WAWG
There’s a new face greeting producers at the Washington Association of Wheat Growers’ (WAWG) office in Ritzville, Wash. Katie Teachout joined the WAWG staff at the end of July as an administrative assistant.
Teachout moved to Ritzville in 2020 from Okanogan County to take a position at the Ritzville Adams County Journal where she covered local sports and news. She has lived in small towns and worked at several small-town newspapers during her career. She doesn’t have an agricultural background, but she grew up in Ohio, surrounded by cornfields. Her father ran a photography studio.
“I like being in a small town. It’s nice to be in an ag community,” she said. “Farmers and their families are such hard workers. So many kids from farming families are so athletic and hard working. I’ve seen that over the years, covering FFA and fair events.”
When she isn’t answering WAWG members’ questions, Teachout enjoys sewing and cooking, not to mention listening to music, dancing, swimming and fishing. Living in the Okanogan, she also enjoyed snowshoeing, especially for checking a trap line or fetching a Christmas tree. She has three daughters and just welcomed the family’s fourth grandchild.
While her time at the local newspaper introduced her to the wheat industry, Teachout said she’s still got much to learn and is looking forward to interacting more with WAWG members.
“I’m happy to be living amongst them and learning more about the wheat industry,” she said. “That is something I liked about journalism. Every story you had to learn a little bit about the subject in order to write about it.”