January - Wheat Life

Transcription

WHEAT LIFE
The official publication of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers
JANUARY 2014
UNCLE SAM
WANTS YOU
to stand up and be heard. Inside, learn
how to contact your state and national
delegates. Also in this issue:
A talk with Rep. Suzan DelBene
Envisioning the wheat industry’s future
China’s weather woes
Education by rail
Address Service Requested
Washington Association of Wheat Growers
109 East First Avenue, Ritzville, WA 99169
WHEAT LIFE
Volume 57 • Number 01
www.wheatlife.org
The official publication of
WASHINGTON
ASSOCIATION OF
WHEAT GROWERS
109 East First Avenue
Ritzville, WA 99169-2394
(509) 659-0610 • (800) 598-6890
WAWG MEMBERSHIP
(509) 659-0610 • (800) 598-6890
$125 per year
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Kara Rowe • [email protected]
(509) 456-2481
EDITOR
Trista Crossley • [email protected]
(435) 260-8888
AD SALES MANAGER
Kevin Gaffney • [email protected]
(509) 235-2715
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Devin Taylor • Trista Crossley
AD BILLING
Michelle Hennings • [email protected]
(509) 659-0610 • (800) 598-6890
CIRCULATION
Address changes, extra copies, subscriptions
Chauna Carlson • [email protected]
(509) 659-0610 • (800) 598-6890
Subscriptions are $50 per year
WAWG EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
PRESIDENT
Nicole Berg • Paterson
VICE PRESIDENT
Larry Cochran • Colfax
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Kevin Klein • Edwall
PRESIDENT EMERITUS
Ryan Kregger • Touchet
APPOINTED MEMBERS
Chris Herron • Connell
Eric Maier • Ritzville
Marci Green • Fairfield
Wheat Life (ISSN 0043-4701) is published by the
Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG):
109 E. First Avenue • Ritzville, WA 99169-2394
Eleven issues per year with a combined August/
September issue. Standard (A) postage paid at
Ritzville, Wash., and additional entry offices.
President’s Perspective
No rest for the wicked
By Nicole Berg
Well, if someone had told me I wasn’t going to sleep in
my own bed much in January, I may not have signed up
for this officer gig! All kidding aside, this is WAWG’s busy
season, as you can imagine. Winter is the one season that
most of us aren’t as tied to the fields as much as spring,
summer and fall, therefore, that’s when we are very busy
working for you. Staff works year-round on your behalf,
and January through March, we as leaders are able to push their efforts to the next
level.
As you’ll read on the following pages, we will be making stops in Olympia
and Washington, D.C., this month to take your messages to our elected officials.
Beforehand, we will be conducting a strategic planning meeting in Spokane to
chart our organization’s destination and arrival time for the next decade. My goal
is to ensure that the goals of this planning session do not just end up on the shelf
to be revisited in 2024. I hope this results in a plan that the staff and leadership
rely heavily on in the coming weeks, months and years to ensure that WAWG
goes the direction you desire. I encourage your involvement, and you can call the
WAWG office for more information.
If you know me, you also know that I am extremely passionate about my wheat
farm and voluntary, incentive-based environmental programs. It has been my
personal goal to better educate agency personnel, legislators and the public about
what our industry is doing to improve water and air quality. I want them to
understand that farmers are part of the solution to pollution, not the major problem in pollution. I know hundreds of you who wake up each morning wanting
to improve your land and your farm for your descendants and your consumers.
The better we run our farms, the better we serve our customers. Whether it’s on a
balance sheet or an NRCS farm plan, the numbers must add up correctly. WAWG
has been working hard on your behalf to be a conduit to helping solve some of the
issues surrounding water quality in our state. Stay tuned, because as we further
develop these plans, we will have proactive, positive news to share.
Finally, I again encourage you to become involved in this organization. It’s
not about the trips we take and the places we go. It’s about what we are doing to
improve your farm. I need to hear from you if I am going to help you and your operation continue to be successful. I’d like to hear what gives you heartburn when
it comes to farm programs and local issues. I want to know if you think WAWG
is going down the right or wrong path. As I’m heading into my second month as
president, I sincerely hope I have your support to help lead our beloved industry
into the future. I wish you the best in 2014!
Contents of this publication may not be reprinted without permission.
Advertising in Wheat Life does not indicate
endorsement of an organization, product or political
candidate by WAWG.
2 WHEAT LIFE JANUARY 2014
Cover: This iconic poster of Uncle Sam was originally painted by James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960)
in 1916 and was used to support the war efforts in World War I and II. Photo courtesy of the Library of
Congress. All photos are Shutterstock images or taken by Wheat Life staff unless otherwise noted.
Inside This Issue
WAWG President’s Perspective
Membership Form
WAWG at Work
Policy Matters
Break-out hit
Convention session imagines industry future
Who you gonna call?
A list of Washington’s state, national delegations
House musings
Rep. DelBene on her first year in Congress
Great Scott!
Back to the future with VRT
Profiles
Livestock Producers Cooperative Association
WGC Chairman’s Column
WGC Review
China’s weather woes
Harvest problems push country into market
Suess in Sousse
Tunisia plays host to yearly millers’ conference
Coming to a field near you
A preview of herbicide-resistant weeds
The good, the bad and the ugly
Chen gives farmers the lowdown on stripe rust
Wheat Watch
An unlikely pairing
Colleges, railroads helped spread education
The Bottom Line
Your Wheat Life
Happenings
Advertiser Index
2
4
6
12
22
26
28
32
38
41
42
46
49
51
52
56
58
64
66
68
70
Contributors
Nicole Berg, president, Washington Association of Wheat Growers
Scott S. Yates, communications director, Washington Grain
Commission
Kevin Gaffney, ad sales manager, Wheat Life
Randy Suess, commissioner, Washington Grain Commission
Drew Lyon, Ph.D., Endowed Chair Small Grains Extension and
Research, Weed Science, Washington State University
Ian Burke, associate professor, Washington State University
Xianming Chen, plant pathologist, USDA-ARS
T. Randall Fortenbery, Ph.D., Tom Mick Endowed Chair in Grain
Economics, Washington State University
Michael Stolp, Northwest Farm Credit Services
Seth Small, Touchet-area farmer
Steven D. Aagard, professor, University of Wyoming
WHEAT LIFE JANUARY 2014 3
WAWG MEMBERSHIP FORM
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(up to 5 partners)
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Thank you to our
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We fight every day to ensure that life on the
family farm continues to prosper and grow.
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT.
If you are not a member, please consider joining today.
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WAWG’s current top priorities are:
✔ Ensure that a strong safety net for
wheat farmers is formed through the
• Sales tax exemption on fertilizer and pesticides
federal farm bill
• Ag wholesale B&O exemption
✔ Monitor the GM wheat situation and
• Off-road fuel tax exemption
support continued biotechnology research
• Repair parts exemption
and product and market development
✔ Preserve the ag tax preferences:
Washington state continues to look for more revenue,
and farmers’ tax exemptions are on the list. If these are important
to your operation, join today and help us fight.
More member benefits:
Weekly Email correspondence
• Greensheet ALERTS • WAWG updates
• Voice to WAWG through opinion surveys
• National Wheat Grower updates
Washington Association
of Wheat Growers
109EastFirstAve.•Ritzville,WA99169
509-659-0610•800-598-6890•509-659-4302(fax)
www.wagrains.com
Call 800-598-6890 or visit www.wagrains.com
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WAWG
at
k
r
wo
Long-term priorities set
at WAWG planning session
Every few years, WAWG leaders sit down for a longterm planning session. In early January, the organization
will meet and go through a strategic planning session in
Spokane. This is an opportunity for the board and members to chart out goals for the organization, both short and
long term.
“It’s vital to every organization, big or small, to have
a centralized vision of where they need to be, and what
they need to be striving for,” said Nicole Berg, WAWG
president. “We hope that what we develop at this meeting
becomes more than just a folder that sits on a shelf. It will
be the living guide that staff and leadership use intimately
when prioritizing, communicating and protecting policy.”
The last strategic planning session for WAWG was held
in Chelan, Wash., in 2008. For more information about the
planning session, contact the WAWG office at (509) 6590610.
Capitols or bust
WAWG leaders prepare
for 2014 state session
With the new year, WAWG welcomes a fresh start to
the political season in our state. In a couple of weeks, your
WAWG leadership team
and volunteers head
Move over Boeing
to Olympia to discuss
Washington is America’s
issues affecting wheat
No. 1 producer of red raspgrowers.
berries, hops, spearmint oil,
“Even though we
seed peas, cherries, concord
don’t have a budget to
grapes, pears, carrots and,
pass this session, we are
of course, apples. Some of
not going to be short on
agriculture’s contributions to
policy issues to address
the state’s economy are:
with our elected offi• $40 billion in economic
cials,” said Nicole Berg,
activity;
WAWG president and
Paterson area farmer.
• Provides 13 percent of the
“Between proving that
state’s economy;
our agricultural tax
• Employs 160,000 people
exemptions are a benefit
throughout the state; and
to the state economy
• Exports $15 billion in food
and working with legisand agricultural products
lators on environmental
worldwide.
issues, we will be busy
protecting our farmers
on multiple fronts this session.”
Traditionally, WAWG has maintained a philosophy of
“do no harm” in state policy realms. While this approach
is useful, a multitude of urban legislators are asking agriculture to prove its significance to the state.
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WAWG AT WORK
“Every county in Washington has a farming or ranching
tie,” said Kara Rowe, WAWG’s director of affairs and outreach. “We will continue to explain this to our friends in
western Washington. What affects agriculture will affect
every citizen. We cannot forget that Washington is first
and foremost an agricultural state. Washington’s farmers
and ranchers are leaders in America with more than 300
different foods grown in our state.”
In fact, according to the 2007 USDA Census, King
County is home to blueberry, bulb, cattle, cherry, chickens,
Christmas tree, goat, corn, grape, green pea, hay, hog,
herb, horse, milk, mink, strawberry, wheat and many
other farms.
After Olympia, it’s off to D.C.
Just a week after WAWG delegates arrive home from
Olympia, the officer team and staff leave to take their messages to Washington, D.C. Frustrated by the drawn-out
process of passing a long-term farm bill, the officer team
will be talking about specific issues with Washington’s
Congressional delegation.
“It has been an absolute roller coaster trying to push
a long-term safety net for our farms the past two years,”
said Eric Maier, WAWG past president and national legislation committee chairman. “In the end, it really didn’t
matter what solutions made the most sense, we were at
the mercy of partisan politics, CBO scores and crop versus
crop shenanigans.”
What makes a consensus even more difficult in D.C.
is that a consensus wasn’t reached within agriculture.
Asking agriculture to agree on a safety net is somewhat
like asking long-distance relatives over for a family dinner.
Everyone is related, but not everyone agrees.
“What’s best for a sugar farmer, isn’t necessarily best
for a wheat farmer. What’s best for a southern farmer
isn’t always best for a northern farmer. Then throw food
stamps into the mix, and you’re destined for rough waters.
I understand why this bill always takes time, but it’s still
been a frustration at this level,” Maier said.
WAWG hopes to be talking to Congressional offices
about nonfarm bill issues and environmental policy. The
group will also attend the National Association of Wheat
Growers’ winter meeting while in the nation’s capitol.
Hopes dashed for 2013 farm
bill; early January possible
According to D.C. insiders, key farm bill negotiators
are pegging the first couple of weeks in 2014 for possible
passage of a much awaited, long-term farm bill. Politico reported that farm bill talks moved into the final stretch before the holiday break with House Agriculture Committee
Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) reportedly saying, “We’re
moving right down the path” toward a House-Senate
conference report in January.
“Very optimistic; we’re closing in,” echoed Senate
Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow
(D-Mich.). “There’s no question in my mind that we’ll be
able to come together and have a farm bill that we can take
action on in January.”
AMMO kicks into full gear with nine workshops for 2014
WAWG’s educational outreach program, AMMO
(Agricultural Marketing and Management
Organization), kicks into full swing in January, with
nine farm management training programs offered
throughout Eastern Washington. The program originated in Lincoln County and has provided producer
workshops since 2009.
Workshops are slated to include: Managing Risk and
Volatility; Managing Input Costs with Technology;
Making Sound Capital Management Decisions;
Increasing Profitability with Financial Know How;
Managing Safety on the Farm; Business Succession
and Family Communication; Working Business
Plans; Department of Transportation and HAZMAT
Compliance; and Understanding Marketing Basics.
In addition to WAWG’s sponsorship and the assistance of a USDA-Risk Management Education grant,
there are more than 45 other area business AMMO
members that contribute time, money and resources to
ensure the success of the program and its benefit to producers. Workshop content is derived from input from
producers and members to meet the growers’ needs
and concerns for their farming businesses. The primary
goal of AMMO is to help growers increase profitability
by making better farm management decisions.
For more information or to preregister for workshops,
visit the AMMO website at lcammo.org, call (877) 740AMMO (2666) or email us at [email protected].
The Politico article noted that the
upbeat tone signaled the focus is
already shifting toward preparing
other members of the House-Senate
conference for votes during the
week of Jan. 6 after the New Year’s
holiday.”
Washington
Grown program
launches on PBS
The success of Washington Grown
continues to expand. Following
a successful program launch in
October on Northwest Cable News
(NWCN), Washington Grown
will also be available on Eastern
Washington
PBS stations
starting in
January.
Beginning
Jan. 6, 2013, the 30-minute program
launches on KSPS (Spokane) and
other PBS affiliates. Washington
Grown will air on PBS Mondays at
7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
It will also continue to air statewide
on NWCN through June on Sundays
at 12:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
The show’s goal is to connect the
food we eat with the farmers who
grow it and educate consumers
about how food is grown in our
state. Each episode shares stories
about Washington’s food scene and
highlights our state’s farmers who
raise it.
Washington Grown is a project
of the Washington Farmers and
Ranchers coalition which is made up
of farm groups throughout the state
including Washington State Potato
Commission, Washington Friends
of Farms & Forests, Washington
State Seed Potato Commission,
Washington Wheat Foundation
and Washington Association of
Wheat Growers. Funding is also
provided by the Washington Grain
Commission.
Northwest FCS customer Ryan Lankford
Northwest Farm Credit Services is a cooperative. When you become
a customer you also become an owner. You have a voice and a vote
in how our association does business. Plus, when we do well we
share profits with you in the form of patronage. No bank does this.
You borrow. You own. You earn. You grow. Learn more about the
benefits of being a customer-owner at northwestfcs.com.
WL
WAWG AT WORK
WAWG remembers and honors former members
Robert Schwerin
June 8, 1920-Nov. 21, 2013
Robert Stanley Schwerin was born June 8, 1920, in
Ritzville, Wash., the son of Charles August and Etta
Studley Schwerin. Bob graduated from Ritzville High
School and studied engineering at
Washington State University (WSU).
During World War II, Bob joined the
Boeing Corporation as an engineer and was
part of the team that designed and built the
B-17 bomber. While at WSU, he met Frances
Rea of Walla Walla. They married in Walla
Walla on Feb. 14, 1942. Bob and Fran returned to Walla
Walla to help Fran’s parents, Greene and Myrtle Rea, on
their farm near Dixie, forming the Rea-Schwerin Farm
partnership and raising three sons, Larry, Bill and Don.
