Raised on a farm homesteaded by his grandfather, Dan Blankenship had a typical wheat farm upbringing. His parents, Dwayne and Beulah Blankenship, had a large family with one daughter and five sons. The fifth of six children, Blankenship worked on the farm as a youth and was also “loaned out”…
Sitting down to write my last President’s Perspective, I suddenly realized how fast this year has gone by. When I took the role as president last November, I was a little overwhelmed to be in such an important leadership position for the wheat industry. There were many challenges we faced…
Our discussion topic is a review of a subject matter from January of 2018 — do landlords need crop insurance? I’ve made this comment previously and will again here: everyone has a different appetite for risk, varying circumstances cause each situation to be different. What risk(s) are present and, most…
The 2024 Tri-State Grain Growers Convention is quickly approaching, but there’s still time to take advantage of early bird registration and enjoy three days focused on the Pacific Northwest’s small grains industry. Staff from the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG), the Oregon Wheat Growers League, and the Idaho Grain…
One of the authors of the 2014 and 2018 farm bills will be on hand at the 2024 Tri-State Grain Growers Convention to give his perspective on ag policy in the coming year. Bart Fischer may still be heavily involved in the operation of his family’s wheat farm in Oklahoma,…
Derrick Josi, a 4th generation dairy farmer from Oregon who posts about farm life to thousands of followers across multiple social media platforms, doesn’t like being called an influencer. “I hate it,” he said. “I’m not trying to influence anything. I’m just showing the reality of dairy farming in my…
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…
Like many farm families in Eastern Washington, the Heaton family’s roots go back more than 100 years, when Julia and Joe Stark settled near Hay, Wash., in 1908. The Starks, with their two daughters, Marie and Alice, grew wheat and raised cattle and hogs along the Snake River above what…
Before Doug and Kelsey Tanneberg’s family settled near Mansfield in Douglas County, they hopscotched across the country, from Denmark to Minnesota to Davenport, Wash., beginning in the late 1800s. The desire to raise cattle prompted another move west to St. Andrews, Wash. “I said to my granddad, Jens, ‘Why did…
