From The Seattle Times It would be an understatement to say 2020 is a tough year. Employment in all economic sectors around the state, except for health care, has cratered. There continue to be heroic efforts to make sure people have food, shelter and the other supplies basic to life and health. Much of the heavy lifting continues to be ... Read More »

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From NASS There were 6.6 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington last week, up from 6.0 days the previous week. In western Washington, most fieldwork came to a halt or decreased due to the poor air quality from the wildfires. A couple of light rain events reduced the fire danger locally but did not provide the deep watering that was ... Read More »

From the Capital Press A $3 million gift will establish an endowed chair in plant pathology at Washington State University. The gift, from the Rosalie and Harold Rea Brown Foundation, establishes the Rosalie & Harold Rea Brown Distinguished Endowed Chair in Plant Pathology. Read the rest of the article here. Read More »

All wheat is in! Last night, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a second round of Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) payments that extends eligibility to all classes of wheat. In the first round of CFAP only hard red spring and durum wheat qualified for payments. The $14 billion package will provide payments for commodities that saw at least ... Read More »

USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds farm owners that they have a one-time opportunity to update Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program yields for covered commodities on the farm. The deadline is Sept. 30, 2020, to update yields, which are used to calculate the PLC payments for 2020 through 2023. Additionally, producers who elected Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) should also consider ... Read More »

From the Capital Press Washington’s air fleet and efforts to catch wildfires while they’re still small have helped keep the number of blazes down but the state is still headed for a record in acreage burned, the state forester says. “There have been literally dozens and dozens of fire starts that have been stopped at less than 10 acres,” George ... Read More »

From NASS There were 6.0 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington last week, down from 6.8 days the previous week. In western Washington, there were smoke intrusions from the fires in the east and now Oregon and California. Smoke did not stop harvest, but made it much more difficult and dangerous. The weather was hot and dry. CSA operations continued ... Read More »

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) provides assistance to qualifying farmers and ranchers within Washington state to help them recover from production or physical losses due to natural disaster events, such as the fires currently burning. This assistance is provided through FSA’s Emergency Loan Program or one of its many disaster programs. Below is a quick overview of FSA’s disaster programs ... Read More »

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced this week that the application deadlines for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Classic in Washington state with a strong focus on conservation planning, conservation implementation, and solving natural resource concerns. EQIP is a voluntary, technical and financial assistance program designed to help farmers, ranchers, private forestland owners, Tribes and other private landowners/managers ... Read More »