Leaders at the Washington Soil Health Initiative (WaSHI) now have a better understanding of the route ahead thanks to a recently released road map that outlines issues and concerns and sets milestones on the journey to improving the state’s soils. The road map, available at soilhealth.wsu.edu/washington-state-soil-health-roadmap/, divides the state into…
What do you get when you put together more than 150 years of experience in truck sales, service and maintenance? You get Class 8 Trucks in Spokane, Wash. Owner Marc Lange grew up on a wheat and cattle ranch near Garfield in Whitman County. He had the background and experience…
Since this is my first time writing as president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG), I thought I’d take a few minutes to introduce myself and my family. I’m the third generation on my family’s Douglas County dryland wheat farm, which was settled in the 1950s by my…
As the end of the year approaches, it’s a good time for landlords to review their farm leases. The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at the Vermont Law School has developed an online Farmland Access Legal Toolkit to provide a resource for both landlords and farm tenants. The toolkit…
Wheat Life reached out to Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) to see what he thought about the climate and carbon mitigation efforts in Washington, D.C. What are some of the major red flags for you when you are considering any climate/carbon-related legislation? The U.S. is already a global leader in emissions…
Nearly a year into the Biden Administration, efforts focusing on climate, clean energy and carbon markets continue to ramp up. The Washington Association of Wheat Growers works through the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), the national wheat industry organization, to monitor these efforts and to provide feedback. Jacob Westlin,…
Benjamin Franklin famously stated, “Nothing in this world is certain except death and taxes.” The last two years could be summed up in many ways, but certainty is not one. Paycheck Protection Program loans, Employee Retention Credits and Farm Service Agency payments popped up seemingly overnight, sending producers and practitioners…
Big Iron Repair owner Scott Carroll has shifted gears in his career nearly as many times as he’s rebuilt heavy equipment transmissions and engines. His journey began in the late 1970s on his father-in-law’s Eastern Washington farm. Carroll was born and raised in Ephrata, Wash. After high school, he found…
Well, as this is my last president’s column, I want to pause for a minute and thank a number of people and reflect on the past two years. When I became the current Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) president at our convention in late 2019, COVID-19 was a foreign…
In an industry where keeping the family farm in the family is often paramount, Jan Abrams’ father, George M. Miller, gave her a gift. “My father made it clear that the farm is a business. He said, ‘I don’t want you, out of some sense of sentimentality, to hang onto…
