From the Spokesman-Review The short-term results of President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China are clear for Eastern Washington: The value of agricultural exports including wheat, apples and cherries will be reduced. T. Randall Fortenbery, the Thomas B. Mick economics endowed chair at Washington State University, studied the impacts and said those damaging effects for Washington state are evident. Read ... Read More »

Editor’s note: This is an Op Ed the Washington Association of Wheat Growers submitted to regional newspapers in May. In agriculture, everything is cyclical. The same seems to be true of the lower Snake River dams. Every few years, advocates of breaching the dams start speaking out on why they should be torn down, and the communities and industries that ... Read More »

From NASS There were 6.9 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington last week, up from 6.0 the previous week. The Puget Sound had warm daytime temperatures, abundant sunshine and cool nights. Fieldwork and planting were in full swing. Spinach, beets, spring wheat, barley and potatoes were planted. Conditions were dry. Late apples bloomed, and berry crops were leafing out. Annual ... Read More »

From the National Association of Wheat Growers It is with much disappointment to announce that the North Dakota Grain Growers Association (NDGGA) has decided to withdraw their membership from the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), effective June 30, 2019, the end of NAWG’s current fiscal year. NAWG President Ben Scholz made the following statement in response: “Despite tremendous effort ... Read More »

By Dr. Xianming Chen Last week, we were planting spring nurseries and recording the first set of stripe rust data in winter nurseries at Mount Vernon (Skagit Co.) in northwestern Washington. Winter wheat plants were at Feekes 5-7 and barley plants were at Feekes 6-7. Stripe rust reached 60-80 percent severity on susceptible wheat varieties and 20-40 percent severity on ... Read More »

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From NASS There were 6.0 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington last week, up from 5.2 the previous week. More rain helped with the dry spring in Island, San Juan and Skagit counties. Fieldwork slowly increased, and fruit trees were in their final stretch for blossoms. Farmers planted spring crops with full force. Drier weather in Whatcom County encouraged more ... Read More »

From NW News Network Washington lawmakers adjourned at midnight Sunday after majority Democrats approved an initiative to restore affirmative action and passed a $52.4 billion, two-year state operating budget. The budget relies on an array of tax increases, including on businesses and real estate transactions, but doesn’t impose a new capital gains tax as had been proposed. Read the rest ... Read More »

From the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association The Snake River dams have been in the news again this week. At an event hosted by Boise State University to examine efforts to balance hydropower, salmon, farming and the environment, the topic of dam breaching became the focus of the event. Some speakers called for forums to be created to look at the ... Read More »

From the Capital Press Washington lawmakers have approved a new committee with a wide-ranging mandate to review how farms spray pesticides and to investigate cases of pesticide exposure. Made up of legislators, department directors and university experts, the committee’s first job will be to reconcile various ways state agencies track pesticide exposure to calculate how often it actually happens. Different ... Read More »