The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making improvements to crop insurance to better enable agricultural producers to manage risk on their operations.  Specifically, USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is adding new options for producers of dry beans, dry peas, and small grains, such as wheat. RMA is making these changes through three Final Rules, which posted this month on ... Read More »

From NASS There were 7 days suitable for field work, up from 6.7 the previous week. Statewide temperatures for the week ending June 27 were above normal. In San Juan County, most farms were successful at starting early harvests of haylage. Some vegetable crops suffered due to the heat wave, even with adequate irrigation. Caneberries began to size up and ... Read More »

From the Capital Press The Washington Department of Ecology has no plans to move forward with declaring a drought, as Eastern Washington bakes and wheat farmers harvest smaller crops. Ecology drought coordinator Jeff Marti acknowledged Friday that dry-land wheat farmers are being “hammered” by the second-driest spring in state history followed by heat waves. A drought declaration, however, won’t bring ... Read More »

From the Capital Press Washington regulators are proposing farms alter schedules or hand out masks to filter wildfire smoke even if the air quality remains at a level the Environment Protection Agency calls “acceptable.” The rule could be in place by the end of June and would be triggered when the federal Air Quality Index reaches 69, on a scale ... Read More »

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, but a combination of both brought a big spotlight on the drought conditions in Eastern Washington and highlighted how important crop insurance is to farmers. In June, Nicole Berg, a grower in Benton County and vice president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, sent out photographs of a coat hanger in ... Read More »

From NASS There were 6.7 days suitable for field work, down from 7 days the previous week. Statewide temperatures for the week ending June 20 were normal to above normal. In San Juan County, pastures continued to dry, and grasses booted. Berry crops sized up and continued to bloom. In Snohomish County, the ground moisture was low. Poorly drained fields ... Read More »

Grower leaders from the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) and the Washington Grain Commission (WGC) have sent a letter to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee asking him to announce a drought declaration in wheat counties so growers will have access to federal natural disaster aid. The letter comes as drought conditions deepen across the state. As of June 15, all or ... Read More »

From bayer.com Marci Green is desperately waiting for rain. “If we get rains in June, we might be able to save the season,” she says, looking out of the window and letting her eyes wander over the fields surrounding her family farm in eastern Washington State. It’s late May and the region has experienced “pretty serious” droughts as Marci reports. ... Read More »

From the Capital Press Rich Koenig will take over as interim dean of Washington State University’s College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences on July 1. He replaces Andre-Denis Wright, who resigned effective June 30 to be the new provost of the Norman campus for the University of Oklahoma. Wright joined WSU as CAHNRS dean in 2018. Read the ... Read More »

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) and the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) congratulate the Biden Administration and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai for resolving the long-running World Trade Organization dispute over aircraft subsidies and suspending retaliatory tariffs that were a barrier to U.S. wheat exports to the European Union. Under the dispute, the EU placed retaliatory tariffs on non-durum U.S. ... Read More »