From Agri-Pulse Federal regulators defended the safety of biotech foods at a congressional hearing Wednesday as senators prepared the groundwork for moving a compromise bill to block states from requiring labels on GMO products. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Debbie Stabenow, who is playing a leading role in negotiations on a compromise bill, announced that she hoped to ... Read More »

Some of the most helpful tax preferences for farmers and ranchers are up for review in the 2016 Washington state legislative session. Many have received preliminary recommendations from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) to be further reviewed and clarified. The tax credits for diesel fuel used on farms and for farm machinery replacement parts are among the ... Read More »

By Keva Herron Guszkowski WAWG Policy Director The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is important to many wheat farmers because it helps them address natural resource concerns, such as water and air quality, soil erosion, energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture, wildlife habitat preservation and emergency response for natural disasters. CRP is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency ... Read More »

From the Capital Press The U.S. Climate Prediction Center reinforced yesterday that Washington can expect a winter similar to last year’s, which led to one of the state’s worse droughts on record. Read the rest of the story here. Read More »

From Agri-Pulse In a blow to the Obama administration, a judicial panel has refused to consolidate a series of legal challenges against the new rule re-defining the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. Advertisement Lawyers for the administration were seeking to move the nine lawsuits, now pending in seven circuit courts, to the District of Columbia. A North Dakota judge ... Read More »

From The Spokesman-Review This year’s campaign trail in Washington’s 9th Legislative District may intersect with an actual trail, and the controversy surrounding it. A botched legislative proposal to close a stretch of the John Wayne Heritage Trail through parts of the district angered some townspeople along the trail. It also prompted a crowded town hall meeting in Tekoa and led ... Read More »

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 »