State

From NASS There were 6.7 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington, up from 5.4 days the previous week. Statewide temperatures were above normal. In Skagit County, the warm weather allowed short-season corn to be planted. In Snohomish County, hay for silage was cut. There was enough heat present to get the cucurbits growing instead of shivering along with the rest ... Read More »

From the Capital Press As a dryland cropping systems agronomist in western Nebraska for 22 years, Drew Lyon used to read Bill Schillinger’s research papers. “While he was kind of dealing with similar stuff, the Pacific Northwest is just different because of the rainfall patterns and the soil situations,” Lyon recalled. “It was always interesting to me because sometimes they ... Read More »

From NASS There were 5.4 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington, up from 4.3 days the previous week. Statewide temperatures were below normal. In Clark County, the rain kept producers out of the field most of the week. No progress was made on putting up hay. In Whatcom County, conditions remained the same, which slowed fieldwork. Heavier soils were still ... Read More »

By Dr. Xianming Chen As the weather has been cool and wet for the eastern Pacific Northwest (PNW), stripe rust has developed and spread quickly in the region. This week, we recorded stripe rust data in the experimental fields at Hermiston, Ore. (Umatilla Co.), Walla Walla, Wash. (Walla Walla Co.), and Lind, Wash. (Adams Co.). Stripe rust reached the highest severity ... Read More »

From the Capital Press When Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray commissioned a “study” of tearing down the four dams on the lower Snake River, we saw it as little more than another political sales pitch. The main goal would be to come up with a cost lower than the $33.5 billion estimated by Rep. Mike Simpson, ... Read More »

Last week, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) released the draft report of their study on breaching the lower Snake River dams. The Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) finds the report’s conclusions — replacement of the dams’ benefits are possible but at a significant cost and with major restructuring of the region’s infrastructure — to be ... Read More »

From the Spokesman-Review Mike Miller, who farms wheat near Ritzville, was sitting around a board table on Thursday as his cohorts on the Washington Grain Commission talked about, among other things, the skyrocketing price of diesel. “It’s changed the way we are farming,” Miller said. “Diesel is twice what it was last year. We are trying to limit hours on ... Read More »

From the National Agricultural Statistics Service Based on June 1, 2022 conditions, Washington winter wheat production is forecast at 131 million bushels, up 85 percent from 2021. Harvested area, at 1.80 million acres, is up 110,000 acres from the previous year. Yield is forecast at 73 bushels per acre, up 6 bushels from the May 1 forecast and up 31 bushels from last ... Read More »

From NASS There were 4.3 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington, down from 5.2 days the previous week. Statewide temperatures were below normal. In Clark County, producers were cutting hay when rain wasn’t present. Pasture and wheat conditions looked good. In Skagit County, the weather remained cool and wet. There were areas of ponded water that negatively impacted potatoes and ... Read More »

By Diana Carlen WAWG Lobbyist With unprecedented revenues for a supplemental year, the 2022 supplemental operating budget appropriated over $63 billion. Of particular interest to the agricultural industry, the final budget maintained significant spending on salmon recovery, including multiple workgroups and studies for the industry. Salmon recovery stakeholder process The 2022 supplemental operating budget provided $300,000 for the governor’s office ... Read More »