Conservation

Family ‘frustrated’ with agency actions

By Trista Crossley
Editor

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

By Trista Crossley
Editor

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…

wheat field

It’s all about the water

By Guest Author Andrew McGuire

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…

wheat field

Douglas County CRP issue uncovered

By Trista Crossley
Editor

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

By Trista Crossley
Editor

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….

wheat field

Riparian buffer taskforce report released

By Trista Crossley
Editor

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…

wheat field

Making an impact in harvest weed seed control

By Trista Crossley
Editor

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…

Watershed work update

By Trista Crossley
Editor

This year, water quality work in the Hangman Creek Watershed was marked by two reports released by the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology): the “Nutrients and Sediment Pollutant Source Assessment, 2018,” that was released in May, and the “Hangman Settlement Agreement 2021 Annual Report,” released in August. Both documents…

On Impact

By Trista Crossley
Editor

For the past four years, Mader Enterprises has been practicing harvest weed seed control on their farm near Pullman, Wash. In late October, area growers gathered at Greg Mader’s farm shop to hear some of the things they’ve learned and to meet one of the experts on harvest weed seed…

Different crops, same issues

By Trista Crossley
Editor

Farmers in the Skagit Valley may be producing crops unthinkable in Eastern Washington, but they face many of the same pressures as dryland wheat farmers do. At stop after stop, producers on last month’s legislative food and farm tour discussed issues such as farmland preservation, labor, the cost of inputs,…

Lessons from the great, greasy potato incident of 2003
By Andy Juris
WAWG President
Financial liquidity stress test
By Dr. David Kohl
President, AgriVisions, LLC
Small town, big community
By Andy Juris
WAWG President