A lifelong farmer, Bob worked alongside his crews and
his boys during pea and wheat harvest. His engineering
background and commitment to smart innovation was always put into use on the farm, improving machinery and
processes for greater efficiency. In the 1970s, Bob’s process
for enhancing the part of a combine responsible for separating grain from chaff became a manufacturing business,
Schwerin Concaves, that served farmers throughout the
U.S. and Canada.
Bob was a visionary leader, skilled at bringing people
together around issues, and his commitment to improvement and innovation did not stop at the farm. As one of
the founding members of the Washington Association
of Wheat Growers, he helped to build an organization
that successfully represents growers to this day in both
Washingtons. Bob was elected to the Washington Wheat
Commission in the 1980s, serving as president for two
years, and was the commission’s delegate to the U.S.
Wheat Growers’ Association, where he advocated on
behalf of the wheat industry at the national level. His
knowledge of and experience in agriculture was routinely consulted by elected officials, and he was a regular
district-level adviser to U.S. Reps. Catherine May and Tom
Foley. To ensure generations of strong agricultural leaders, Bob was a founder of the Washington Ag Forestry
program, an intensive two-year leadership development
program with a focus on public policy advocacy for young
men and women working in agriculture, timber and
related industries.
Bob is survived by Frances, his wife of 71 years. He is
survived by his sons and their spouses, Larry and Carol
Schwerin of Hansville, Wash.; Bill and Lynda Schwerin of
Walla Walla; and Don and Anne-Marie Schwerin, also of
Walla Walla; four grandchildren; five great-grandchildren;
and two nieces. He was preceded in death by his brother,
Don Schwerin; and sister, Virginia Brown.
Funeral services were held at the end of November at St.
Paul’s Episcopal Church in Walla Walla.
Lloyd R. Bourne
Nov. 3, 1937-Nov. 30, 2013
Lloyd R. Bourne died Nov. 30 at the age of 76, following
the victory of the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Bronco football
team. His battle with cancer was brief, but his choice to
embrace moments with family and friends during that
battle was inspiring.
Lloyd was born Nov. 3, 1937, in Orofino,
Idaho, to Harry and Myrne (Hember)
Bourne. He graduated from Sprague High
School in 1955 and married Maureen Smith
in 1957. This 56-year marriage was spent
farming land known as Hearty Acres.
Lloyd was very active throughout his life. He was a
member of St. Johns Lutheran Church where he served
as Council President, but perhaps was best known as
“The Sausage Man,” cooking and serving at their annual feed for 28 years. He loved sports and was a football
and basketball timer for more than 40 years. He faithfully followed the Sprague Vikings, Sprague/Harrington
Falcons and then the Bronco teams. He served on the
FSA Committee, was a 4-H Leader, Lincoln County
Civil Service, the Sprague School Board and the State
Legislative Committee. He also was a past president of
the Sprague Chamber of Commerce and served on the
Sprague Grange Co-Op Board.
Lloyd worked with the University of Washington (UW)
on their annual faculty bus tours of Eastern Washington
(UW Past President Dr. Richard McCormick instituted
the tour so professors could understand all of the state,
not just the urban area). Lloyd not only narrated the bus
tours, the Bourne family hosted the faculty at their farm to
show them first hand what dryland wheat farming was all
about. This program ran for about 10 years, through 2008.
Lloyd is survived by his wife Maureen; son Joel Terry;
and daughters Larae Rodriguez and Loi (Tony) Lutes,
all of Sprague. His three grandchildren are Victor and
Amber Rodriguez and Steven Lutes. His three brothers,
Dick (Dorothy) Bourne of Spokane; Harold (Ann) Bourne
of Brown Deer, Wis.; Howard (Donnette) Bourne of Post
Falls, Idaho; and one sister, Betty Little of Spokane, also
survive him. There are numerous nieces, nephews and a
host of friends who all touched his life as well.
Services were held at St. John’s Lutheran Church of
Sprague in early December.
Transition Planning - Asset Protection
Getting the next generation ready in today’s environment
2014 Spokane Ag Expo
Farm Forum Schedule
Other Brock Law Firm Seminars Coming Up:
Seminars held in the Doubletree Hotel Ballroom,
connected to the Spokane Convention Center
Tuesday, February 4
Noon, 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm
Wednesday, February 5
Noon, 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm
For specific subjects and times, refer to the listings at Ag Expo Show
Pasco, Wash.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Holiday Inn
Quincy, Wash.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Fire Station District #3
Dayton, Wash.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Best Western Plus
Moscow, Idaho
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Best Western Plus University Inn
Over 40 Years Serving Inland Northwest Farming Clients
Corey F. Brock
Spokane-Kennewick-Moses Lake
509-622-4707
Norman D. Brock
Davenport-Ritzville (by appointment)
509-725-3101
POLICY MATTERS
Budget deal impacts MAP,
FMD, NRCS programs
When House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan
(R-Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty
Murray (D-Wash.) rolled out a budget agreement in
December, it didn’t take long to find the proposal’s longterm effects on agriculture. It is a deal that will reduce
budget deficits by $85 billion over the next decade and
fund federal agencies through fall 2015. This budget deal
should prevent another government shutdown and end
the cycle of Congress passing continuing resolutions each
year to keep the government running. About $45 billion of
the cuts replace sequestration cuts in 2014, roughly $20 billion replaces sequestration cuts in 2015 and the remaining
$20 billion goes toward deficit reduction.
Most of the sequestration
cuts will go into effect with
the deal, including a 7.2 percent cut to both the Market
Access Program (MAP)
and the Foreign Market
Development (FMD) program. Producer dollars combined with the MAP and
FMD programs return $115
to the economy for every $1
spent on wheat programs
and are crucial tools to promote our products abroad.
The total economic gain
to the U.S. economy from
increased market development activity was $1.1 billion
per year from 2002 to 2009, and NAWG will continue to
support full funding of these programs. The proposal also includes a new conservation planning
user fee that requires NRCS to charge up to $150 per conservation plan, but allows the fee to be waived for Highly
Erodible Land conservation plans and for assistance
complying with federal, state or local regulatory requirements.
Pacific Rim trade negotiations
will continue in 2014
The latest round of Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations concluded in Singapore with “great momentum,”
according to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman.
Few details have been provided, but the
negotiations reportedly focused
on trade rules and market access. TPP negotiations aim
to provide the participating
countries with free trade
agreements that would
give the U.S. a link to rapidly growing economies and
populations in countries
of the Asian Pacific region,
several of which are quickly
increasing markets for U.S. wheat.
All of the countries involved hope
to not only reduce barriers to trade, but also set higher
standards in areas such as labor and intellectual property
rights protections.
With no full agreement reached in Singapore, the negotiators did not meet their stated goal of completing the
TPP by the end of 2013. The next round of negotiations is
scheduled to take place this month. For more on TPP and
other trade related news, see NAWG’s trade policy page at
http://www.wheatworld.org/issues/trade/.
Senate committee reviews
renewable fuels standard
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee
recently held a hearing on the Renewable Fuels Standard
and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed renewable fuel requirements for 2014. A representative from the EPA addressed the E10 blend wall, declining
gas use and the basis for the agency’s proposal to lower
the renewable fuel requirement. Supporters of the RFS, including Retired General Wesley Clark of Growth Energy,
John Holzfaster representing the National Corn Growers
Seeding and Tillage
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Odessa, WA — 509-982-2644
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Sunnyside, WA — 509-837-3833
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WL
POLICY MATTERS
Association, Brooke Coleman of the
Advanced Ethanol Council and Jim
Collins with DuPont, addressed the
expanding use of E15, developing
technologies and commercialization
of cellulosic ethanol and advanced
biofuels.
Chairman
Barbara
Boxer
(D-Calif.)
outlined her
support of
the RFS and
the positive impacts
of reduced
greenhouse gas emissions, job creation, reduced dependence on foreign oil and expanded domestic renewable fuel production. Opponents
of the RFS highlighted the increased
rate of cropland conversion, water
quality issues related to increased
corn production in the Midwest,
studies that show that renewable
fuel use is not leading to a reduction
in greenhouse gas emissions and
engine compatibility issues with E15
for cars built before 2012. NAWG
opposes EPA’s proposed reduction
and will be submitting comments on
the proposal prior to the Jan. 28, 2014
deadline.
Programs reduce
nutrient runoff in
Chesapeake Bay
Recently, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) released an updated version of the Chesapeake Bay
Conservation Effects Assessment
Project (CEAP) including cropland
conservation practices between
2009-2011. “This report demonstrates
that voluntary conservation practices made possible through the farm
USGS offers county-by-county climate
projections, precipitation, temperature
For the first time, maps and summaries of historical and projected temperature and precipitation changes for the 21st century for the continental
U.S. are accessible at a
county-by-county level
at usgs.gov/climate_landuse/clu_rd/nex-dcp30.
asp. The website was
developed by the U.S.
Geological Survey
(USGS) in collaboration with the College
of Earth, Oceanic and
Atmospheric Sciences at
Oregon State University.
The maps and
summaries are based
on NASA downscaling of the 33 climate
models used in the 5th Climate Model Intercomparison Project and the
current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment
Report. The resulting NASA dataset is on an 800-meter grid with national
coverage.
The USGS leveraged this massive dataset and distilled the information into easily understood maps, three-page summaries and spreadsheet
compatible data files for each state and county in the U.S. A similar implementation for the USGS nested hydrologic units will be available later this
month.
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bill can have a substantial impact on
limiting nutrient and sediment runoff from farms in the Chesapeake
Bay Watershed and across the nation,” Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack said.
The report estimates that since
2006, conservation practices applied
by farmers and landowners are
reducing nitrogen leaving fields by
48.6 million pounds each year, or 26
percent, and reducing phosphorus
by 7.1 million pounds, or 46 percent.
Conservation practices have also
lowered the average estimated loss
of sediment by about 15.1 million
tons a year, or 60 percent. The USDA
report is an important tool for agriculture to demonstrate conservation
improvements and positive environmental impacts, especially in light
of the Environmental Protection
Agency’s Chesapeake Bay Total
Maximum Daily Load.
Crop insurance
program deadlines
approaching
USDA’s Risk Management Agency
reminds producers of the fast approaching winter and spring sales
closing dates for multiple peril crop
insurance programs, whole farm
insurance programs, the Adjusted
Gross Revenue Pilot (AGR) and
Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite (AGRLite). AGR and AGR-Lite cover most
farm-raised crops, animals and
animal products.
Current policyholders and uninsured growers must make all of their
decisions on crop insurance coverage before the sales closing date.
If there is no coverage in a county
for a specific crop under the traditional multiple peril crop insurance
program, producers may ask a crop
insurance agent whether they would
be eligible for coverage under a writ-
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WL
POLICY MATTERS
ten agreement. Upcoming sales closing dates:
• J an. 31. Last day to buy or change AGR insurance in
select counties in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Last day to submit required documents to continue
or change 2014 AGR-Lite insurance for existing policy
holders.
• Feb. 3. Last day to buy or change crop insurance
coverage for 2014 spring planted onions in Idaho,
Oregon and Washington and cabbage in Oregon and
Washington.
• March 17. Last day to buy or change all other spring
seeded multiple peril crop insurance (excluding wheat
in counties with fall and spring planted types). Last
day to buy 2014 AGR-Lite insurance for new application/enrollment policies.
Producers are encouraged to visit their crop insurance agent to learn specific details for the 2014 crop year.
Federal crop insurance program policies are sold and
delivered solely through private crop insurance companies and agents. A list of crop insurance agents is available
at all USDA service centers throughout the U.S. or on the
RMA website at www3.rma.usda.gov/tools/agents.
Dry pea revenue endorsement
prices announced for 2013
USDA’s Risk Management Agency has announced the
2013 crop year harvest prices for the Dry Pea Revenue
Endorsement in Idaho and Washington.
For producers who bought revenue protection under the
2013 crop year Dry Pea Revenue Endorsement for any of
the spring types
of green or yellow
Dry pea revenue endorsement harvest
peas, lentils or
prices for Idaho and Washington:
chickpeas (large
and small), the
Dry pea type
Harvest price
harvest price is
Spring Large Kabuli Chickpea. . . . . . . . . . $.26/lb
used to determine
Spring Small Kabuli Chickpea. . . . . . . . $0.22/lb.
the calculated revSpring Smooth Green/Yellow Pea . . . . $0.14/lb.
enue. The harvest
Spring Lentils. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0.28/lb.
price is multiplied
by the appraised
and/or harvested
production to determine the calculated revenue. The
calculated revenue is subtracted from the final revenue
guarantee to determine possible indemnities (insurance
losses).
Producers should contact their insurance agent to learn
additional program details related to these price announcements.
CSP, VAPG deadlines near;
center offers farm bill help
The USDA’s National Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) recently announced the opening of the
Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) for new enrollments in 2014. Farmers, ranchers and foresters interested
in participating in
the program can
submit applications to NRCS
through Jan. 17 to
• USDA’s CSP website:
be considered in
nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/
the 2014 round of
nrcs/main/national/programs/
ranking applicafinancial/csp/
tions and award• Center for Rural Affairs
ing contracts.
Helpline: (402) 687-2100 or
“The CSP is a
[email protected]
continuous sign• Center for Rural Affairs Value
up program that
Added Fact Sheet: cfra.org/
has periodic cutnode/2672
off dates for rank• USDA Service Center locator:
ing applications.
offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locaJan. 17, 2014, is the
tor/app (to locate local NRCS
deadline for the
offices)
coming year,” said
Traci Bruckner, se• National Sustainable
nior policy associAgriculture Coalition’s
ate for agriculture
Farmers’ Guide to Valueand conservation
Added Producer Grant
at the Center for
Funding, which includes clear
Rural Affairs.
information on the applica“Applications can
tion and ranking process:
be filed at your
sustainableagriculture.net/publocal NRCS office,
lications/
and you just have
to submit the basic
application form by the Jan. 17 deadline.”
CSP resources for
farmers, ranchers
According to Bruckner, the Conservation Stewardship
Program is a voluntary stewardship incentives program,
administered by NRCS, designed to reward farmers,
ranchers and foresters for maintaining existing conservation, as well as for the adoption of additional conservation
measures that provide multiple environmental benefits.
This program pays producers for clean water, better soil
management, improved habitat, energy efficiency and
other natural resource benefits.
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WL
POLICY MATTERS
“By 2013, CSP reached more than 60 million acres enrolled nationally. CSP is one of the most popular and effective conservation programs, and many will apply, which
is why the Center for Rural Affairs has fought to keep
reductions in funding to a minimum, but congressional
cuts have taken their toll, making the program even more
oversubscribed and more competitive,” noted Bruckner.
“Producers interested in applying should contact the
Center for Rural Affairs helpline and their local NRCS office as soon as possible to meet the deadline.
“The USDA also announced recently that Feb. 24, 2014, is
the deadline to apply for the Value-Added Producer Grant
(VAPG) program,” Bruckner added. “There is nearly $10.5
million available for this round, and, hopefully, additional
funding will more than double the pot of money available for grants in the future once Congress finalizes the
agricultural funding bill for 2014.”
Farmers or ranchers needing planning funds or working capital to move their value-added ideas forward
should check out the Value-Added Producer Grants
program. Beginning or socially disadvantaged farmers
and ranchers are urged to consider accessing these grants.
The 10 percent of funding reserved for these potential
applicants makes applying a very attractive possibility,
Bruckner added.
