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.,…
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,…
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….
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…
Farming can be stressful at the best of times, so when Dale Childers, a semiretired, long-time Grant/Lincoln County farmer died in August, the local community sprang into action to help the family finish harvest. Ben McKay, a good friend of Dakota, Dale’s son, organized the harvest bee. At first, it…
In August, the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG), in partnership with the Washington State Potato Commission, The McGregor Company, and Northwest RiverPartners, brought more than a dozen U.S. congressional staffers from Washington, D.C., to Lewiston, Idaho, to tour Lower Granite Dam and learn why the Columbia-Snake River System is…
By October, most of the year’s wheat crop has been harvested, and growers have swapped out combines and bank-out wagons for planters and seed drills. This year’s wheat harvest was slightly ahead of average in timing, according to National Agricultural Statistics Service numbers. Most producers reported average to slightly better…
At the end of June, a group of Columbia-Snake River System stakeholders returned from a tour down the Mississippi River impressed with the need for collaboration among all U.S. river systems and a reminder of how much of the nation’s commerce relies on these river highways. “While there are many…
In June, Wheat Life had the opportunity to take a 144-mile speeder car ride along the Snake River, from Lewiston, Idaho, to Riparia, Wash., with local members of NARCOA, the North American Railcar Operators Association. NARCOA is a nonprofit group dedicated to the preservation and the safe, legal operation of…
At the 2024 Wheat College, Ray Archuleta had a message for growers that was both hopeful and a warning. “Agriculture can heal the planet by itself without changing anything else. I believe agriculture is the answer for the future,” he said. “Regenerative agriculture is not for everyone. I’m going to…
