By Pam Lewison Director, Washington Policy Center The recent shift in how farm work is viewed has created laws in seven states for agricultural overtime pay at time-and-a-half. The move toward overtime pay in agriculture has hurt the income outlook for many farmworkers. Two years ago, Washington state became the first state in the U.S. to force agricultural work into ... Read More »

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) are disappointed that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has approved Canadian Pacific Railway’s merger with Kansas City Southern Railroad. In public comments submitted to the STB on the proposed sale in February 2022, USW said the market power held by the Class I railroads has serious implications for ... Read More »

By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist March 10 marked the 61st day of the 2023 Legislative Session. On March 8, the Legislature reached a milestone — the deadline to pass bills out of the house of origin which means House bills must have been voted out of the House and Senate bills must have been voted out of the Senate. Bills ... Read More »

By Xianming Chen  Wheat stripe rust is forecasted to be in the moderate epidemic level range (20-40% yield loss) in the 2023 growing season, based on the predication models using the weather data from November 2022 to February 2023. The models predicted highly susceptible varieties to have 37% yield loss with a standard deviation of 16%. This value is higher ... Read More »

From the National Association of Wheat Growers On March 9, Brent Cheyne was elected president of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG). Cheyne farms with his son, Rodney, near Klamath Falls, Ore., where they raise wheat, barley, oats, alfalfa and Angus cattle. In 2011, Brent began his time with the Oregon Wheat Growers League as the Oregon president before ... Read More »

The National Wheat Yield Contest (NWYC) is now accepting entries for 2023 for winter, spring, irrigated and dryland wheat. There are a couple of changes to this year’s contest rules. There is now only one deadline and one price for entries per growing season. Winter wheat entries are due May 15, 2023, and spring wheat entries are due Aug. 1, ... Read More »

From the Capital Press Nicole Berg’s year as president of the National Association of Wheat Growers will end at the Commodity Classic this month when Brent Cheyne of Klamath Falls, Ore., assumes the top NAWG office. Berg farms in Paterson, Wash., with her father and two brothers. They grow wheat, bluegrass seed, field corn, sweet corn, sweet peas, green beans ... Read More »

From U.S. Wheat Associates Since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine sent them soaring one year ago, global and U.S. wheat prices have decreased significantly. Continued Black Sea Grain Corridor exports and improved production outlook in major exporters such as Russia and Australia have helped relieve the market of some supply pressure. Bulk ocean freight rates have also broken in favor ... Read More »

From NASS In south-central Washington, it was an extremely dry February. There were small skiffs of snow and wind in recent weeks, with lows dipping to the single digits. Weather was not ideal for crops or livestock, but calving had begun around the region. In Yakima County, nearly all the precipitation came in the first week of February and measured ... Read More »

By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist State lawmakers have completed their seventh week of the regular session. Last week, they reached their second deadline where the focus was on the fiscal and transportation committees. Legislators on those committees worked long days and evenings to hear and pass out bills having a financial impact to the state. Feb. 24 was the fiscal ... Read More »