WAWG
By Michelle Hennings
Executive Director, Washington Association of Wheat Growers
As we enter 2026, I am reminded of how quickly time seems to pass. The past six months have been especially eventful for the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG). Since my previous column, our organization has remained actively engaged in a wide range of initiatives and advocacy efforts. Our commitment to supporting wheat growers across the state has kept us busy, and we continue to work diligently to address both ongoing and emerging challenges within our industry.
We recently held our annual convention at the Coeur d’Alene Resort in November where we renewed our strategic plan. A strategic plan is essential for WAWG because it provides a clear roadmap for achieving the organization’s long-term goals. By outlining priorities and setting measurable objectives, the plan helps ensure our resources are used efficiently and our efforts are aligned with the interests of wheat growers across the state.
The plan this year focused on state and national political influence. With the current legislative atmosphere in our state, including a budget shortfall, and the lack of understanding about how growers are being impacted by regulations and increased taxes, we focused on top state strategic priorities that included:
- Maintaining our tax exemptions by explaining to decision-makers that farmers are price takers, not price setters, and emphasizing the importance of agriculture to rural America.
- Advancing the idea of “doing no harm” on agriculture by establishing new legislative and executive relationships. We want to become a reliable source of information for legislators and committees.
- Passing a seasonal exemption for ag overtime. Implementation of the ag overtime law has led to workers getting less hours and pay. Crops have been left in the field because of the overtime restrictions, which threatens the security of our food systems.
- Adopting a complete and permanent Climate Commitment Act exemption on transportation fuel (including propane and lubricants) for agriculture products. This was always the intent of the original legislation. Fuel is often one of the most expensive inputs a farmer has.
Action items to help accomplish these objectives were to have freshman legislator days; mobilize our WAWG members to advocate and monitor current legislative session issues; target legislative visits on key issues and be more visible in Olympia; engage legislators and the speaker of the House on food literacy with a developed tool that shows the impact of healthy agriculture operations on food security and distribution; and arrange wheat grower participation in legislator townhalls.
On the national side of the strategic plan, priorities included:
- Passing a farm bill that considers Washington state impacts as defined by WAWG policies.
- Ongoing public education on how the Make America Healthy Again agenda negatively impacts agriculture, such as flour being classified as “ultra-processed” and the critical role of pesticides and herbicides in a successful farming operation.
- Lowering farm expenses. Profitable farms mean prosperous farming communities and helps increase interest in farming in the next generation.
- Passing congressional protection of the lower Snake River dams that uses science-based research to invest in technology that helps protect fish and continues to increase their numbers.
Action items on the national priorities include conducting successful fly-ins for hill visits on high priority political influence issues; engage with national partners and the National Association of Wheat Growers regarding backing national legislation; develop support letters and talking points that are distributed to key decision-makers; and continue to build and participate in national coalitions.
These are only the top state and national priorities that we identified; there are many more that were mentioned by our officers and board.
As noted above, coalition building remains a central part of our strategy. I’ve discussed in previous articles how a united voice is more effective than a single one. We have worked diligently to strengthen our presence by participating in national fly-ins alongside other agricultural groups such as corn, soy, cotton, peanuts, and farm credit organizations. Additionally, we have remained active in trade coalitions to advocate for increased funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development program. A notable recent initiative is our developing partnership with the Upper Mississippi Waterway Association. This collaboration is intended to create a unified voice regarding our working river systems and infrastructure and supporting the long-term interests of wheat growers and the agricultural community.
It’s clear we have big tasks to complete in the next couple of years, and our ability to advance as an organization hinges on active participation from our members and county associations. The Washington State Department of Ecology continues to push wholesale riparian buffers and other best management practices that are unreasonable and fail to take into account conditions on the ground. Our state is studying how to mitigate the effects of dam breaching without including entire sectors that would be impacted. Taxes and high input costs continue eating away at our ability to make a living as farmers, while our transportation infrastructure falls further behind in maintenance and improvements.
Our advocacy must remain strong and unified, especially as we navigate updates to the farm bill and respond to ongoing lower Snake River dam litigation. Every member’s voice matters in shaping our policies and direction, and it’s crucial we don’t allow complacency to set in. Reflecting on WAWG’s evolution over the past two decades, I’m proud of the progress we’ve made, but recognize there is always room for improvement, a goal that can only be achieved through continued collaboration and dedicated input from our members.
Farming has been challenging the last few years with low prices and ever-increasing input costs, and the way we can help you have a voice in these issues is through our membership dollars. Some of you may have noticed a “membership” wrap on your front cover. If you did, this means you are not currently a member of WAWG. Wheat Life is distributed to everybody who pays the assessment on wheat, regardless of whether or not they are a WAWG member. It has always been a struggle to get farmers to understand that WAWG membership dues are paid separately from their assessment and Wheat Life subscription. If you are already a WAWG member, you won’t see our membership wrap, and we thank you for your support and commitment to funding our organization to continue our efforts to defend “our right to farm!”