By Claire Hutchins, USW Market Analyst It is no secret that these are uncertain times. As countries across the world work to contain and combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) is closely monitoring the effects of the outbreak on global wheat trade dynamics. Over the past several weeks, several major wheat exporters have implemented measures to ... Read More »

By Paul Nieffer Farm CPA Today The SBA issued some additional Interim Final Rules earlier this week and most of it dealt with self-employed taxpayers.  We were hoping that gross receipts would qualify.  For an Uber driver it might if they only received a Form 1099 from Uber and have little or no expenses. For the typical SE farmer, it ... Read More »

From NASS There were 6.5 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington last week, up from 5.0 the previous week. In Western Washington, a lot of field work was getting completed. Many tractors were out breaking soil. However, producers did not chop haylage. In Whatcom County, fall-seeded crops were showing a growth spurt, grass growth was picking up, and raspberry plants ... Read More »

Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) President Ryan Poe submitted the following comments to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in response to the Columbia River System Operations draft EIS on behalf of the organization. WAWG encourages all wheat farmers to submit their comments online as soon as possible as today is the last day comments will be accepted. On behalf ... Read More »

Agricultural producers can now apply for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) loan called the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).  The new PPP loan is designed to help pay employees, mortgage and rent payments, and utility bills.  This loan can be 100% forgivable, based upon maintaining employees and salary for eight weeks. Additional information can be found here. Related from Paul ... Read More »

From the Capital Press Besieged by lawsuits and a rising tide of weeds resistant to its popular Roundup herbicide, German chemical giant Bayer is touting a landmark discovery — a new molecule that will kill resistant weeds using a different mode of action. Read More »

From the Capital Press Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has vetoed new spending totaling $235 million from the budget passed by lawmakers last month, including money for Washington State University to study soil health and to help farmers find alternatives to the pesticide chlorpyrifos. See the rest of the article here. Read More »

From NASS There were 5.0 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington last week. In western Washington, grass was slow to grow with the cooler temperatures. Most livestock were out on pastures. Farmers worked ground and spread manure. However, most fields were too wet to work. In San Juan County, some orchards were beginning to bloom. In Snohomish County, most work ... Read More »

By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist Last Friday, Governor Inslee signed the supplemental operating and capital budgets.  While he signed the supplemental capital budget in full, he used his line-item veto authority to trim the supplemental operating budget stating that circumstances have changed dramatically since the 2020 supplemental operating budget was approved by the Legislature last month due to COVID-19.  In ... Read More »

According to a survey done by the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) about the impacts members are seeing due to COVID-19 and the social distancing measures currently in place, 80 percent of wheat growers are moderately to highly concerned. Possible disruptions to labor appear to be the largest concern at this point, with 59 percent of respondents saying they’ve ... Read More »