Current Issues

From U.S. Wheat Associates A coalition of U.S. farm and food industry groups recently expressed support for a bipartisan Congressional agreement that, in part, maintains navigational access to the Lower Snake River Dams. The Agricultural Transportation Working Group noted that the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022 helps protect U.S. agriculture’s dependence on comprehensive transportation system including inland waterways ... Read More »

Two new high school seniors have been selected to represent Washington wheat farmers as ambassadors for the upcoming year: Shaley Tiegs of Fairfield and Angelina Widman of Rosalia. Tiegs and Widman were selected after a written application process that included submitting a short introductory video. The ambassadors will represent Washington wheat farmers at various civic and community events and will ... Read More »

Last month, Michelle Hennings, executive director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG), joined several other commodity representatives in a roundtable discussion in Wenatchee with U.S. secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg, during his swing through the Pacific Northwest. Also participating were Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).  The group discussed transportation, trade and the high cost ... Read More »

The Washington state office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is launching a new voluntary Riparian Buffer Program in fiscal year 2023 that will compensate producers not only for things such as time, materials, labor and equipment required to install the buffers, but also for the income the land put into buffers would have produced. According to NRCS in ... Read More »

The 2022 Washington Wheat Ambassadors, Tate Nonnemacher and Cadence Zellmer, both from Davenport, Wash., each got to take part in a flight on the Farmland Fox, a series 7 Kitfox light sport plane piloted by Tim Cobb, partner/owner of Farmland Company. During the flight, which took place in September, taking off and landing on a rural airstrip in Lincoln County, ... Read More »

For the past few days, wheat industry representatives have been in Washington, D.C., to take part in the annual Taste of Washington fly-in with Washington State University, the Washington State Department of Agriculture, and other commodity groups. The Taste of Washington event spotlights Washington-grown products and promotes Washington agriculture to members of Congress. As part of that trip, wheat growers met ... Read More »

The Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) is proud to announce the hiring of long-time agricultural advocate, KayDee Gilkey, as their new outreach coordinator. Gilkey will be a familiar face to many wheat growers as she’s been involved with industry groups for years, most recently as director of industry relations with the Washington State Beef Commission. Before that, she worked ... Read More »

Recommends wheat farmers maintain strong opposition to dam breaching. The Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) released the following statement in response to the findings of the final Lower Snake River Dams (LSRD) Benefit Replacement Report and the recommendations from Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee: “The lower Snake River dams allow wheat farmers in Washington and across the ... Read More »

The Washington Association of Wheat Growers in Ritzville, WA is seeking an organized and proactive Outreach Coordinator to join our family-friendly organization. We are looking for someone who wants to celebrate agriculture and advocate for our producers and our rural lifestyle. The Outreach Coordinator supports outreach operations by coordinating all aspects of WAWG grower education, assisting the executive director with ... Read More »

Marci Green, past president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers and a Spokane County producer, joined more than 100 industry stakeholders at a recent House Agriculture Committee Listening Session on the 2018 Farm Bill. The listening session was in Carnation, Wash., and was hosted by Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.). During her two minutes, Green talked about the importance of crop ... Read More »