Farmers know that regular maintenance is the key to keeping their equipment running smoothly, but sometimes even the tools in the toolbox need a little maintenance of their own. Last October, the Risk Management Agency (RMA) began reviewing the crop insurance program for wheat to determine if improvements should be…
According to the calendar, spring has sprung, but as I write this, we are still freezing up here in Douglas County, so our winter wheat hasn’t woken up yet. Even though the crop is still dormant, I’m needing to make decisions that will greatly affect the upcoming growing season. This…
Taking life day by day is how we roll up here on the Emtman Ranch. As I sit and read so much about everything going on in our country—all the politics, anger, protesting, finger pointing—I think of the man pictured here (and many others in his boots). My husband doesn’t…
Violence broke out. People were arrested; some were beaten. Shots were fired. Vehicles were damaged. A bridge was burned. This could be the news from last week, but I want to take you back to Washington’s “Fish Wars” of the 1960s and 70s. Sport and commercial fishing industries were competing…
Congress initially authorized federal crop insurance back in the 1930s to help agriculture recover from the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) was created in 1938 to administer the program, which was initially limited to major crops in main production areas of the U.S….
Last month, Dr. David Kohl warned producers that a period of extreme economic volatility is approaching, but along with the challenges it will bring, there will also be opportunities for producers who are prepared. “I think it’s a new era of prosperity if you follow a certain management mindset. If…
Finding one’s career path can be difficult and circuitous. It certainly was that way for Bill Schillinger. His journey included 10 years of working in agricultural development around the world in Asia and Africa before landing the position that would define his lifetime of work. After 29 years of conducting…
How hard would it be to grow your wheat without applying fertilizer? You’d get a crop, but it probably wouldn’t be a great one, and with the rising cost of inputs, you’d be lucky to break even. Continue trying to raise a crop year after year without using fertilizer, and…
It’s usually the items inside a sack that are interesting, but a new exhibition at the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC) is taking a look at what the sack itself has to say. Golden Harvest: Flour Sacks from the Permanent Collection will be on display through Oct. 30,…
At December’s 2021 Tri-State Grain Growers Convention, two break-out sessions tried to clear the air concerning carbon markets. Shelby Swain Myers, an economist from the American Farm Bureau, looked at the developing national carbon market programs, while Chad Kruger, director at the Washington State University (WSU) Center for Sustaining Agriculture…
