On March 31, 2026, the National Agricultural Statistics Service released the 2026 Prospective Plantings report. Washington growers report planting 1,850,000 acres of winter wheat, unchanged from 2025. Spring wheat is projected to be 450,000 acres down 5% from 2025, which was at 475,000 acres. Barley acres are up just slightly from 2025 at 70,000. All wheat planted area for 2026 ... Read More »
By Dr. Xianming Chen On March 18, we were checking wheat fields in Franklin, Benton, Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, and Whitman counties. Wheat plants ranged from Feekes 3 to 6. Stripe rust was found in all counties. In Franklin County, stripe rust has developed quickly since the field check on March 3, forming rust foci (hot spots) of several feet in diameter. In Horse ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist The Legislature adjourned on the 60th day of the 2026 Legislative Session on March 12 at around 8:30 p.m. In the final week of the session, the Legislature adopted the supplemental 2025-2027 operating, capital, and transportation budgets. The Legislature also spent the final week passing bills. In total, the Legislature passed 267 bills during the ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist With less than a week remaining in the 60-day session as of March 7, the 2026 legislative session enters the home stretch. The Legislature reached two major milestones this past week. The first was March 2, the last day to pass opposite chamber bills from House fiscal committees and Senate Ways & Means and Transportation ... Read More »
By Dr. Xianming Chen USDA-ARS Research Plant Pathologist Wheat stripe rust is forecasted to be in the upper range of severe epidemic (40-60% yield losses on susceptible varieties) in the 2026 growing season for the eastern Pacific Northwest, based on the predication models using the weather data from November 2025 to February 2026. The models predict highly susceptible varieties to have 55.8% yield ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist Washington State legislators have completed their seventh week of work in Olympia as of Feb. 28. There are less than two weeks remaining in the legislative session. The Legislature passed a major cutoff Feb. 25, the last day to pass policy bills from the opposite chamber out of policy committees. The next major cutoff is ... Read More »
On Feb. 26, 2026, the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) expressed disagreement regarding the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction in litigation involving the four lower Snake River dams. Overall, the ruling will increase the risk of harm to infrastructure, listed species, and public safety while failing to provide substantiated evidence that ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen Lobbyist, Washington Association of Wheat Growers The Legislature has completed its fifth week of the session. On Feb. 9, legislators reached the second major deadline of session which was the fiscal cutoff date. Bills with a fiscal impact had to pass out of the respective budget and transportation committees by that deadline unless they are “Necessary to ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist The 2026 Legislative Session reached its first important deadline on Feb. 4, as policy committee cutoff occurred. Any bills that have not made it out of a policy committee are considered dead and no longer eligible to move forward this year. Legislation not subject to the deadline includes bills that have been passed to fiscal ... Read More »
By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist Saturday, Jan. 31, marked the 20th day of session, with 40 days left to go. The third week brought another hectic week with the first legislative deadline fast approaching. The first legislative deadline is Feb. 4, which is the policy cut-off deadline. All bills must be passed out of their respective policy committees by this ... Read More »
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