Bruckner explained further that agricultural producers, businesses majority-owned by agricultural producers
and organizations representing agricultural producers
are eligible to apply for Value Added Producer Grants for
business planning or working capital expenses associated with marketing value-added agricultural products.
Bee care buzzes into WSU
Don’t miss the chance to experience Bayer’s Bee Care Tour at
Washington State University
(WSU) on Feb. 6 at 10 a.m. in the
Compton Union Building on the
WSU campus in Pullman. The
tour is part of Bayer’s effort
to foster education and collaboration among growers,
beekeepers, researchers and
others interested in engaging
in topics related to honey bee health. For more tour
information, email [email protected].
For more bee care information, visit beecare.bayer.
com/home.
Agricultural producers include farmers, ranchers, loggers,
agricultural harvesters and fishermen that engage in the
production or harvesting of an agricultural commodity.
“The Center for Rural Affairs has a long history of
assisting family farmers and ranchers access farm bill
programs,” continued Bruckner. “The center’s farm bill
helpline provides a direct connection to center staff with
knowledge about program rules to help you understand if
a particular program will fit your needs.”
Bruckner encouraged potential applicants to call the
center’s farm bill helpline to learn more about the application process and help uncover and overcome barriers
encountered during that process by calling (402) 687-2100
or emailing her at [email protected].
Resources are available to help producers consider the
CSP and Value Added grant program and make their
applications. In addition to contacting the center’s farm
bill helpline for additional assistance in navigating the
application process, application materials and information
are available through the Center for Rural Affairs website,
USDA’s website, your local NRCS office and the National
Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
U.S. biotech group names
Phillips as new leader
U.S. Biotech Crops Alliance (USBCA) has named its first
secretariat. Michael J. Phillips will take the lead in developing collaborative efforts to improve the environment
for technology innovation and the market for U.S. crops
produced through modern biotechnology.
Phillips is president of MJ Phillips and Associates LLC,
an ag consulting firm that specializes in biotech issues.
Prior to establishing the consulting business, Phillips
was vice president for science and regulatory policy
for food and agriculture at the Biotechnology Industry
Organization, where he was responsible for developing
and implementing policy on the science, regulatory, compliance, stewardship and trade implications of ag biotech.
Among other things, he assisted technology providers in
developing consensus positions on complex issues and
was responsible for facilitating outreach to producer, industry and other stakeholders, as well as to Congress and
government agencies.
As secretariat, Phillips becomes the focal point of the
group’s efforts to further advance the reach, work and
wide range of activities being pursued under the expanding national initiative. The group includes 11 national
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WL
POLICY MATTERS
organizations representing U.S. biotechnology providers,
seed, grain and oilseed producers, grain handlers, feed
manufacturers, grain processors and millers, exporters
and other end users.
and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
with the European Union, both of which hold immense
importance for agricultural trade.
USBCA was established in 2012 and has already developed and is working to implement consensus positions on
key policy issues designed to improve the introduction,
stewardship, domestic and international regulatory policy
and distribution in U.S. and export markets of commodities and processed products containing or derived from
modern biotechnology.
President nominates Vetter
as USTR chief ag negotiator
President Barack Obama announced in mid-December
that he will nominate Darci Vetter as chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade
Representative (USTR). Vetter, who
has been Deputy Under Secretary
for Farm and Foreign Agricultural
Services at USDA since 2010, will
be replacing Ambassador Islam
Siddiqui, who announced he will
be stepping down early next year.
If confirmed by Congress, Vetter
will have a full slate of work in
front of her in 2014 as USTR continues to negotiate several large free
trade agreements including the Trans Pacific Partnership
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The company has acquired
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pulp facility will employ more
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The raw material for the mill
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The process will reduce field
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WL
FEATURE
Shaping the future
of the Pacific Northwest wheat industry
By Trista Crossley
At one of the popular break-out sessions at the recent
2013 Tri-State Grain Growers Convention, participants
were engaged in predicting the future. But instead of using crystal balls and tarot cards, they used hand-written
signs, measurements of success and goals. According to
session leader Ray Ledgerwood, what you look at you go
to.
“The objective for the session was to have members
from all three states envision the future of the PNW wheat
industry that they wanted to create in the next five years,”
Ledgerwood explained. President of Board Works by
Ledgerwood in Pullman, Ledgerwood works with groups
and organizations across the country as a facilitator, trainer and mentor. “Along with that basic premise was how
do we measure success and were there some particular
actions that the group wanted to start with? That allows
folks like me to work through with them how would they
measure success, how that relates to goal setting, and then
how that relates to actions to get to the goals that they’ve
set.”
The first thing Ledgerwood asked participants to do at
the session, titled “Visioning the Pacific Northwest Wheat
Industry Five Years from Now,” was to come up with accomplishments that would indicate success for the wheat
industry. Sitting around tables, each group came up with
three ideas which were written on paper and taped to the
wall. Volunteers then grouped similar ideas together. The
idea here, Ledgerwood explained, was to demonstrate
how many people were thinking along the same lines and
to come up with the group’s top priorities (see Table 1).
“Obviously, genetically engineered wheat and the
importance to them was off the chart that day,” he said.
“Second was marketing and segregation, followed by soil
Participants brainstorm ideas at the break-out session at the 2013 Tri-State Grain Growers Convention in November. Ray Ledgerwood, standing, of Board
Works by Ledgerwood, led the session.
FEATURE
sustainability, conservation compliance, transportation, etc. Here are
seven major priority areas that were
important to that group.”
Once the priorities had been established, Ledgerwood assigned each
of the tables one of the topics and
asked them to come up with measurements of success and actions
that could be taken in order to reach
those successes. Participants were
able to come up with a few measurements of success and a few actions
for each priority (see Table 2). As
Ledgerwood explained, if you can
measure something, you can write a
goal about it.
“A goal is specific and includes an
element, a number, a demonstrated
increase or decrease in what you are
going to measure,” he said. “You can
write goals if you can identify the
measurement of success.”
Normally, the final step in the exercise is to come up with goals based
on the measurements of success, but
the session ran out of time before
they could get to this part.
Once an organization has established the measurements of success,
the actions and goals, it is up to an
organization’s leadership to examine
their existing plans and determine if
and how these ideas fit. Ledgerwood
said he has received quite a bit of
positive feedback about the session,
but in many cases, the question
being asked is “now what?” In this
case, he said it is probably up to each
of the leaders of the three state organizations to look at what came out
of the break-out session, fine tune
the message a bit and consider how
these ideas might fit into their existing plans. He also challenged the
leaders of the three states to consider
working on it together.
Referencing Kelsey Gray, a retired Washington State University
Extension facilitator who first articulated these thoughts, Ledgerwood
WL
“Visioning
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Succession
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• Incr
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resolve stream bank bo
and
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crop insurance programs
• Establish guidelin
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• Have strong risk manag
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eat Acceptance
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• Markets accept GE wh
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• U
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• Achieve con
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• Debunk the gluten my
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• Increased GMO accept
selection of multiple dis
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• Whole genome molec
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percent
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and increase yield by 10
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• Work to develop greate
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• Form a tri-state allianc
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end result being accept
and to educate with the
Soil Sustainability
ons to improve soil health
systems and CREP rotati
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pp
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nab
tai
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• More
farming
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• Have 25 percent more
• Soil balance
tion
Markets and Segrega
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• Have a customer-dri
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• Have a hard white
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• Have ma
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• Create a PNW grain
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• Have integrated storag
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par tners
wheat entry int
• Break down sof t white ting strategy to promote GE wheat to our export
rke
ma
ive
nit
defi
a
• Develop
Transportation
re
nsportation infrastructu
• Rebalance/improve tra ore they become issues, such as rail or labor
bef
• Resolve shipping issues
explained that a really effective organization has four things in place:
• well-written goals so everybody knows where they are going;
• they pay attention to the working environment both inside the organization
and outside of it and consider how that is going to affect their own progress;
• they pay attention to tensions in the organization and learn from the causes
of those tensions how to improve; and
• operating procedures so everybody knows who’s going to do what, what
the talking points are going to be, etc.
Ledgerwood said it is important for any business or organization from time
to time to consider their overall direction and make adjustments as necessary.
A plan for the future and the means to measure the success of that plan allows
leaders to get clear, concise information from their staff with a minimum of
hassle. The staff knows what the priorities are, they know what the measureWHEAT LIFE JANUARY 2014 23
WL
FEATURE
ments of success are, so when asked
for updates, it allows them to be
clear with reports. Ledgerwood also
pointed out that this type of plan
can help communication between
executive directors of different
organizations.
“What you look at you go to,” he
said. “With that in mind, each organization should be looking at a future they want to create so they can
take the necessary steps to get there.
The deployment of people, money
and energy all depend on a vision
that we are headed towards.”
Participants work together to identify measures of success and actions at the break-out session at the
2013 Tri-State Grain Growers Convention in November.
Table 2: Priority areas, measures of success and actions as compiled by the attendees of the “Visioning the Pacific Northwest Wheat Industry Five Years from Now”
work session at the 2013 Tri-State Grain Growers Convention (edited slightly for clarity).
24 Priority Area
Measure of Success
Actions
Succession
• Double attendance at convention by members under 40,
including leadership
• Census of Ag would indicate a change to younger people
• Involve young generation from early age
• Financial planning—exit strategy for older generation
• Pass the control as early as possible and as soon as it makes sense
• Provide scholarships
• Establish programs specific to your farmers at convention, such as separate breakout
sessions of interest to young farmers, provide day care, opportunities for them to
network with each other and build a sense of community
• Develop recruitment/communication methods specific to the younger generation
(Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
Conservation
Compliance
• A program that demonstrated all parties’ interests on border
issues are represented
• Demonstration of science-based decisions within policies
Education and
Public Outreach
• Issues resolved including failure of initiatives
• Numbers of web hits
• Demonstrated increase in awareness
• Favorable press
• Increase demand for products
• Survey
GE Wheat
Acceptance
• Number of acres
• Sales of grain
• Security of GE wheat system
• Lifting of restrictions
• Written agreement of what tolerance is
• Identify who would be respected to study issue
• Research gluten-free issue
Soil
Sustainability
• Soil health including organic matter
• Diversification of chemicals
• Acres of biodiversity
Market
Segregation
• Elevators that have Identity Preserved wheat
• Sales
• Market share
Transportation
• Tonnage moved
• Cost per bushel
• New facilities
WHEAT LIFE JANUARY 2014
• For hard white wheat we need better varieties
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24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Derek Stanford
Luis Moscoso
Vacant
J.T. Wilcox
Marcus Riccelli
Timm Ormsby
Vacant
Matt Shea
Jay Rodne
Chad Magendanz
Kevin Parker
Jeff Holy
Shelly Short
Joel Kretz
Brad Klippert
Larry Haler
Susan Fagan
Joe Schmick
Norma Smith
Dave Hayes
Zack Hudgins
Steve Bergquist
Cary Condotta
Brad Hawkins
Judith (Judy) Warnick
Matt Manweller
Norm Johnson
Charles Ross
Bruce Chandler
David V. Taylor
Maureen Walsh
Terry R. Nealey
Monica Stonier
Paul Harris
Brandon Vick
Liz Pike
Dean Takko
Brian E. Blake
Richard DeBolt
Ed Orcutt
Mary Helen Roberts
Marko Liias
Chris Reykdal
Sam Hunt
Sherry V. Appleton
Drew Hansen
Kevin Van De Wege
Steve Tharinger
R-Spokane Valley
R-Issaquah
R-Issaquah
R-Spokane
R-Spokane
R-Addy
R-Wauconda
R-Kennewick
R-Richland
R-Pullman
R-Colfax
R-Clinton
R-Camano Island
D-Tukwila
D-Renton
R-Wenatchee
R-East Wenatchee
R-Moses Lake
R-Ellensburg
R-Yakima
R-Naches
R-Zillah
R-Moxee
R-Walla Walla
R-Dayton
D-Vancouver
R-Vancouver
R-Battle Ground
R-Camas
D-Longview
D-Longview
R-Chehalis
R-Kalama
D-Edmonds
D-Mukilteo
D-Tumwater
D-Olympia
D-Poulsbo
D-Poulsbo
D-Sequim
D-Sequim
R-McKenna
D-Spokane
D-Spokane
D-Bothell
D-Mountlake Terrace
State Representatives
24 (R)
43 (R)
What WAWG is
watching for in 2014:
• Ag tax exemptions
But in 2013, House members Rodney Tom (DMedina) and Tim Sheldon
(D-Potlatch) crossed the
aisle to form a voting block
with Republicans, forming
the Majority Coalition
Caucus.
25 (D)
State Senate
54 (D)
State House of Representatives
What the 2014 state
legislature is going to
look like (on paper):
Rosemary McAuliffe
Randi Becker
Andy Billig
Mike Padden
Mark Mullet
Michael Baumgartner
*Brian Dansel
Sharon R. Brown
Mark Schoesler
Barbara Bailey
Bob Hasegawa
Linda Evans Parlette
Janéa Holmquist
Curtis King
Jim Honeyford
Mike Hewitt
Don Benton
Ann Rivers
Brian Hatfield
John E. Braun
Paull Shin
Karen Fraser
Christine Rolfes
James Hargrove
Bruce Dammeier
*Freshman legislator
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
Jan Angel
Jeannie Darneille
Mike Carrell
Steve Conway
Tracey Eide
Pam Roach
Maralyn Chase
Karen Keiser
Sharon Nelson
Tim Sheldon
Jeanne Kohl-Welles
Adam Kline
John McCoy
Kirk Pearson
Kevin Ranker
Steve Litzow
Doug Ericksen
Jamie Pedersen
Steve Hobbs
Andy Hill
David Frockt
Joe Fain
Rodney Tom
Annette Cleveland
R-Port Orchard
D-Tacoma
R-Lakewood
D-South Tacoma
D-Federal Way
R-Auburn
D-Shoreline
D-Kent
D-Maury Island
D-Potlach
D-Seattle
D-Seattle
D-Marysville
R-Monroe
D-Orcas Island
R-Mercer Island
R-Ferndale
D-Seattle
D-Lake Stevens
R-Redmond
D-Seattle
R-Auburn
D-Bellevue
D-Vancouver
In 2012, the value of
the state’s wheat crop
was pegged at $1.18
D-Bothell
R-Eatonville
D-Spokane
R-Spokane Valley
D-Issaquah
R-Spokane
R-Republic
R-Kennewick
R-Ritzville
R-Oak Harbor
D-Seattle
R-Wenatchee
R-Moses Lake
R-Yakima
R-Sunnyside
R-Walla Walla
R-Vancouver
R-Vancouver
D-Raymond
R-Chehalis
D-Edmonds
D-Olympia
D-Kitsap County
D-Hoquiam
R-Puyallup
State Senators
www.leg.wa.gov
LOOKING
for your district,
state senators or
state representatives?
