Conservation

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,…

wheat field

FSA program audit uncovers error

By Trista Crossley
Editor

In early August, some Eastern Washington producers learned they had been mistakenly enrolled in a conservation practice they didn’t qualify for, and their contracts were being cancelled. But along with the bad news was some good news — the state Farm Service Agency (FSA) office already had a solution in…

wheat field

CRP rate redux

By Trista Crossley
Editor

There’s good news for some growers who enrolled in the 2022 Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up despite the overall lower rates. The national Farm Service Agency (FSA) office has decided to increase the rates in Asotin and Franklin counties after reviewing data compiled by the state FSA office, the…

Glyphosate in the crosshairs
By Jeff Malone
President, Washington Association of Wheat Growers
Reviewing the Enhanced Coverage Option
By Curtis Evanenko
McGregor Risk Management Services
From selling the future to farming with it
By Jeff Malone
President, Washington Association of Wheat Growers