General
Community organization helps facilitate charitable giving
Corinne Isaak calls the Columbia Basin Foundation (CBF), variously, an umbrella, a vehicle, a conduit and a gathering place for charitable generosity, but those descriptions just scratch the surface in describing an organization that manages more than $14 million in charitable assets and distributed more than $1 million across 10…
Planting potential in the midst of concerns
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…
To the farmers
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…
Research agronomist, station director retires
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…
Why you should contribute to the PAC
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…
When flour was sacked
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,…
The narrator of agriculture’s history in Eastern Washington
If you’re involved in agriculture in Eastern Washington, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with Alex McGregor. Not only is he chairman of The McGregor Company, which provides seeds, inputs and research to Inland Northwest farmers, he’s also managing general partner of his family’s generational ranch in Hooper, Wash., author…
Reaching out to the younger generation
There’s a lot of issues on WAWG’s (the Washington Association of Wheat Growers) agenda right now that need immediate attention—preserving the lower Snake River dams, the disastrous mandatory buffer bill at the state level, keeping conservation efforts voluntary. Those issues are important, obviously, but there’s another issue that I can’t…
Leaving a legacy
Janet Walthew may live on the west side of the state, but her family’s legacy in Adams County runs deep as they continue to own and lease out the family’s fourth-generation dryland wheat farm. Recently, she came across photos of her grandfather, Henry Bauer, along with an article published after…
Coffee-roasting business brews success on Harrington wheat farm
When one thinks of Pacific Northwest agriculture, wheat, small grains, wine or apples are mainly what comes to mind. There may be a couple of other crops that pop into your head, but I’m sure you’ve never thought of coffee, which doesn’t grow in this region. But local farmer Shelley…