Dawn Morrell
Hans Zeiger
Vacant
Larry Seaquist
Laurie Jinkins
Jake Fey
Steve O’Ban
Tami Green
David Sawyer
Steve Kirby
Linda Kochmar
Roger Freeman
Cathy Dahlquist
Christopher Hurst
Cindy Ryu
Ruth Kagi
Tina Orwall
*Mia Gregerson
Eileen L. Cody
Joe Fitzgibbon
Kathy Haigh
Drew C. MacEwen
Reuven Carlyle
Gael Tarleton
Sharon Tomiko Santos
Eric Pettigrew
*June Robinson
Mike Sells
Dan Kristiansen
Elizabeth Scott
Kristine Lytton
Jeff Morris
Marcie Maxwell
Judy Clibborn
Jason Overstreet
Vincent Buys
*Brady Walkinshaw
Frank Chopp
Hans Dunshee
Mike Hope
Roger Goodman
Larry Springer
Gerry Pollet
Jessyn Farrell
Mark Hargrove
Pat Sullivan
Ross Hunter
Cyrus Habib
Sharon Wylie
Jim Moeller
*Freshman legislator
49
48
47
46
45
44
43
42
41
40
39
38
37
36
35
34
33
32
31
30
29
28
27
26
25
D-Gig Harbor
D-Tacoma
D-Tacoma
R-University Place
D-Lakewood
D-Tacoma
D-Tacoma
R-Federal Way
D-Federal Way
R-Enumclaw
D-Enumclaw
D-Seattle
D-Lake Forest Park
D-Normandy Park
D-SeaTac
D-Seattle
D-Burien
D-Shelton
R-Union
D-Seattle
D-Ballard
D-Seattle
D-Seattle
D-Everett
D-Everett
R-Snohomish
R-Monroe
D-Anacortes
D-Anacortes
D-Renton
D-Mercer Island
R-Blaine
R-Lynden
D-Seattle
D-Seattle
D-Snohomish
R-Lake Stevens
D-Kirkland
D-Kirkland
D-Seattle
D-Seattle
R-Covington
D-Covington
D-Bellevue
D-Bellevue
D-Vancouver
D-Vancouver
D-Puyallup
R-Puyallup
Patty Murray (D)
448 Russell SOB
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-2621
46 (R)
232 (R)
Before it became a state, Washington was called Columbia after the
Columbia River. When it was
granted statehood, the name was
changed to Washington, supposedly so people wouldn't confuse it
with the District of Columbia.
U.S. Senate
54 (D)
206 (D)
U.S. House of Representatives
What the 2014 Congress
is going to look like:
Maria Cantwell (D)
311 Hart SOB
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3441
Suzan DelBene (D)
District 1 - Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish,
King counties
2329 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6311
Rick Larsen (D)
District 2 - Whatcom, San Juan, Skagit,
Island, Snohomish counties
108 Cannon HOB
202-225-2605
Jaime Herrera Beutler (R)
District 3 - Pacific, Lewis, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clark, Skamania, Klickitat
counties
1130 Longworth HOB
202-225-3536
Doc Hastings (R)
District 4 - Okanogan, Douglas, Grant,
Adams, Franklin, Benton, Yakima counties
1203 Longworth HOB
202-225-5816
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R)
District 5 - Ferry, Stevens, Pend Oreille,
Lincoln, Spokane, Whitman, Walla Walla,
Columbia, Garfield, Asotin counties
2421 Rayburn HOB
202-225-2006
Derek Kilmer (D)
District 6 - Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor,
Mason, Kitsap, Pierce counties
1429 Longworth HOB
202-225-5916
Jim McDermott (D)
District 7 - Snohomish, King counties
1035 Longworth HOB
202-225-3106
Dave Reichert (R)
District 8 - Chelan, Kittitas, Pierce counties
1730 Longworth HOB
202-225-7761
Adam Smith (D)
District 9 - Pierce, King, Thurston counties
2402 Rayburn HOB
202-225-8901
Denny Heck (D)
District 10 - Pierce, Thurston, Shelton counties
425 Cannon HOB
202-225-9740
U.S. Senators
?
That you can find your federal senator or
representative by going to one of these
sites: www.senate.gov or www.house.gov
billion, second only to
apples at $2.25 billion.
U.S. Representatives
DID YOU
KNOW
• Pesticide regulations
• Clean air/clean
water acts
• Short-line rail funding
WL
FEATURE
Getting
the work done
Washington’s freshman congresswoman goes to bat for agriculture, immigration
By Trista Crossley
Suzan DelBene, U.S. representative from Washington state’s 1st
Congressional District, hasn’t had time to rest on her laurels. In her first year as
part of Washington’s national delegation, she’s dealt with a missing farm bill,
a government shutdown over an unresolved federal budget and a tangled immigration reform bill.
“It’s been an eventful year,” DelBene said in a phone interview in early
December. “I’m proud that the agriculture committee was able to pass a bipartisan farm bill out of committee. I feel we made a good move there. Having it fall
apart on the house floor was a big disappointment. I wished we could have had
this done by now.”
DelBene was hopeful that the week leading into the Holiday recess would
see some farm bill action, but she was doubtful that a final bill would be passed
before the end of the year.
“The principles, staffs of the conferees have been working together for the last
few weeks for the final deal, addressing issues between the House and Senate,
talking to members,” she explained. “The farm bill is incredibly important, and
conversations have been happening on a regular basis. We are slowly working
through issues and will continue to work through issues and try to get things
wrapped up.”
“I’m proud that the
agriculture committee was
able to pass a bipartisan
farm bill out of committee.
I feel we made a good
move there. Having it fall
apart on the house floor
was a big disappointment.
I wished we could have
had this done by now.”
—Rep. Suzan DelBene
DelBene serves on two committees. On the House Agriculture Committee,
she is on the Subcommittee on Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology and
Foreign Agriculture and the Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy and
Forestry. On the House Judiciary Committee, she serves on the Subcommittee
on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet and the Subcommittee on
Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law.
In addition to her work on the farm bill, DelBene is also involved in immigration reform, something she recognizes is important to the agricultural community. She helped introduce a bill into the House in October, H.R. 15, that would
overhaul the nation’s immigration laws. The bill has more than 190 co-sponsors
to date. “This will be an important issue for us to take up again in the new
year,” she said.
Besides immigration and the farm bill, DelBene pointed to the budget as
another opportunity to get something done as well as a chance for Congress to
work together.
“It’s been definitely an honor to serve, but it has also been challenging because
we haven’t been productive as we could have been,” she said, adding that making sure Congress moves quickly and that members are productively working
across the aisle will be critical to get legislation moving.
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WL
FEATURE
To many people watching
Congress, it seems as if the idea of
compromise has been forgotten.
But DelBene pointed out that many
issues are really more regional than
partisan and that she’s had the opportunity to work with her fellow
representatives from across the aisle.
She teamed up with Congressman
Reichert (R-Wash.) to introduce legislation that would expand the Alpine
Lakes Wilderness area. She also cosponsored a bill led by Congressman
Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) to make the
state and local sales tax deduction
permanent.
“There are cases right now where
folks are working together across the
aisle,” she said. “We need to make
sure we do that in all areas. We also
need the leadership to make sure
we have the opportunity to vote on
issues, to have our say. Immigration
reform is an example. We need to
vote and not have it stopped from
moving forward. We can see what
will work and not work and continue to work together to get things
done, and that means getting it
through the House and through the
Senate and signed by the President.”
Because Washington is such a
strong agricultural state, DelBene
said she is proud to be on the House
Agriculture Committee, advocating
for the state’s producers, both large
and small, by offering strong support for specialty crops and looking
for ways to open new markets for
Washington products.
“I think we have an incredible
agriculture community throughout
Washington state,” she said. “It has
been important to me to have the opportunity to serve on the agriculture
committee, not just with the farm
bill, but continuing to make people
aware of our local economy and
our agricultural industry here. I am
happy to be part of that.”
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WL
FEATURE
Back to the future with VRT
By Seth Small
There are many aspects of farming that are hard for
growers to agree on. From what type of pickup you drive,
to what type of tillage—or lack thereof—you employ, to
what varieties of a particular crop will grow best in your
area, it is difficult to find universal consensus. We all
agree weeds are bad and diesel costs too much, but when
it comes to the day-to-day management of your farm, you
will do what you believe is right for your operation.
Some decisions are made based on the historical knowledge you have of your property. Some decisions are made
based on the latest and greatest output from research
universities in your area. Some decisions are based on
what your grandfather did. And for better or worse (usually worse), some are made based on nothing more than
superstition.
Another place besides weeds and fuel I think we can
all agree on is that there is variability in our fields. We
probably aren’t all going to agree on whether or not to do
something about it, but it’s a fact. It’s there.
Margins are shrinking, fertilizer and commodity prices
are unpredictable, pressure to reduce nitrogen rates is ever
increasing, and we’d all like to sit on a thicker wallet. This
is where Variable Rate Technology (VRT) comes in.
Before commercial fertilizer, and most likely before you,
when livestock was a huge part of most farming operations, your grandad was probably a practitioner of variable
rate fertilizer application. Whether based on history, superstition or what he’d heard at the grange hall, he spread
more manure where he thought it was needed and less
where he thought it wasn’t.
Because the threat of famine in the ancient world
seemed to be an ever-looming possibility, maximizing
yield potential mattered. The ancient Egyptians spread
more seed where the ground could support a higher
population of plants and fewer seeds where the field was
less fertile. VRT before Christ!
Believe it or not, the arguments against VRT are out
there. Despite the fact that we can all agree that variability
exists across individual fields, the naysayers seem to think
that they have a legitimate argument:
“Seed equipment manufacturers just want to add expensive options onto drills, planters and fertilizer equipment.”
“Multinational companies like Trimble want to sell you
the latest and greatest, whizbang, super expensive, GPS
system.”
Of course they do, that’s how they make money! If that
were a legitimate argument against new technology, we
would still be living in the stone age, because only stupid people would have bought anything new. You and
I are both in business to make money, and so are they.
Companies research and promote technology that they
think will work because that keeps them relevant and
making money.
VRT can be a very expensive proposition, or it can be as
simple as climbing out of the tractor and monkeying with
the calibration settings on your equipment. Admittedly,
the latter option could be devastating to your mental wellbeing, or not.
Compiling the crop history, infrared maps, soil maps,
soil samples, yield maps (I could name a lot of technologies) and the historical knowledge that you have tied up
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The easiest way to promote your business or
services to grain producers throughout Washington
state is by advertising in Wheat Life or on our
website, wheatlife.org. Serving Pacific Northwest
farming families and agribusiness, we publish 11
times a year and cover five million acres of annual
production.
Kevin Gaffney, Ad Sales Manager
Phone: (509) 235-2715 • Fax: (509) 235-2718
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WL
FEATURE
in your gray matter is also a daunting task. Whether or not expensive
new technologies or manual adjustment to machinery is the answer
to achieving greater uniformity
throughout your farm all depends
on the size of your operation and the
level of variability on your land.
Treating your field uniformly and
not as several fields within a field is
costing you money and yield. If you
haven’t made any steps toward VRT,
maybe the best place to start is with
auto shutoff on your fertilizer. If you
use a fertilizer company’s applicator,
and they don’t have any form of auto
shutoff or section control available
on any machine, first be very skeptical, then ask why (you know the
answer).
I believe that variable rate seeding and fertilizing will be necessary
in the future. Whether it’s due to
government regulation of nitrogen
inputs or necessary to keep the
family farm viable, this technology
will be commonplace. You owe it to
yourself and the future of your farm
to take a look at the bottom dollar
and conservation benefits of VRT
in your operation. If you haven’t already started taking your own steps
Seth Small is a fourth-generation farmer who farms with his father, Mark Small, on the family’s
land located in the Touchet area up through Dayton. Small and his family are in the process of
implementing VRT on their farm and expect it to be their standard seeding/fertilizing process by fall of
2015. Small, his wife, Emily, and their six-month-old daughter, Georgia, live in Lowden, Wash.
toward VRT, consider reading this article and others like it as baby steps. Take
more steps by talking to others about it, consider it necessary. It will take time to
learn, so you might as well start now.
It’s time to look back at the VRT your grandpa and ancient agrarians were using and realize that with new technology and commercial fertilizer, we can use
this practice far into the future.
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WL PROFILES
Livestock Producers Cooperative Association
Odessa livestock plant provides USDA, custom private meat processing
By Kevin Gaffney
A new meat processing facility
recently opened for business, harvesting and processing products including
cattle, hogs, goats and sheep. Operated
by Livestock Producers Cooperative
Association (LPCA), the plant began
processing meat in August.
Located in the Odessa Industrial
Park complex in southwestern Lincoln
County, the facility was established by
Cattle Producers of Washington (CPoW),
a statewide, livestock producers’
organization.
Darren Summers, a master butcher
and meat processor, manages the facility
for the LPCA, which is not limited to
processing only cattle, hogs, sheep and
goats.
Summers was raised in Roseburg,
Ore., and worked in the grocery industry before he began his 20-plus-year
career in the butchering business.
His skills go far beyond cutting choice
beef steaks and roasts or that perfect slab of bacon. He
spent more than a decade far up north developing varied
skills.
“I owned and operated Dillingham Meat and Fish
Company in the Alaskan bush country for 11 years,” explained Summers. “We mostly processed salmon, moose,
caribou, walrus and seals.”
Summers returned to the lower 48 in 2004. He owned
and operated the Meat Block in Ritzville for five years.
Most recently, he and his wife, Kendrain, owned and
operated KD Meats in Odessa for the past four years. They
live nearby in Paha.
“Many of my clients are very enthusiastic about this
new processing plant, and they eventually convinced
me to close my business to manage this facility,” said
Summers. “We are very excited about building this
business with the help of LPCA and all of our livestock
producers.”
The plant is based in a 7,500-square-foot building with
an attached corral off SR 21 just south of Odessa. There are
currently 10 people on staff, including Summers and his
wife, who are both training other employees to cut and
process.
“We operate from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through
Friday, with a USDA inspector on site at all times during
business hours,” noted Summers. “We encourage our customers to process with the USDA stamp, because it opens
up all options to them for selling their product.
“If the meat doesn’t go through the USDA inspection,
it must be presold to a buyer before it is ever processed.
LPCA doesn’t buy or sell any meat here at this plant. That
may change in the future, but for now, we cut and process
only.
“Our operation is very unique,” remarked Summers.
“We offer USDA processing and private custom processing. We can do one hog or 100 hogs. We can cut three
steers or 300 steers to the exact specifications of each
producer.”
The plant was established because area small producers wanted other options besides taking their animals to
a huge processor where they had no control over the end
use of their products.
The LPCA plant offers ranchers the opportunity to pro-
PROFILES
WL
Located in the Odessa Industrial Park complex in southwestern Lincoln County, the new meat processing plant includes these holding pens.
cess smaller numbers of animals with more control. They
can also market unique packages of beef, pork or other
meats to a wide variety of local buyers and distributors.
“Without the USDA inspection stamp, those options
are not available to our clients,” said Summers. “Many of
our producers are long-time customers of mine, and they
wanted to change the way their meat products were marketed. With our locally owned and operated cooperative, it
gives our producers many more sales options.”
A member company, Empire Ranches, has been established to help develop new and expanded markets for the
LPCA facility meat products.
The livestock producers are going high profile with their
marketing efforts. The president of Empire Ranches is
former Gonzaga University basketball star and Brewster
native, David Pendergraft. Based in Spokane, Empire
Ranches works to market the ranchers’ products in
Spokane and all over the Pacific Northwest for the LPCA
members.
“It is a very competitive business,” said Summers.
“Empire is working to establish new sales relationships
with schools, restaurants, grocery stores and other outlets.
