (1872-1939) is considered the father of the modern Western novel. He wrote some 300 short stories and 80 books. Grey’s writing was known for idealizing the American frontier spirit with archetypal characters inhabiting moral landscapes who exemplified the Code of the West — integrity, friendship, loyalty. These attributes…
Read MoreWashington ag by the numbers
The value of Washington’s 2023 agricultural production totaled $14 billion, up almost 6% from the previous record high of $13.2 billion in 2022. The value of Washington’s crop production in 2023 was $7.71 billion, down about 10% from the record high value of $8.56 billion in 2022. The value of livestock production in 2023 totaled…
Read MoreSpinning up grower education
This year’s slate of Agricultural Marketing and Management Organization’s (AMMO) winter sessions will focus on mental health, weeds, local and global markets, and U.S. Department of Agriculture agency updates. “Our goal each year with the AMMO program is to bring information that is important and relevant to growers,” said KayDee Gilkey, outreach coordinator for the…
Read MoreAll river matters
A big part of the annual Tri-State Grain Growers Convention is educational breakout sessions that aim to educate and inform growers. At this year’s event, one super-sized session focused on Marine Highway 84, or M-84, and included a panel of stakeholders representing the entire Columbia-Snake River System, from Astoria, Ore., to Lewiston, Idaho. Throughout the…
Read MoreSowing success
They say good things come in threes, and this year’s Tri-State Grain Growers Convention proved it with three days of education, honoring fellow growers, and hearing from ag leaders about the challenges and opportunities coming our way in 2025. More than 300 growers, industry stakeholders, and exhibitors from Idaho, Oregon, and Washington gathered at the…
Read MoreFrom grief to action
Darla Tyler-McSherry turned one of the worst moments of her family’s life into a life-saving mission to prevent other farm families from experiencing the same thing hers did. By 2016, Dick Tyler, Tyler-McSherry’s 82-year-old father, had worked on the family’s Montana wheat farm his entire life and was very proud of the fact that he…
Read MoreTreaty agreement reached
After six years and 15 rounds of negotiation, the U.S. and Canada announced in July that they had reached an agreement in principle on modernizing the Columbia River Treaty. In August, the U.S. Department of State provided details on key elements of the modernized treaty during a public information session. According to Jennifer Savage, director…
Read MoreSeasons of farming: Winter
As winter settles in, most farmers’ fields go quiet, but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. In Eastern Washington’s Mediterranean climate, winter is when the region receives the majority of its precipitation, either as rain or, preferably, snow. Snow insulates crops from wind and excessively cold temperatures and allows soil microbes to stay active. Under…
Read MoreExpert Q&A
While no two farmers follow the same schedule, winter is generally devoted to more “indoor” tasks. Marci Green from Green View Farms in Spokane County points out that many bookkeeping tasks, such as paying bills, marketing crops, payroll, monitoring budgets, and cash flow, happen throughout the year. In this Q&A, she focuses on the tasks…
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