From DTN Progressive Farmer Note: The Farm Service Agency has not officially confirmed this news. WAWG will continue to monitor the issue and will update this website as necessary. Nearly $4 billion in Agriculture Risk Coverage-County checks were deposited in farmers accounts by early November, but the Farm Service Agency announced late last week it will recalculate payments for growers ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse USDA is making $350 million available to help landowners protect and restore key farmlands, grasslands and wetlands across the nation. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the funding is provided through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), created by the 2014 farm bill to protect critical water resources and wildlife habitat, and encourage private owners to maintain land for farming and ... Read More »

From the Capital Press The Pacific Northwest agencies representing grain farmers will unite to take a proactive approach against what they say is misinformation about the value of dams. The Idaho Wheat Commission, Oregon Wheat Commission and Washington Grain Commission made the decision Nov. 11 in Spokane during a tri-state commission meeting. Read the rest of the story here. Read More »

From Agri-Pulse The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is in the process of fine tuning the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) promising to make it more transparent, simpler to understand and easier to apply for. The interim final changes updating the program in line with the 2014 Farm Bill are in place, but the agency intends to look at ways to ... Read More »

From the Basin Business Journal “We’re trying to sit down and understand the deals going back ten years,” 13th Legislative District Representative Tom Dent says of the Odessa Subarea surface water delivery plan. The plan to bring surface water to farmers who now are operating pumps out of the Odessa Aquifer is on hold because of the convoluted deals and ... Read More »

From the Capital Press Farmers who lose crops to elk or deer would pay up to $600 to file a claim under a policy that the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider Friday. According to written administrative rules, the state will pay for an adjuster to assess damages. In actual practice, wildlife managers have for several years required the ... Read More »

From The Spokesman-Review Mary Dye of Pomeroy will be coming back to Olympia next year, elected Tuesday night to keep the seat she filled through an appointment earlier this year. Dye, 54, easily beat former Franklin County Sheriff Richard Lathim in the general election for the 9th District House seat that became vacant when Susan Fagan resigned this spring after ... Read More »

From the Capital Press The Obama administration released the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement’s full text Thursday, giving farm groups their first chance to study in detail a trade pact they had already largely embraced. Hours after the release of the 30-chapter, 2,000-page agreement, the Northwest Horticultural Council’s trustees officially endorsed TPP. The organization represents apple, pear and cherry growers, packers and ... Read More »

From Agri-Pulse The White House has posted the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, triggering the start of a public review process. The 30 chapters of the TPP agreement include a sanitary and phytosanitary measures section meant to prevent countries from using standards for food safety and animal and plant health as trade barriers. There are other chapters on ... Read More »

From the Capital Press Despite White House objections, the Senate voted for a resolution Nov. 4 to scrap new federal rules to protect smaller streams, tributaries and wetlands from development and pollution. Senators voted 53-44 in favor of a “resolution of disapproval,” a measure that would void the regulations if also passed by the House and signed by the president. The ... Read More »