With the USDA stamp, numerous potential buyers are
available to our ranchers.
“We have the ability to deliver high quality, locally bred,
born and raised meat products directly to local area consumers. It is important to many consumers now to know
how and where their food was produced. Our producers
are excited about their products, and they take pride in
being able to tell people where and how their beef, pork or
other meat products were produced. We believe this can
give our members an advantage over the huge processing
companies who usually can’t offer the same tracking back
to the original producer of their beef or pork products.”
At about 90 members strong, the LPCA is growing. They
plan to continue to sign up additional members. At this
point, Summers said their business has been about 50/50
between LPCA members and nonmembers, which he
believes shows there is potential for additional growth.
The CPoW-LCPA project took approximately five years
from concept to the completion of the inaugural meat
processing in August. Summers explained that along with
potentially selling over-the-counter meat products, they
may eventually provide wild game processing for area
hunters.
“My wife and I have been intensively training staff
members in the art of cutting and processing meats. We
plan to continue to grow our membership numbers and
the volume of our meat processing. There are a lot of
ranchers closely watching our progress, and if our business thrives, there may be similar plants opening up
around the region.
“We’re hoping to be a true success story that begins a
new trend in marketing livestock meats locally here in the
Inland Northwest.”
Find out more about CPoW and LPCA online at
cattleproducersofwa.com.
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MORE INTERACTIVE AG NEWS
Meet the new WGC chairman
At Washington Grain Commission meetings, Steve
Claassen usually waits to voice his opinion until everyone else has had a chance to talk. When he does speak,
his comments often include insights that may have been
overlooked, which is just the sort of guy you want at the
helm of your organization.
Claassen is scheduled to assume the chairmanship
of the WGC at its Jan. 16 meeting. He has served on the
board since 2009 and before that was
on the Washington Barley Commission
for four years.
“I don’t have to do this,” he said,
as he directed his 2006 Case combine
across a 100-acre field during the
2013 harvest on a high plateau called
Cloverland. “I do it because I love
it. I’ve loved doing it since day one.
Otherwise, it’s just not worth it.”
Claassen partially solved his allergy
problems when he built one of the
region’s first air-conditioned combine
cabs out of a 1960 Lincoln, in the process revealing his
creativity and mechanical flair. He laughs at the memory.
“It looked like a house up there on the Massey Harris
combine.”
But it served its purpose, and it’s no surprise to
learn Claassen graduated from Washington State
University (WSU) in 1973 with a degree in agricultural
mechanization.
His time at WSU was formative, but not just from what
he learned in the classroom.
“My world has been exposed to far more than my
conservative Republican father ever had the opportunity
to experience,” he said. “The late 60s and early 70s were
a very liberal time. We were encouraged to look at things
differently, which provided me insights I continue to
value today.”
His wife also influenced his future. Moving into the
area with her family when she was a sophomore in
high school, the pair casually dated, but Kathryn had
the dream of making it as a dancer in New York. They
parted when Claassen left for college, and she fulfilled
her goal in the Big Apple. Coming home on a visit six
years later, they reconnected. They’ve been married for
36 years and have two children, Leif and Erika. But no,
Like most families who settled Eastern Washington
wheat country, Claassen’s relations have their own
unique history. His father’s family, originally from
Prussia, had been wheat and cattle ranchers in Nebraska.
As the Dust Bowl era ramped up in 1929, the family left
the Midwest, traveling to Colfax to start a dairy. In 1946,
his father sold the dairy and bought a sheep ranch west
of Clarkson. He plowed the pasture
and began growing wheat.
Today, Claassen farms 5,000 acres
with his brother, Keith. Most of the
time, it’s just the two of them, but during harvest, there’s help from his son,
Leif, nephew Pierce and occasional
friends and neighbors.
Claassen and his brother started
playing with direct seeding in the mid1970s and converted the entire farm to
chemical fallow/direct seed in 1985. He
believes the layer of humus that has
been created over years of direct seeding is responsible for the respectable
yield of 50 bushels an acre he harvested
on only 8.5 inches of precipitation during the growing season.
“The blanket of residue is holding
moisture,” he said. Given that there
are cacti growing in the margins of the
field, it’s easy to believe him.
The brothers grow barley and canola in addition to
wheat. It’s a respectable-sized operation for the early 21st
century, but Claassen has no desire at this point to get
bigger.
“We’ve had opportunities and turned them down. We
sized ourselves by our equipment and manpower. We
didn’t want the hassle of employees, and we didn’t want
to work ourselves to death,” he said.
WASHINGTON GRAIN COMMISSION
Claassen has been farming virtually
all of his life. He began riding alongside his father in an open-air tractor as
a toddler. Because of dust allergies, he
wore a space-age looking, pressurized
helmet with clean air pumped in. At
13, he began driving tractor by himself.
He never looked back.
Claassen admits, he’s still not much of a dancer.
Claassen gives a lot of credit to his brother for allowing
him to be involved in activities that take him away from
the farm about 50 days a year. Besides the WGC, he sits
on the Tri-State Memorial Hospital Board. He and fellow
commissioner Mike Miller recently returned from an
eight-day trade mission to Asia led by Gov. Jay Inslee.
“There’s a big investment of time to be involved in the
meetings and trips that go along with serving on the
WGC. And this commission is a pretty active bunch.
You’ve got to be ready to be engaged,” he said.
Although Claassen uses “engaged” to describe being
busy, for a man who makes no bones about loving what
he does, it’s also exactly the right word to express the
connection he feels toward the industry.
Bigger, but not best
42 Flying close
to the sun?
Value-added attendance
More than a dozen representatives of U.S. organizations were on hand at
the International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) and Association of
Latin American Industrial Millers (ALIM) conferences, held concurrently in
Lima, Peru, recently, demonstrating the seriousness with which American
wheat farmers view their neighbors to the south. Three Northwest representatives were in attendance, including Glen Squires, CEO of the
Washington Grain Commission; Kevin Whitehall, WGC commissioner and
manager of Central Washington Grain Growers; and Art Bettge, a cereal
chemist and WGC consultant who focuses on the advantages of blending
soft white into hard red spring and hard red winter wheat. Bettge said participants at the conferences were impressed by the size and stature of the
U.S. delegation. “They felt that the U.S. interest and participation showed
them a great deal of respect,” he said, adding that the two representatives
from Canada gave participants the feeling that country was not serious
about Latin America. Bettge said he was surprised by the primitiveness of
certain elements of Central and South American mill operations. His own
presentation focused on the cereal chemistry underpinnings of the benefits
of blending soft white with hard or protein wheats, a very technical subject.
“Some of the millers were in over their heads, but a substantial number
understood the concept well,” he said. WGC CEO Squires said focused
market development work in the region is paying off for the Northwest. “An
essential message of our participation at the ALIM and IAOM conferences
was that there is real science behind the value of soft white,” he said.
You might have heard that in 2012, wheat
moved into second place by value on the
list of Washington agricultural commodities, behind only apples. The data, which
was released by the National Agricultural
Statistics Service at the end of October 2013,
pegs the value of the state’s wheat crop
at $1,180,182,000. That’s right, almost $1.2
billion! Ten years prior in 2002, the wheat
crop was worth about $497 million. That’s
a 137 percent increase over a decade (87
percent when adjusted for inflation). If the
U.S. Department of Agriculture’s forecast
for the next 10 years is correct, however, the
value of wheat in the U.S. may have peaked
and will be falling back to earth for the next
several years.
Top five Washington state agricultural
commodities 2011-2012
2.5
(value in billions of dollars)
When this year’s numbers are tallied, farm
income in America is expected to reach its
highest level since...1973. That’s right. On
an inflation-adjusted basis, today’s farmers
still haven’t surpassed the farm income level
their fathers and grandfathers achieved
40 years ago. This year’s farm income is expected to rise more than 15 percent to $131
billion.
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Apples
Wheat
2011
Milk
Potatoes
2012
Hay
Source: WSDA
WGC REVIEW
South to the future
In an Atlantic Monthly article on the 50 greatest breakthroughs since the invention of the wheel, the combine squeaked in at No. 50
because it “mechanized the farm, freeing people to do
new types of work.” But that wasn’t the only agricultural entry. The moldboard plow came in at No.
30, and the Green Revolution, which included
combining synthetic fertilizers and scientific
plant breeding, came in at No. 22. Although
one could argue the invention of the internal
combustion engine, No. 7, was agriculturally
important, of those inventions directly related
to agriculture, nitrogen fixation ranked highest,
coming in at No. 11. For the record, the invention of
the printing press around 1430 was No. 1.
A U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) team recently
met with Latin American millers in Mexico,
Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama to determine the viability of shipping wheat by boat
from the Northwest. Led by Mitch Skalicky,
USW’s regional vice president for the region,
the team was successful in generating interest among millers to expand their options for
wheat purchases. Many of the targeted mills
currently import Canadian wheat. That’s because with the Canadian Wheat Board’s loss
of its monopoly export status, private wheat
exporters are pursuing an aggressive, though
unsustainable strategy to increase market
share into Latin America by cutting prices.
At many of the stops the team made, millers
expressed interest in collaborating on the
Washington Grain Commission-funded special project that promotes blending soft white
with high protein hard red spring wheat in order to produce quality breads at a lower cost.
Several mills will be targeted to collaborate
on the project in 2014. Interest was voiced by
millers in Mexico and Costa Rica for containersize samples of soft white.
Making a silk purse
The finding of biotech wheat plants in an isolated field in Oregon was one
topic of discussion during visits by a delegation of U.S. Wheat Associates
(USW) executives to seven mills in China recently. Far from being a negative
topic, however, the visits provided the opportunity to present the effective
functioning of U.S. regulatory agencies and the integrity of the U.S. marketing system. Discussions about the Oregon find also gave the USW team the
opportunity to present the case for “it isn’t here now, but it’s coming, and
here’s why it is a good thing for us all.”
Suwerte we say
To those still suffering in the Philippines following the
November typhoon, we say suwerte (good luck) and
pinakamahusay na warmest at bumabati (best and
warmest wishes). Joe Sowers, assistant regional director for South Asia, said the damage from the Pacific
Ocean’s version of a hurricane was mostly localized in
areas directly contacted by the storm, and while there
was rain and winds in Manila where he is based, the
heavily populated metro area was largely spared. The
Philippines was America’s fourth best customer in the
2012/13 marketing year, taking nearly 2 million metric
tons of wheat. When it comes to soft white wheat,
the 807,000 metric tons the country imported during the same marketing year ranks it in second place, only after Japan.
Sowers said nearly all Philippine millers are participating in relief efforts through their corporate foundations or by donating flour to bakeries for bread in the hardest hit areas where more than 6,000 perished. So far, the U.S. has contributed $10
million in food aid. That includes $8 million for local purchases of food and an airlift of 55 tons of biscuits from Miami. A
shipment of rice from Sri Lanka, where U.S.-grown rice was stored in anticipation of regional emergencies, was also made.
For the record, wind speeds during Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans in 2005 were recorded at around 125 mph. At
the peak of Typhoon Haiyan which pummeled the Philippines, top wind speeds exceeded 185 mph.
WHEAT LIFE JANUARY 2014 WASHINGTON GRAIN COMMISSION
Civilization: brought to you by ag
WL
43
WL
WGC REVIEW
Smelling a rat
44 Way ahead of you, Jeff
The November 2012 French study
that appeared to demonstrate rats fed genetically modified corn grow
tumors has been retracted.
The controversial study was
hailed by critics of biotechnology. Scientists, on the other
hand, assailed its design and doubted its conclusion. Among other things, officials at Food and Chemical
Toxicology, the journal that published the paper, said it
was being retracted because of problems with the type of
animals used. Apparently, the species of rats fed the GMO
corn are prone to tumors. “Ultimately, the results—while not
incorrect—are inconclusive,” the journal said in a statement.
David Spiegelhalter, the Winton Professor of the Public
Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, said
even a superficial reading of the paper showed it wasn’t fit
for publication. “Sadly, the withdrawal of this paper will not
generate the publicity garnered by its initial publication.”
Environmentalists, meanwhile, are crying censorship.
When Jeff Bezos, founder and president of Amazon,
suggested on a recent 60 Minutes episode that in the
near future drones would be delivering packages
from central warehouses to homes, it got a lot of play
in the media. But the CEO of a company making autopilot systems for commercial UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles) said the most promising initial use will be in
agriculture. “There’s a huge, multibillion business case
for using drones to provide frequent, high-accuracy imaging of crops,” said Jonathan Downey of Airware. That case
is already being made by farmers like Robert Blair, who got
his first drone in 2006 and has been launching one version
or another every year since to monitor his wheat crop in
Northern Idaho. Blair said the timing is right for the technology to come of age in agriculture, but he worries about the
regulations Congress is writing on UAV use. “At this time, the
rules are being made by those outside of agriculture who
don’t understand our needs or understand the tremendous
impact they can have on our industry,” he said.
An early spring?
The new gold
Almost three years ago when it
appeared relations between the
West and Iran may
be thawing, Glen
Squires, now the CEO
of the Washington
Grain Commission,
traveled to Muscat,
Oman, to meet with 13 representatives of the Iranian milling industry.
Subsequent policy shifts by Iran’s
hardline leadership put trade back in
the deep freeze, but the election of a
new president and recent diplomatic
overtures has Squires hopeful again.
“Until the 1979 revolution, Iran was a
very important soft white importer,
taking more than one mmt of the
Northwest’s flagship commodity annually. We are hopeful negotiations
to provide more oversight of Iran’s
nuclear facilities will help pave the
way to reintroduce soft white into the
country.”
One of the keys to America’s new energy
self sufficiency is sand. That’s right, sand.
Along with water and chemicals, the sand is
blasted down older oil and natural gas wells
to help crack open rocks and allow the fuel
to flow out. Energy companies are expected
to use 53.3 billion pounds of sand this
year as part of the fracking
phenomenon.
An alternative destination
The Northwest may not be able to grow corn and soybeans like the Midwest and
Northern Plains, but new cropping alternatives have given wheat growers something to think about. Chickpeas have been on a tear for several years thanks to
Americans’ discovery of hummus. Acreage of large- and small-seeded chickpeas
in the PNW has increased from 55,264 acres in 2008 to 165,900 in 2013. Canola
may also become a more widespread alternative thanks to the $120 million canola
crushing facility Pacific Coast Canola recently completed in Warden. At full capacity, the facility will use 380,000 metric tons of canola seed annually. A typical canola
yield is a ton per acre. Former WGC commissioner Curtis Hennings has been growing canola since the mid-1980s. He said putting canola in his rotation gives him a
20 percent higher wheat yield.
WGC REVIEW
Deal goes south
Down Under
Celiac and China
At the same time China is importing
millions of tons of wheat from around
the world comes a report that celiac
disease is more common there than
reported. China is the world’s largest
wheat producer and consumption is increasing rapidly
with urbanization and
the Westernization of diets. A study suggests that
celiac disease will be more
frequent in the northwest
region of the country where
there is the highest percentage of Caucasian genes in the
population.
Another wonder of the world
We all know about underground aquifers, but what about under-ocean aquifers?
Turns out, scientists believe there’s nearly half a million cubic kilometers of lowsalinity water under the seabed on various continental shelves. “The volume of this
water resource is a hundred times greater than the amount we’ve extracted from
the Earth’s subsurface in the past century,” said the lead author of the National
Center for Groundwater Research and Training in Australia. The under-ocean water
aquifers formed when the sea level was lower than it is currently. Accessing the
freshwater reserves could be done much like oil is extracted from platforms or by
drilling into them from the mainland.
