Recently, 28 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) Tom Vilsack and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai requesting the administration pursue a World Trade Organization (WTO) case against India’s domestic support for rice and wheat production. The U.S. has previously highlighted India’s noncompliance through counternotifications at the WTO Committee on ... Read More »

From the Capital Press The Environmental Protection Agency’s Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Advisory Committee on Friday submitted a list of recommendations to administrator Michael Regan on the intended revision of the definition of Waters of the United States. Read the rest of the article here. Read More »

By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist The Washington Legislature convened on Monday, Jan 10, for a short, 60-day session. Short sessions have been described as drinking from a fire hose since everything happens on a condensed timeframe, and this year is no exception. Prior to the session even starting, the legislature had prefiled more than 500 new pieces of legislation for ... Read More »

From the Capital Press Pacific Northwest wheat stocks are down about 43% compared to the same time last year, according to the USDA. Regional wheat industry representatives say that’s to be expected. Read the rest of the article here. Read More »

From NASS All wheat stored in all positions on Dec. 1, 2021, in Washington totaled 82.6 million bushels, down from 147 million bushels a year ago. Off-farm stocks were down 44 percent, while on-farm stocks were down 38 percent compared to the previous year. In Idaho, wheat stored in all positions totaled 48.8 million bushels, down from 84.7 million bushels ... Read More »

From agriculture.com The economy will be fine. Be afraid. Don’t worry about inflation – it’s not that big of a deal. A recession is coming. If you feel like your head is spinning, so did the 900 or so attendees at the 2022 Land Investment Expo in Des Moines on Jan. 1. Economist Alan Beaulieu, the president of ITR Economics, ... Read More »

From agweb.com The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Convention in underway in Atlanta this week, and as Phase One agreement with China is now expired, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke to members in-person, assuring farmers and ranchers the White House will push China to make up for the $16 billion shortfall in trade. Read the rest of the article here. Read More »

By Xianming Chen Based on the weather data in November and December 2021, stripe rust in the 2022 wheat growing season is forecasted to be in the middle range of the moderate epidemic level (20–40 percent yield loss on susceptible varieties). Using the forecast models based on the 2021 November and December weather data, yield loss of highly susceptible winter wheat varieties in ... Read More »

The National Wheat Foundation (NWF) is pleased to announce that it is accepting grower enrollment for the 2022 National Wheat Yield Contest! The contest is divided into two primary competition categories: winter wheat and spring wheat, and two subcategories: dryland and irrigated. The 2022 National Wheat Yield Contest will add a new quality component. The 24 yield winners’ wheat will ... Read More »

The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) is hosting a pesticide usage collection meeting on Jan. 19 at the Washington Association of Wheat Growers office in Ritzville from 9 am to 12:30 pm. Joel Demory, an agricultural practices specialist from the WSDA Spokane office, will be leading the meeting. The goal of the meeting is to collect updated pesticide usage data ... Read More »