Conservation
Making introductions
As a Whitman County native, I grew up spending countless hours helping around our family’s dryland wheat operation. From driving harvest truck, picking rye and rocks out of the field with my brother, and helping flag machinery when we moved from place to place, I was blessed to have had…
A conservation here to there
Benton County, where I farm, has changed dramatically in the past few decades, with no-till and minimal-till farming techniques replacing conventional tillage on many dryland wheat farms. The days of big dust storms caused by soil blowing off fields, thankfully, are past. But how did we get here? It’s mostly…
Landowner considerations for CRP
This year marks the 39th year since the inception of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a proactive program administered through the unique partnership of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and landowners across the country. Some may have initially thought CRP and similar land-based…
Family ‘frustrated’ with agency actions
Shelly Haas is one of the landowners signed up for the Hangman Creek Riparian Restoration and Conservation Program, but she and her husband, Jim, aren’t very happy about it. The program is funded by the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) and managed by the Spokane Conservation District. The program…
Farmer has high hopes for buffer program
Cary Janson was one of the first farmers to sign up for the Hangman Creek Riparian Restoration and Conservation Program. The Janson farm runs between Latah and Tekoa, and quite a bit of their ground is along the creek. Janson said he didn’t have any reservations about giving up farming…
It’s all about the water
I have seen it work. As a graduate student, I researched cover crops in a California dryland wheat system, comparing a wheat-fallow system to one with a cover crop replacing fallow (McGuire et al., 1998). A wet winter allowed for successful wheat yields in both systems. However, research results suggest…
Douglas County CRP issue uncovered
Producers in Douglas County have been notified about an issue with approximately 150 general Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) 2022 sign-ups. Fortunately, Jon Wyss, Farm Service Agency (FSA) Washington state executive director, was ready with a fix, which he told producers about during a phone call last month. “We at the…
On the Hill
Staff and leaders from the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) closed out January by traveling to Washington, D.C., to take part in National Association of Wheat Growers’ (NAWG) winter board meetings and to meet with members of Washington’s federal delegation and leaders of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agencies….
Riparian buffer taskforce report released
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s riparian taskforce’s final report was released in December and contains a number of recommendations developed through discussions by a wide variety of stakeholders, including wheat industry representatives. Michelle Hennings, executive director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG); Ben Adams, past president of WAWG and…
Making an impact in harvest weed seed control
Chuck Schmidt has spent his career championing the air and water quality benefits of direct seeding, both as a business owner and as a farmer. Now he’s widening that focus to include harvest weed seed control. Schmidt, owner of North Pine Ag Equipment in Rosalia, Wash., grew up farming in…