It’s official
The name of Washington State University’s new plant growth facility, aka
greenhouse, will be the Washington Grains Plant Growth Facility. The name was
chosen in recognition of the Washington Grain Commission’s $5 million contribution toward construction of the $10 million facility—$15 million if you count
all the equipment that’s necessary for scientists to do their work.
To bee or not to bee
The ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments in Europe—the same insecticides used
to combat wireworms in Eastern Washington—could lead to yield declines of up
to 20 percent according to a study funded by chemical companies. The
European ban went into effect Dec. 1. The class of chemicals was
outlawed because of its potential link to a decline in honey bee
populations. In Europe, neonicotinoids are used against
seasonal pests such as aphids. Now, farmers will revert
to using older crop protection products like pyrethroids. Neonicotinoids are under scrutiny by the
Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. which
has recently required new labels for the chemicals,
but there has been no action, as yet, to ban them.
The Australian government denied
Archer Daniels Midland’s (ADM) bid
for GrainCorp because of the implications the
takeover would
have on the
country’s grain
business, putting 70 percent
of it in foreign
hands. Australian
Treasurer Joe
Hockey officially rejected the $2.7
billion deal “For me to reject this
proposal, I had to determine that
the acquisition of GrainCorp by ADM
is contrary to the national interest.
Based on all available information,
I have now made that decision,” he
said. GrainCorp is based in Eastern
Australia with more than 280 upcountry storage sites and seven
port terminals in New South Wales,
Queensland and Victoria. Following
the government’s announcement,
GrainCorp’s CEO, Alison Watkins, announced she was leaving the company.
WL
Like leading a horse to water
Washington voters recently rejected an initiative which would have
required labeling genetically modified foods on the front of the
package. But who reads nutrition labels that appear on the backs
of packaging and now on restaurant menus, too? According to
a recent Gallup poll, at least 68 percent of U.S. adults pay a fair
amount of attention to nutrition labels on food packages, but
only 43 percent of adults pay a great deal or a fair amount of
attention to nutrition information on menus. In both cases,
women are more likely than men to pore over the nutrition facts on both food packages and restaurant menus.
Young adults, 18 to 29, are the least likely to read nutrition information.
REPORTS
WA S H I N G TO N G R A I N CO M M I S SION
Weather woes force
China into market
USW’s Matt Weimar looks ahead
By Scott A. Yates
At the U.S. Wheat Associates’ (USW) Fall Board meeting in Portland, Matt Weimar was the center of attention, and it wasn’t because of the
former Oregon farm boy’s good
looks.
Regional vice president of USW
based in Hong Kong, Weimar
was a sought-after speaker
because of China’s ramp up of
wheat imports due to its own
poor quality and inadequate
supplies. It doesn’t happen every
year, but in the 2012/13 crop year,
China’s production was hit by
frost, drought, heat and excess rain at harvest, causing
head scab and sprout. Upwards of 16 percent of the crop,
or around 20 million metrics tons, may be downgraded
to feed.
As a result of the weather phenomenon, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture estimates the Middle
Kingdom will import 8.5 million metric tons (mmt) of
wheat from sources around the world. With the marketing year only half over, China has already tendered
for 3.4 mmt of U.S. wheat, including 118,000 tons of soft
white. China hasn’t imported that much wheat from the
U.S. in the last 20 years, coming closest in 1994 when the
country took 3.3 million mmt.
Weimar, who grew up in Arlington, Ore., gave two
presentations during the fall USW meeting and contributed to others. A 26-year observer of China’s economy,
its political machinations, its food needs and its farming practices, he indicated that Westerners who find the
Chinese inscrutable aren’t so far off the mark.
“You ask a question in China 10 times, you’ll get 10
different answers. Ask the question 100 times and you’ll
get 100 different answers. It depends on who you’re talking to, where in the country they live, their income level
and their
relationship
relative to being
involved with the government or
as a private citizen,” he said.
China’s $8.1 trillion economy is
second only to the U.S.’s, which is pegged at
$16.6 trillion, but what does that mean exactly?
Weimar said it would take the combined economies of
Brazil, Russia, India, Turkey, Taiwan and Egypt to equal
China’s. More nations will have to be added to that list
by 2020 when China’s economy is expected to grow to
$13.9 trillion. Some economists predict it will surpass the
U.S. as the world’s largest economy by 2030.
But for the rank and file Chinese, the country’s huge
Gross Domestic Product doesn’t translate into Westernstyle incomes. Weimar said the average family in
Shanghai earns about $4,700 which has a purchasing
power parity of about $10,000. About 36 percent of urban
Chinese earnings are devoted to food purchases, compared to around 10 percent in the U.S.
Since the beginning of the People’s Republic of China,
there have been five generations of party leadership. The
latest leadership cadre, installed along with President
Xi Jinping in early 2013, will guide the country through
2021. Weimar said one of the government’s major initiatives is to bring more of the population into the middle
class, already estimated at between 250 million to 300
million out of a population of 1.3 billion. The total U.S.
population is about 313 million.
One of the ways to accomplish the middle class task is
by encouraging more urbanization. In 2012, China moved
from having a majority rural population to having a majority urban population. Although bringing rural Chinese
into cities is expected to improve their standard of living,
Weimar said it should also help to modernize agriculture
and reduce impacts on the environment.
WGC REPORTS
Feeding urbanized residents is increasingly falling to Western-style
fast food restaurants. KFC added 700 new outlets in the country in 2013,
bringing its number of stores to 4,200. McDonalds has 2,000 outlets,
Pizza Hut has 2,000 and Subway has 400.
All of these restaurants depend upon wheat to make the bread or
crust their products are known for. Weimar used the example of
one urban bakery that supplies KFC stores in a specific area raising
its daily bun capacity from 300,000 in 2011 to 700,000 in 2013.
Overall, between 2007 and 2012, bakery sales growth in China
increased 400 percent—from $4.1 billion to $20 billion. Now that
the coastal cities have been saturated, Weimar said companies are
moving inland to less developed areas. This is causing local bakeries to
expand their capacity even more in order to compete.
“In a market of 100 million plus tons of wheat, 10 percent of that
for competitors in the wheat industry is not too bad to compete for,”
Weimar said.
Biotechnology is considered a necessary technology by the highest levels of government, but China has yet to approve more than a
dozen traits in corn and soybeans. There is concern for some within the
country’s government of losing control of seed to foreign multinational
China U.S. Wheat Imports
MT
2013*
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
HRS
273,964
475,183
354,041
57,749
115,588
271
717
282
164,901
948,919
485,001
46,350
160,217
102,283
54,136
81,449
141,042
151,800
47,700
10,200
0
HRW
4,430
2,246
1,369
1,943
2,446
102
274
0
0
0
0
10,004
11,162
0
0
0
0
288,100
1,494,600
1,799,700
423,200
SRW
3,030,094
147,872
101,737
4,877
209,200
147,045
0
57,363
62,885
724,357
463,273
0
6,113
0
99,997
213,673
227,010
624,800
1,483,000
1,535,500
1,510,200
SW
117,922
118,648
105,394
60,612
50,801
0
8,917
2,808
146,999
400,182
142,338
31,456
34,299
22,561
31,500
0
11,800
0
0
1,700
0
Total
3,426,410
743,949
562,541
125,181
378,035
147,418
9,908
60,453
374,785
2,073,458
1,090,612
87,810
211,791
124,844
185,633
295,122
379,852
1,064,700
3,025,300
3,347,100
1,933,400
Facts on the ground
Encouraging migration from the
country into cities is expected to increase
the size of China’s farms from an average
of about two acres currently to about five
acres by 2025.
Reforming the country’s household
registration system which links individuals to the place they were born and
prevents them from receiving equal benefits when they move is a priority of the
country’s new leadership and its focus on
urbanization.
Reform is expected to create more
market-oriented mechanisms in the
economy—except when the country’s
leaders perceive an industry is “strategic.”
Petroleum, minerals and food are all in
the strategic category. When it comes to
food, rice production is the country’s No.
1 priority, wheat No. 2 and corn, No. 3.
In recent years, U.S. farmers have
planted around 23.7 million hectares
(58.5 million acres) of wheat, including
wheat that is abandoned. In China, 24
million hectares are planted and not
much is abandoned. Between 70 and 80
percent of China’s wheat has supplemental irrigation.
In some winter wheat areas of China,
farmers plant corn into nearly ripe wheat
fields. Following wheat harvest, the corn
matures and is later harvested.
Of the approximately 70 million tons of
flour consumed annually by the Chinese,
about 49 percent goes to make noodles
and dumplings, 40 percent steam bread,
6 percent biscuits (cookies) and 5 percent
Western-style breads.
Although China would like to maintain food self-sufficiency, Weimar
said that goal has been slipping. Not so long ago, it was okay to talk
about 90 to 95 percent food self-sufficiency in the country. Now, it’s acceptable to talk about 85 to 90 percent.
WL
TCK Smut, a disease that caused soft
white to be embargoed from China for 30
years until 1999, continues to pressure the
class’s sales into the country. However,
it now appears goatgrass seed in wheat
shipments may be a bigger problem.
China is working to develop its own
soft white wheat, but as of yet, its varieties don’t have good disease resistance
and varietal stability.
*Exports as of the end of October
WL
WGC REPORTS
organizations. That’s one of the reasons why China slows the approval
process down, only starting to test traits after they have been approved in
the country of origin rather than follow a simultaneous release protocol.
Just as in the U.S., Weimar said, there is fear mongering of biotechnology by some Chinese scientists as well as environmental groups, including
Greenpeace China. Meanwhile, even when biotech traits are approved,
widespread corruption causes citizens to remain skeptical.
“Without a strong fight over corruption, it would be hard to overcome
that,” Weimar said, adding that on the plus side, consumers do put a lot of
faith in science and scientists.
Imports by country (calendar year - mmt)
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
2009
USA
2010
2011
Australia
Canada
2012
2013
French
Kazakhstan
Source: China Customs Statistics
U.S. commercial imports (calendar year - mmt)
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
2009
2010
HRS
48 Could China’s periodic trips to
the world market for large supplies of wheat become a more
usual occurrence? It’s possible,
given the water challenges facing the country and the fact its
crop yields depend heavily on
irrigation.
Since 1990, about 28,000 rivers
have dried up across China,
mainly caused by overexploitation by farms or factories. By
2030, a report by a group that included Coca Cola and SABMiller
estimated that China’s annual
water demand may exceed supply by as much as 200 billion
cubic meters.
With 20 percent of the world’s
population, China has just 7 percent of the world’s fresh water
supplies. What’s more, fourfifths of the water is in the south
of country, but half its people
and two-thirds of the farmland
are in the north. Oddly, China’s
water prices in most cities are
about a tenth of the level found
in large European cities.
And the water that is used
doesn’t get the same bang for
the buck as elsewhere. While the
U.S. gets $28 worth of economic
output per cubic meter of water,
China gets just $8.
700,000
0.0
Water, water,
not everywhere
2011
HRW
2012
SW
2013*
SRW
China’s annual per person
share of fresh water stands at
400 cubic meters or about a
quarter of what the average
American uses. That level is
less than half the international
definition for water stress. Not to
mention that much of the “fresh”
water is unfit even for agriculture due to pollution.
WGC REPORTS
WL
Suess talks wheat in Sousse
Tunisia plays host to yearly middle east, africa millers’ conference
By Randy Suess
Tunisia, which was the birthplace
of the Arab spring revolutions that
shook the Middle East beginning
in December 2010, served as the site
of 2013’s International Association
of Operative Millers (IAOM) yearly
conference.
This year’s conference theme was
“Cultivate the Earth’s Wealth and
Nurture People’s Lives.” Speakers
and educational sessions built
upon that theme, and an exposition
with more than 100 exhibitors took
place under three large tents on
the beach. This “beach party” was
required because in all of Tunisia,
there wasn’t any single conference
hall large enough to house the
group. With high tides lapping at
the edge of the tents and threatening to inundate the booths, large
sand berms had to be pushed up to
keep the Mediterranean Sea out.
Although Tunisia has weathered
the political upset that resulted
from the Arab Spring better than
some of its neighbors, the country
has not completely escaped the turmoil. Prior to our arrival in Sousse,
a city that relies heavily on tourism
and olive oil production, a suicide
bomber detonated himself at the
Peter Lloyd (left), regional technical director for U.S. Wheat Associates who operates out of
the organization’s Casablanca office, talks about the Solvent Retention Capacity test during a
presentation at the IAOM conference. To his right is Philippe Taeschler, director of the grain milling
department for Buhler in Switzerland, and Irfan Hashmi, technical advisor for GrainCorp in Australia.
Flour millers, industry representatives, suppliers, traders and
equipment manufacturers from all
over the Middle East and Africa
convene at these conferences to
hear speakers, exchange intelligence and make connections.
Sousse, which is located on the
Mediterranean coast about 80 miles
south of Tunis, Tunisia’s capital,
was the site of this year’s conference. More than 600 people from 47
different countries attended.
Mark Samson (left), regional vice president of the Middle Eastern, East and North Africa region of
U.S. Wheat Associates, talks to two Iranian millers at the IAOM conference in Sousse, Tunisia. Iran
was once a major buyer of soft white, but after the country’s revolution in 1979, those shipments
largely ceased.
hotel next to the one where I stayed.
Apparently, the bomber originally tried to get into our hotel from the beach,
but security kept him out. He subsequently went to the adjoining property
and blew himself up. Because of this event, security was extremely tight during the conference. For instance, whenever we left the hotel property—even
for dinner—we went as a group. Such a large contingent required 12 buses to
shuttle us and included a police escort that blocked all of the side roads and
every intersection.
WL
WGC REPORTS
ing countries’ use of enzymes and
additives to make flour appear to
perform better than it really is. The
40-minute SRC test is virtually foolproof when it comes to revealing
the true nature of a wheat sample.
Vince Peterson, vice president of
overseas operations for USW, gave
the U.S. market outlook. He painted
a complete picture of all the classes
of wheat in the country including
protein levels, supply, carryover
and crop conditions going into
winter. Participants also heard from
Canada, Australia, France, Central
Europe and the Black Sea region.
The third largest and the best preserved Roman amphitheater in the world is located in El-Jem,
Tunisia. Built around 230 A.D., this is where gladiator fights were staged and also where Christians
were sacrificed for entertainment.
I spent the majority of my time in Sousse interacting with flour millers
from countries the U.S. sends wheat to or those who might be interested in
purchasing our wheat. Prior to my departure, David Shelton, director of the
Portland-based Wheat Marketing Center, sent me copies of the latest PNW
soft white wheat quality brochures. They were extremely popular, and I
ended up running out.
The North Africa region uses our wheat for cookies and crackers, which the
trade refers to as biscuits, flat bread and in blends for other products. I visited
with flour millers from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Jordan, Egypt and Iran.
For those of you with long memories, you’ll recall that before the revolution
that deposed the Shah in 1979, Iran was a huge buyer of SWW, taking as much
as a million tons a year. Following the revolution, that amount went to zero,
but recently, there has been a renewed interest in making purchases.
