State

By Dr. Xianming Chen  On May 11, we were checking winter wheat fields in Whitman, Garfield, Columbia, Walla Walla, Franklin and Adams counties in Washington. Because of the high moisture, wheat crops look good with winter wheat ranging from early jointing (Feekes 5) to boot (Feekes 10), and spring wheat ranging from just emerged to late tillering (Feekes 3). Stripe ... Read More »

From the National Agricultural Statistics Service  Based on May 1, 2022, conditions, production of winter wheat in Washington is forecast at 121 million bushels, up 70 percent from 2021. Yield is expected to average 67 bushels per acre, up 25 bushels from the previous year. Growers planted an estimated 1.85 million acres in the fall of 2021, up 100,000 acres ... Read More »

From NASS There were 4.6 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington, down from 5.2 the previous week. Statewide temperatures were below normal. In San Juan County, cool and rainy weather continued throughout the area. Field conditions impacted crop planting, grass growth and first cuttings of hay. In Benton County, hop bines grew up the trellis system, and hop yard irrigation ... Read More »

The Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA) has hired Heather Stebbings as executive director to replace Kristin Meira. Stebbings has 15 years of advocacy and public policy experience for the Pacific Northwest maritime community, including 13 years directing communications and government relations for PNWA. She joins the association from member Shaver Transportation, where she has served as marine services and government ... Read More »

On April 29, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) designated nine Washington counties as primary natural disaster areas. Those counties are Adams, Asotin, Benton, Franklin, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Walla Walla and Yakima counties. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, these counties suffered from a drought intensity value during the growing season of 1) D2 Drought-Severe for eight or more consecutive ... Read More »

From NASS There were 5.2 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington, up from 4.4 the previous week. Statewide temperatures were below normal. In San Juan County, cool and rainy weather was present throughout the area. Fields were too wet for any work to take place. Many vegetable seed and grain growers were behind with spring planting. Grass fields were thin, ... Read More »

Marci Green, a Spokane County wheat farmer and a past president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, is helping promote the benefits provided by the lower Snake River dams by narrating a commercial running on broadcast and cable TV, streaming video, and social media channels. Read More »

From the Capital Press It is completely mind-boggling that amidst an energy and supply chain crisis, President Biden would remove a source of power and transportation for an entire region. Yet, just recently, the White House updated their blog with a post about doing just that: breaching the four Lower Snake River Dams. Read the rest of the article here. Read More »

From NASS There were 4.4 days suitable for fieldwork in Washington, up from 2.8 the previous week. Statewide temperatures were below normal. In San Juan County, chilly, cool nights did not affect fruit trees. Fieldwork started up due to drier weather conditions. Some timed rotational grazing took place on farms with drier upland soils. In Whatcom County, dairy farms had ... Read More »

By Dr. Xianming Chen On April 13 and 14, we were planting spring cereal nurseries and taking the first notes of the winter nurseries at Mount Vernon, Wash. The winter plants were at jointing stage ranging from Feekes 4 to 6. Wheat stripe rust was up to 60 percent severity on susceptible varieties. Barley stripe rust up to 40 percent ... Read More »