Stacey Katseanes Satterlee will replace former Executive Director Travis Jones who left to take a position with the office of Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson. Satterlee has spent time in Washington, D.C., as vice president of government affairs for the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and as director of federal government affairs for the Western Growers Association. She grew up on ... Read More »

From the Spokesman-Review The small orchard on Bob Sanborn’s 10-acre Colbert property should have produced bushels of fruit this year. There are pear and apple trees and Santa Rosa plums “this big around and a deep purple inside,” said Sanborn, a retired computer technician. But his apple and pear trees are almost devoid of fruit, and the plums are the ... Read More »

From the Capital Press Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s renewed push to scrub toxics from waterways won’t affect agriculture because farm chemicals already are regulated by federal law, state officials say. At a press conference last week in Seattle, Inslee said his administration will target chemicals in everyday products, such as brake pads and furniture. The Ecology and Health departments will develop ... Read More »

From agweb.com A federal appeals court on Friday morning said that the U.S. government could not begin implementing the controversial “Waters of the U.S.” rule that governs what waterways are subject to federal Clean Water Act permits and which waterways are not. “This is great news for cattlemen and women and all land users who have been at a loss ... Read More »

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released a series of fact sheets illustrating how the newly reached Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement can boost the U.S. agriculture industry, supporting more American jobs and driving the nation’s rural economy. Created by the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), the fact sheets graphically depict how each state and individual commodities stand to benefit from ... Read More »

From the New York Times Cheatgrass could vie for the title of the most successful invasive species in North America. The weed lives in every state, and is the dominant plant on more than 154,000 square miles of the West, by one estimate. When it turns green in the spring, “you can actually see it from space,” said Bethany Bradley, ... Read More »

Entries are now being accepted for the first National Wheat Yield Contest in more than 20 years. The National Wheat Foundation (NWF) announced the official contest rules and opened registration on their website today for the inaugural year of the contest. The highly anticipated yield competition, first unveiled at the 2015 Commodity Classic, is made possible by the generous support of ... Read More »

Preliminary 2015 Washington State University Variety Testing data is available here. Also new on the website are articles on: •Control Rush Skeletonweed in the fall. •What to sow when pH is low. •Another warm, dry winter favored in 2015/16. •Getting the facts on soil acidification in the Palouse. Read More »

From Feedstuffs The President traveled to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Tuesday where he joined secretary of agriculture Tom Vilsack for a meeting with agriculture and business leaders on the benefits of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for American business and workers. President Obama said with this trade agreement, which spans nearly 40% of the global economy, will enable the sale ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse Key lawmakers involved in transportation issues are working to come up with a compromise that would push back the current end-of-year deadline for implementation of a rail safety system – avoiding a threatened disruption of grain and fertilizer deliveries. In the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Congress directed rail providers to install Positive Train Control (PTC) on ... Read More »