Politics frequently get in the way of our exporting ability, but with a new
deal in the works to reduce sanctions against Iran as a result of its agreement
to limit its nuclear program, I think we should make a renewed effort to get
them back in our market. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates Iran
will increase imports of wheat this year from its traditional 2.5 million metric
tons (mmt) to eight mmt. By any measure, that is a huge increase, and we
should look at it as holding out great potential.
U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) had a large presence at this conference.
Besides having a booth in the expo, staff also made presentations during
the conference and hosted a dinner on the final night. Peter Lloyd, regional
technical director for USW’s Casablanca office, reiterated information that
shows SWW as the shining star of all the classes grown in the U.S. He also
spoke at the technical session on using the Solvent Retention Capacity (SRC)
method for determining the functional qualities of flour. This method, which
the Washington Grain Commission has endorsed, short circuits other export-
USW hosted a cultural dinner at
the Sousse Archeological Museum
which everyone toured prior to
eating. The museum houses a large
display of mosaics and sculptures
from the Roman and Byzantine
periods. The mosaics are small
colored tiles used to make intricate
pictures or record an event. Some
were very large and would have
covered an entire floor of a room.
Many were from the third century.
The IAOM conference also heard
from the European-based Piers
Corbyn, a long-range weather forecaster. His long-range predictions
of weather were timely to the entire
audience who rely on wheat produced throughout the world. You
can check out his weather predictions at weatheraction.com.
Although sales of soft white
into the North Africa region have
faltered due to competition from
the Black Sea states, I believe opportunities exist that could see the
fortunes for our flagship crop turn
around. Keeping up contacts with
our customers by attending meetings such as the IAOM conference
is essential to pursuing the promise
of our industry’s own Arab Spring
in the region.
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By Drew Lyon and Ian Burke
On a global basis, weeds such as rigid ryegrass (a close
cousin of our local Italian ryegrass), goosegrass and johnsongrass have also evolved glyphosate resistance. Do wheat growers in the PNW need to be concerned? The short answer is yes.
Globally, weeds have evolved resistance to 21 of the known 25
herbicide sites of action and to 148 different herbicides.
There are currently 13 different species with “known”
herbicide-resistant biotypes in the PNW. Combined, these biotypes are resistant to a dozen different mechanisms of action.
As opposed to “mode of action” which refers to all the plant’s
processes affected by a herbicide, the “mechanism of action”
refers to the biochemical site within a plant that a herbicide directly interacts with. It is highly likely resistance biotypes exist
that we know nothing about.
Ian Burke
Resistant biotypes are a consequence of basic evolutionary
Drew Lyon
processes. Individuals within a species that are best adapted
to a particular weed management practice are selected for
and will increase in the population. Once a weed population is exposed to a
herbicide to which one or more plants are naturally resistant, the herbicide kills
susceptible individuals, but allows resistant individuals to survive and reproduce. With repeated herbicide use, resistant weeds that initially appear as isolated plants or patches in a field can quickly spread to dominate the population
and the soil seed bank. The more effective the herbicide, the more it is used by
itself, the faster the selection for resistance.
Although herbicide-resistant weeds in Washington have not yet become the
problem they are in other parts of the country, it is an issue Washington wheat
growers need to be on the lookout for. Wheat growers in the Great Plains now
find themselves combating glyphosate-resistant kochia in their summer fallow.
Many Washington wheat growers have relied on ever increasing rates of cheap
glyphosate to control weeds in summer fallow. Without some proactive steps,
it is likely Washington growers will soon select for weed biotypes that are
resistant to glyphosate as well—if they haven’t already.
Herbicide resistance management is more proactive than reactive. Once you
have the problem, your options become very limited. To avoid or delay the development of resistant weeds, a diverse, integrated program of weed management practices is required to minimize reliance on herbicides with the same
mechanism of action. One herbicide strategy is to apply herbicides or herbicide
mixtures that contain more than one mechanism of action that are effective on
WL
the weed or weeds of
concern.
Nonherbicide strategies include preventing the
movement of weed seeds or
propagules to noninfested areas,
crop rotation, manipulation of
crop planting dates, seeding rates,
cultivar choice, fertilization, residue
management and row spacing.
Crop rotations improve weed control by periodically diversifying the
weed community; different crops
vary in planting and harvest dates,
growth habit, competitive ability,
fertility requirements and associated production practices. Changing
things up prevents any single weed
species or biotype from dominating
the population and the soil seed
bank.
It is highly likely that most
Washington wheat growers already
have herbicide-resistant biotypes
present in their fields. It’s a rare
thing to find prickly lettuce or
Russian-thistle sensitive to firstgeneration sulfonylurea herbicides
like Glean® or Harmony®. We
suspect that there are more resistant weed biotypes in the state that
we don’t know about because there
is no formal mechanism for testing
and cataloging herbicide resistance here. The ability to confirm
the presence of herbicide-resistant
weed biotypes and monitor their
spread would provide Washington
growers with valuable information as they work to manage this
growing global problem in crop
production.
Glyphosate-resistant weeds are making
headlines in the Midsouth and Midwest where the
use of Roundup Ready® corn, soybean and cotton have created
the perfect conditions for selecting weeds resistant to this “once in a
century” herbicide.
WGC REPORTS
We will be working in the
months and years ahead to identify,
index and communicate to growers
the resistance biotypes found in the
state. For now, Eastern Washington
does not have the level of problems
found elsewhere. Our goal is to
keep it that way!
Drew Lyon holds the Endowed Chair in
Small Grains Extension and Research,
Weed Science at Washington State
University. Ian Burke is associate professor of weed science at WSU.
Figure 1. Severe stripe rust observed
on an early planted winter wheat field
in Horse Heaven Hills on Nov. 9, 2010.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Clemens.
Stripe rust: the good, bad and ugly
By Xianming Chen
The level of stripe rust severity has varied considerably
since 2010, with the disease incidence greater in 2010 and
2011 than it was in 2012 and 2013. The difference between
years has many causes.
In 2010, wheat stripe rust was a national problem with
the widest distribution, the greatest use of fungicides
and the highest estimated yield loss (95.7 million bushels) in recorded history. In the PNW, the potential yield
loss on susceptible cultivars was determined to be more
than 60 percent. In Washington alone, growers spent
about $27 million on fungicide applications, but that
likely saved 13.7 million bushels of grain, worth more
than $96 million. The major factor causing the epidemic
was a long period of cool and wet weather in the spring
and early summer both east of the Rocky Mountains and
in the West.
In 2011, the nationwide stripe rust epidemic was not
as severe as 2010, causing a yield loss of about 35.25
million bushels. The low level was mainly due to widespread drought conditions in states east of the Rocky
Mountains. The stripe rust epidemic in the PNW, however, was arguably the most severe since 1981.
The potential yield loss was assayed at more than
90 percent on susceptible winter wheat varieties and
about 45 percent on susceptible spring wheat varieties.
Fungicide application cost growers more than $30 mil-
lion, which saved more
than 20 million bushels,
worth more than $136 million in Washington.
The PNW’s severe epidemic in 2011 can be attributed to several factors:
• 2 010’s delayed wheat
crops due to cool and
moist weather conditions provided a huge
amount of viable rust
spores in the fall;
•T
he heavy spore load
and unusually high
precipitation levels
in September and
October 2010;
Xianming Chen, an authority on
rust diseases around the world,
serves as plant pathologist with the
Agricultural Research Service of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture in
Pullman.
•H
igh survival of stripe rust due to a relatively mild
winter, especially snow cover during cold spells;
•T
he unusually early start and widespread stripe rust
development throughout the state’s winter wheat
fields; and
•T
he abnormally long rust season which caused
devastating damage on susceptible and moderately
susceptible varieties. Even moderately resistant varieties had significant yield losses.
WGC REPORTS
Although stripe rust is mainly controlled by growing
resistant varieties and applying fungicides when needed,
cultural practices can play a significant role in disease
management. For instance, planting wheat early is not indicated, especially in years of high precipitation, because
big plants act as nets for rust spores in the air.
During the last two years, I gladly noted that most
wheat fields in the Horse Heaven Hills area were planted
later than in the past, likely contributing to the low rust
level. On Nov. 11, 2013, my team didn’t find any stripe
During the 12-year period, stripe rust on
susceptible checks caused average yield
losses of 43.71 percent on winter wheat and
32.80 percent on spring wheat. Of commercially grown varieties, that translates to an
8.47 percent loss on winter wheat and a 12.74
percent loss on spring if fungicides had not
been used.
From 2002 to 2013, extremely severe epidemics (more than 60 percent yield loss on
susceptible checks) occurred two times (2010
and 2011), severe epidemics (40 to 60 percent
loss) occurred three times (2005, 2007 and
2012), moderate epidemics (20 to 40 percent)
occurred seven times (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,
2006, 2008 and 2013), and low epidemics (less
than 20 percent) occurred one time (2009).
Figure 2. Severe stripe rust observed on November 15 in a field of winter wheat variety
Eltan planted at the end of July 2013. Photo courtesy of Nathan Clemens.
Variations in epidemic levels were mainly caused by
weather conditions and variety changes. In 2012, the
disease started about one week later than normal, but
still developed to a severe level due to relatively favorable weather in the late spring and summer. In contrast,
rust started earlier than normal in 2013, but the hot and
dry weather conditions in the late spring and summer
stopped its development.
It has been great to see highly resistant varieties
becoming more dominant across the state. For example,
Norwest 553 became the No. 1 hard red winter wheat variety in 2013, while Bruehl still ranks No. 1 for club wheat
and Cara, another club, has gained acreage.
For spring wheat, highly susceptible varieties such as
Hank and WBP 926 have disappeared while the highly
resistant variety, Expresso, became the No. 1 hard red
spring variety and Diva became the No. 2 soft white
spring variety. The increased acreage of resistant varieties contributed to the low rust level in 2013, especially in
the spring wheat crop.
rust in the Horse Heaven Hills or the Connell or Ritzville
areas. On Nov. 14, however, we received a report of
heavy stripe rust in a field of Eltan planted at the end of
July (Fig. 2).
Early planting of winter wheat produces huge amounts
of rust spores for infecting wheat crops in additional
fields before winter, and rust mycelia within the leaves
can continue to infect as long as the leaves survive. If
early planting is necessary, then selecting resistant varieties with effective, all-stage resistance is key.
The 2012 and 2013 stripe rust outbreaks were less
severe than those of 2010 and 2011, but still significant. In
2012, stripe rust caused a 57.5 percent yield loss on susceptible winter wheat varieties and a 35.9 percent loss on
susceptible spring wheat varieties. In 2013, yield losses of
susceptible varieties were 34.2 percent for winter wheat
and 20.1 percent for spring wheat. Commercially grown
winter wheat varieties would have had a yield loss of 16
percent in 2012 and 10 percent in 2013 without fungicide
use. Spring wheat varieties would have had an average
yield loss of 27 percent in 2012 and 6 percent
in 2013 without fungicides. These figures
are all higher than the average over the last
decade, 2002-2013, except for spring wheat in
2013.
WL
Genetic resistance is the most reliable approach to
controlling stripe rust, and several effective, all-stage
resistance genes have been identified in recent years. We
have also developed more than 70 new stripe rust germplasm lines mostly with different resistance genes and
provided this genetic stocks to breeding programs.
For breeding programs, it is still better to develop
varieties with levels of high temperature adult plant
resistance (HTAP) or combine HTAP resistance with
effective all-stage resistance in individual varieties. To
keep tracking which all-stage resistance genes are effective and which ones are not, we continue to monitor
WL
WGC REPORTS
App. may/may not needed depending upon stripe rust situation
Fungicide application is generally not needed
Fungicide application is needed
Table 1. The number of years in test and mean and standard deviation (SD) of grown acreage in
Washington, relative area under the disease progress curve (rAUDPC), relative yield loss (rYL), significance
of fungicide application (SFA) and rating by rYL for winter wheat varieties tested in 2002 to 2013.
