From NASS  There were 6.3 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington last week, up from 5.0 days suitable the previous week. San Juan County had similar conditions to last week. Cool nights and warm days had sun mixed with clouds. Most fields in Snohomish County were too wet for field work. Late-planted cover crops on corn silage fields emerged. A ... Read More »

From the Spokesman-Review Both U.S. senators from Washington signed an analysis by congressional staffers that shows the Trump administration’s $16 billion bailout of U.S. farmers has mostly benefited those growers in the South and large companies over small operations. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray joined 15 other Democratic senators in critiquing how the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agriculture ... Read More »

From the Tri-City Herald For the eight days beginning on Halloween, Washington state and the Northwest got a stark look at the danger of replacing hydro power with renewables like wind power. During that period of time, there was virtually no wind across the states served by the Bonneville Power Administration, leaving hydro, nuclear, and fossil fuels to make up ... Read More »

From agweb.com The House could vote on the U.S., Mexico, Canada Agreement (USMCA) as soon as next week, according to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.). Read the rest of the article here. Read More »

It was business as usual at last month’s state board meeting of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG). Several guests stopped by the meeting to talk to producers, including Chris Mertz, regional director of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS); Kay Teisl, risk management specialist from the Risk Management Agency’s (RMA) regional office in Spokane; ... Read More »

From NASS There were 5.0 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington last week, down from 6.2 days suitable the previous week. Western Washington had cool and dry conditions. Fall field preparations and planting progressed. The saturated ground slowed harvest and mired some equipment. The sunny, dry days allowed some operators to plant cover crops and cut grass with a good ... Read More »

Back in September, Michelle Hennings, executive director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG), took part in a stakeholder interview held by a consulting team hired by the Washington State Governor’s Office to talk about the potential impacts of breaching the lower Snake River dams. The Washington State Legislature earmarked $750,000 in the 2019-21 operating budget to have the ... Read More »

From NASS There were 6.2 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington last week, up from 4.8 days suitable the previous week. The Puget Sound area had cold, dry conditions for the week. Farmers were preparing fields and planting fall crops. Early major flooding last week of the Snoqualmie River and Stillaguamish River caused major vegetable crop loss. Rivers rose. Most ... Read More »

Columbia River Treaty negotiations between the U.S. and Canada are ongoing, with the latest round taking place in September in British Columbia. According to a press release from the government of B.C., delegations from tribes of both nations presented on ecosystem work collaboration. Other issues discussed were flood-risk management and hydropower. The U.S. team is led by chief negotiator, Jill ... Read More »

House Agriculture Committee member Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) joined with two of her colleagues, Rep. Jimmy Pannetta (D-Calif.) and Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill), to introduce a bill that would authorize an annual 5 percent funding increase at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In a press release, the group said the bill, The America Grows Act, restores the U.S. public’s ... Read More »