No. years Grown acreage (%)a
rAUDPC (%)b
rYL (%)cSFAd
Rating by rYLe
Variety
in test Mean
SD Mean SD Mean SDMean SDMean SD
AP Legacy
2
0.67
0.09
71.32
4.71 94.22
22.95
1.00
0.00
3.50
2.12
Hatton
3
0.70
0.33
96.85
2.97 102.93
16.80
1.00
0.00
4.00
1.73
f
12
0.00
0.00
100.00
0.00 100.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
3.42
1.38
PS 279 Moreland
2
0.00
0.00
93.92
5.94 91.66
8.14
1.00
0.00
3.50
2.12
g
106.25
- 93.55
-
1.00
-
3.00
Gaines
1
0.00
-
Wanser
2
0.08
0.11
72.63
35.93 50.65
14.07
1.00
0.00
3.00
1.41
ORCF-103
4
4.93
3.33
40.34
17.04 42.65
18.93
1.00
0.00
2.25
0.50
Basin
1
0.08
-
42.96
- 64.24
-
1.00
-
2.00
Gary
1
0.00
-
45.58
- 29.24
-
1.00
-
2.00
Hubbard
1
0.00
-
12.48
-
20.13
-
1.00
-
2.00
Lewjain
1
0.78
-
22.22
- 41.39
-
1.00
-
2.00
Paha
1
0.00
-
23.13
- 48.39
-
1.00
-
2.00
Declo
4
2.57
2.46
41.67
38.38 43.02
38.35
0.80
0.45
1.80 0.84
Eddy
6
0.96
0.79
41.59
30.22 31.59
23.83
0.67
0.52
1.83
0.75
Tubbs 06
7
1.01
0.99
37.37
32.36 33.57
26.30
0.57
0.53
1.71
0.76
WPB 470
3
1.34
0.64
54.05
13.94 38.74
1.95
1.00
0.00
1.67
0.58
Xerpha
7
3.98
4.51
37.39
28.34 27.64
20.01
0.43
0.53
1.57
0.79
Buchanan
4
1.94
0.83
55.90
29.50 26.95
29.41
0.50
0.58
1.50
0.58
CDC Falcon 2
0.03
0.05
27.93
39.40
13.13
30.90
0.50
0.71
1.50
0.71
Nugaines
2
0.00
0.00
35.47
2.87 42.60
5.51
1.00
0.00
1.50
0.71
Bauermeister
9
1.44
1.89
19.37
17.01 28.01
13.50
0.50
0.53
1.40
0.70
ORCF-102
9
6.61
6.30
14.87
22.31 14.94
18.92
0.33
0.50
1.33
0.71
Finch
4
1.06
0.74
0.31
0.63 10.39
17.19
0.25
0.50
1.33
0.58
Lambert
6
2.28
1.04
20.99
31.77 13.30
33.61
0.67
0.52
1.33
0.82
Paladin
6
0.93
0.50
30.19
30.27
27.95
7.56
0.67
0.52
1.33
0.52
Rely
3
0.93
1.04
17.86
13.00 21.61
7.09
0.33
0.58
1.33
0.58
Finley
7
1.99
1.21
30.13
25.32 20.44
22.54
0.43
0.53
1.29
0.49
Edwin
4
1.18
1.25
13.84
12.15
8.02
12.93
0.00
0.00
1.25
0.50
Masami
10
1.07
1.04
12.73
14.50 16.32
14.21
0.30
0.48
1.20
0.42
Eltan
11
21.45
7.75
15.61
13.09 23.22
17.38
0.27
0.47
1.27
0.65
MDM
5
0.92
2.06
6.49
5.97
5.98
22.03
0.00
0.00
1.20
0.45
WPB 528
6
6.84
3.97
11.49
8.97 12.71
8.39
0.33
0.52
1.17
0.41
Tubbs
7
3.46
3.11
14.69
28.19
8.38
17.99
0.43
0.53
1.14
0.38
Stephens
10
3.50
1.78
12.94
17.19 10.79
13.45
0.20
0.42
1.10
0.32
Albion
1
1.07
-
3.30
-
15.12
-
0.00
-
1.00
AP700CL
5
4.88
3.32
6.02
4.85
3.52
15.09
0.40
0.55
1.00
0.00
Boundary
7
0.49
0.55
20.36
16.62 13.01
20.38
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Bruehl
10
5.48
2.50
1.90
2.82
3.87
16.79
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Brundage 96
8
2.04
0.80
10.46
8.27 18.23
7.59
0.38
0.52
1.00
0.00
Cara
4
1.00
0.81
2.69
2.08
2.31
18.64
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Cashup
8
1.77
1.29
11.85
15.05 13.90
12.59
0.38
0.52
1.00
0.00
Chuckar
11
0.93
0.65
1.78
2.77
9.87
9.28
0.27
0.47
1.00
0.00
Coda
4
0.87
0.87
2.29
1.58
-1.94
14.25
0.25
0.50
1.00
0.00
Concept
1
0.00
-
3.42
-
-2.35
-
0.00
-
1.00
Daws
1
0.09
-
0.07
- -26.74
-
0.00
-
1.00
Estica
1
0.14
-
0.36
-
0.00
-
0.00
-
1.00
F1182M1-10
1
0.00
-
0.00
-
-3.45
-
0.00
-
1.00
Farnum
6
1.71
1.49
4.74
3.16
3.42
15.14
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Foote
1
0.00
-
0.25
- 18.02
-
0.00
-
1.00
Hill 81
1
0.77
-
0.00
-
-9.68
-
0.00
-
1.00
Hiller
1
0.26
-
0.00
-
16.13
-
0.00
-
1.00
Madsen
11
11.09
7.74
1.67
2.64
7.12
6.15
0.09
0.30
1.00
0.00
Malcolm
1
0.67
-
0.00
- 32.26
-
0.00
-
1.00
MJ-4
2
0.27
0.11
3.11
2.94 -11.68
18.43
0.50
0.71
1.00
0.00
MJ-9
2
0.00
0.00
0.17
0.01
-3.60
10.94
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Mohler
3
0.78
0.62
0.30
0.31
3.80
13.51
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Moro
2
0.49
0.32
27.43
37.02 11.39
2.42
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Norwest 553
2
2.21
2.64
5.72
0.58
4.34
7.58
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
ORCF 101
5
3.32
1.11
3.43
4.05 13.55
3.42
0.20
0.45
1.00
0.00
Rjames
1
0.00
-
0.32
-
9.73
-
0.00
-
1.00
Rod
7
4.02
2.76
11.18
15.12
9.63
15.94
0.29
0.49
1.00
0.00
Rohde
1
0.15
-
0.00
-
6.45
-
0.00
-
1.00
Semper
1
0.41
-
0.00
- 25.29
-
0.00
-
1.00
Simom
1
0.00
-
0.17
-
-8.32
-
0.00
-
1.00
Skiles
2
0.74
0.46
3.37
1.32
17.71
14.49
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
SPN/PS279
1
0.00
-
0.00
- 25.81
-
0.00
-
1.00
Symphony
1
0.44
-
2.35
- 15.41
-
0.00
-
1.00
Temple
1
0.00
-
1.25
-
-6.45
-
0.00
-
1.00
Tres
1
0.00
-
11.25
-
45.16
-
0.00
-
1.00
Trifecta Mix
1
3.40
-
6.85
- 23.65
-
0.00
-
1.00
Weatherford
1
0.33
-
0.00
-
-3.23
-
0.00
-
1.00
Weston
1
0.59
-
1.25
-
-6.45
-
0.00
-
1.00
Wetstone
2
1.11
1.57
12.51
1.12 16.72
5.44
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
a
The percentages of acreage were calculated based on planted acreage against the total winter wheat acreage in Washington. Cultivars or breeding
lines with a zero acreage were grown on less than 1,000 acres, seed not available for commercial fields or never released. Most cultivars grown in
Washington were also grown in Idaho and Oregon and some not grown in Washington were grown in Idaho and Oregon.
their reactions in fields and use a
newly established set of single-gene
lines to differentiate races of the
pathogen.
Fungicide application is recommended only when needed.
Highly resistant varieties do
not need fungicide application.
Commercially grown varieties and
newly developed breeding lines
have been characterized into three
categories:
•A
t least one fungicide application may be needed;
•F
ungicide application may or
may not be needed; and
•F
ungicide application is generally not needed based on their
resistance/susceptibility to
stripe rust and response to fungicide application (See Tables 1
and 2).
I do not recommend fungicide
application for other controversial
arguments, such as “fungicides
have plant vigor effects” or “increased yield.” Our experimental
data over 12 years does not support such questionable “beneficial”
effects.
To decide when to apply fungicides, the following time- or
growth-points need to be considered. As mentioned above, stripe
rust infection in the fall can be
effectively reduced by not planting
too early. Seed treatment can be
an approach, but currently labeled
fungicides and recently tested new
chemicals for controlling soil-borne
b
Relative area under the disease progress curve (rAUDPC) values were
calculated as the percentages of the susceptible check’s AUDPC in
each year.
c
Relative yield loss (rYL) values in percentage were calculated as the
percentages of the susceptible check’s yield loss in each year.
d
Significance of fungicide application (SFA) was determined by the
least significant difference (LSD) values for each year experiment, 0 =
insignificant and 1 = significant.
e
In each experiment, a cultivar was rated by its rYL against the experiment rYL LSD, 1 for rYLs less than 1 x the rYL LSD value; 2 for rYLs from
equal to the rYL LSD value to less than 2 x the rYL LSD values; 3 for
equal to 2 X but less than 3 X the YL LSD value; and so on. For cultivars
with a rating equal to or greater than 1, fungicide application is
generally recommended.
f
PS 279 was used as the susceptible check in all years except Walladay
was used in 2002.
g
-Not applicable as there was only one year’s data.
WGC REPORTS
Fungicide application is generally not needed
No. of years Grown acreage (%)a
rAUDPC (%)b
rYL (%)cSFAd
Rating by rYLe
Variety
in test Mean
SD Mean SD Mean SDMean SDMean SD
11
0.00
0.00
100.00
0.00 100.00
0.00
0.83
0.39
3.00
1.28
Lemhif
Eden
1
0.00
-
63.72
- 49.67
-
1.00
-
3.00
Penawawa
3
0.80
0.65
66.90
16.00 58.07
6.45
1.00
0.00
2.67
0.58
Zak
5
5.71
5.86
83.39
21.95 66.05
17.45
1.00
0.00
2.60
0.89
Jubilee
2
0.00
0.00
86.09
3.89
72.11
4.55
1.00
0.00
2.50
0.71
Calowa
3
0.03
0.05
65.72
27.52 42.89
8.82
1.00
0.00
2.00
1.00
Challis
2
0.72
1.01
67.50
2.57 50.51
8.58
1.00
0.00
2.00
0.00
Edwall
2
1.71
0.85
89.73
6.28 55.53
9.46
1.00
0.00
2.00
0.00
Macon
2
0.17
0.23
71.97
3.58 45.75
10.72
1.00
0.00
2.00
0.00
WA7952
1
0.00
-
23.99
-
37.62
-
1.00
-
2.00
Winsome
2
0.00
0.00
68.53
5.41 44.24
12.86
1.00
0.00
2.00
0.00
Nick
8
10.04
3.22
46.74
40.25 49.43
31.92
0.63
0.52
1.50
0.53
Express
4
3.28
3.24
13.75
12.74 30.26
28.45
0.25
0.50
1.50
0.58
Alpowa
12
18.72
17.43
31.31
22.40 36.71
28.10
0.58
0.51
1.50
0.52
Hank
10
5.31
3.80
38.42
45.46 45.58
45.67
0.50
0.53
1.40
0.52
Lolo
3
0.13
0.22
1.62
2.10 21.35
7.47
0.67
0.58
1.33
0.58
Scarlet
6
6.37
2.85
52.49
16.10 23.94
15.58
0.83
0.41
1.33
0.52
Tara 2002
7
2.82
2.50
26.49
42.60 23.14
34.53
0.29
0.49
1.29
0.49
Babe
5
2.65
5.20
42.31
27.42 41.76
31.42
0.40
0.55
1.20
0.45
JD
6
0.77
0.97
4.84
4.04 14.74
14.99
0.00
0.00
1.17
0.41
Kelse
6
4.49
8.00
23.94
19.52 81.37 119.95
0.67
0.52
1.17
0.41
Whit
6
2.51
4.34
29.34
28.66 12.50
41.46
0.17
0.41
1.17
0.41
Jefferson
7
5.66
2.44
25.18
24.65
27.78
21.66
0.71
0.49
1.14
0.38
WPB 926
7
7.19
3.93
16.83
28.72
3.76
67.63
0.63
0.52
1.13
0.35
Alturas
3
0.00
0.00
22.17
29.72 24.77
31.53
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Blanca Grande
4
3.13
2.07
1.03
1.49
-7.13
12.04
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
1.38
- 16.68
-
1.00
-
1.00
Buck Pronto 1
2.70
-g
Cabernet
2
2.15
3.04
18.12
2.77 31.35
2.12
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Dayn
2
0.00
0.00
5.56
3.36 15.64
20.29
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Diva
4
8.19
16.37
17.59
7.98 29.38
9.24
0.25
0.50
1.00
0.00
Glee (WA8074)
3
0.54
0.94
24.51
8.63
4.12
1.81
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Hollis
7
3.51
2.00
23.37
24.46 10.08
21.22
0.29
0.49
1.00
0.00
IDO377s
1
3.06
-
0.00
- 14.68
-
0.00
-
1.00
Jedd
1
0.00
-
0.93
-
4.75
-
0.00
-
1.00
Jerome
2
0.00
0.00
6.10
8.63
8.99
1.66
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Louise
10
20.74
15.24
10.74
14.67 14.06
17.12
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
Otis
4
0.00
0.00
6.09
5.89
27.76
20.78
0.50
0.58
1.00
0.00
Scarlet 09
1
0.00
-
0.00
-
2.02
-
0.00
-
1.00
Solano
1
2.59
-
30.57
- 12.42
-
0.00
-
1.00
Summit
1
0.00
-
0.12
- 13.28
-
1.00
-
1.00
UI Pettit
1
0.00
-
68.98
- 33.56
-
0.00
-
1.00
Waikea 1
0.00
-
0.00
- 14.96
-
0.00
-
1.00
Wakanz
1
3.36
-
2.05
- 14.08
-
0.00
-
1.00
Wawawai 1
0.81
-
66.79
- 13.48
-
0.00
-
1.00
WA7931
1
0.00
-
0.42
- 13.28
-
0.00
-
1.00
WA7961
1
0.00
-
30.18
- 13.48
-
0.00
-
1.00
WA7964
1
0.00
-
0.12
-
4.62
-
0.00
-
1.00
WA8016
1
0.00
-
0.00
- -16.67
-
0.00
-
1.00
WA8026
1
0.00
-
0.00
- -24.00
-
1.00
-
1.00
WA8027
1
0.00
-
0.00
-
83.15
-
0.00
-
1.00
WA8124
3
0.00
0.00
20.74
3.06 18.71
5.96
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
a
The percentages of acreage were calculated based on planted acreage against the total spring wheat acreage in Washington state. Cultivars or breeding lines with a zero acreage were grown in less than 1000 acres, seed not available for commercial fields, or never released. Most cultivars grown in
Washington were also grown in Idaho and Oregon and some not grown in Washington were grown in Idaho and Oregon.
b
Relative area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) values were calculated as the percentages of the susceptible check’s AUDPC in each year.
c
Relative yield loss (rYL) values were calculated as the percentages of the susceptible check’s yield loss percentage in each year.
d
Significance of fungicide application (SFA) was determined by the least significant difference (LSD) values for each year experiment, 0 = insignificant
and 1 = significant.
e
In each experiment, a cultivar was rated by its rYL against the experiment rYL LSD, 1 for rYLs less than 1 x the rYL LSD value; 2 for rYLs from equal to
the rYL LSD value to less than 2 x the rYL LSD values; 3 for equal to 2 X but less than 3 X the YL LSD value; and so on. For cultivars with a rating equal to or
greater than 1, fungicide application is generally recommended.
f
Lemhi was used as the susceptible check in 2006-2012 and Fielder in 2002-2005.
g
- not applicable as there was only one year data.
or seed-borne pathogens such as smuts and root diseases do not have significant effects on rust.
Foliar fungicides can be applied when rust is easy to find and before developing to the severe level as shown in Figures 1 and 2. At the time of herbicide
application, growers should ask whether a fungicide application may or may
not be used by making the following observations:
• If a resistant variety is grown, do not apply; if a susceptible or moderately
susceptible variety is grown,
see next.
• I f active rust is observed, even
at a low incidence level, apply.
If not observed see next.
• I f rust is reported within the
region (e.g. within the eastern
PNW) and infection will likely
occur within a couple of weeks,
apply; otherwise wait until rust
is found in the field.
Mixing a fungicide with an herbicide reduces application costs and
is effective if the stripe rust fungus
has over-wintered. For example,
this was necessary in 2011 and 2013,
but not necessary in 2012. About
three to four weeks after fungicide
application, a second fungicide
application may be considered
when rust starts redeveloping. In
the eastern PNW, stripe rust often
starts developing at boot to heading stage, and a single application
at this time usually controls stripe
rust. At this point, HTAP resistance
usually works unless the weather
conditions are cool and wet like
2010 and 2011. To apply or not to
apply fungicides will depend upon
variety resistance (including HTAP
resistance), the real-time rust situation in the field and the region and
weather conditions in the weeks
following based on forecasts.
To reduce costs, protect those
applying the chemicals as well as
those living nearby while reducing
pressure for selection of potential
chemical-resistant rust strains, it is
always a good idea to curtail the
unnecessary use of fungicides.
Application may or may not needed
Fungicide application is needed
Table 2. The number of years in test and mean and standard deviation (SD) of grown acreage in
Washington, relative area under the disease progress curve (rAUDPC), relative yield loss (rYL), significance
of fungicide application (SFA), and rating by rYL for spring wheat varieties tested from 2002 to 2013
WL
For help keeping up with stripe
rust information including the
disease lifecycle, pathogen races,
resistance, fungicide efficacy, forecasts, updates, specific recommendations, management strategies,
various nursery data, literature and
research progress, please check out
our website as the year progresses
at striperust.wsu.edu.
WHEAT WATCH
Value of dollar drives exports
While U.S. wheat exports are still
projected to be above levels experienced the last two years, the recent
tapering of exports relative to the
first quarter of the marketing year
has been a bit of a disappointment.
An important driver of export
activity is the relative values of currencies for exporting and importing
countries. The cheaper the U.S. dollar relative to potential importers’
currencies, the more attractive U.S.
Figure 2 shows the relationship between weekly U.S. wheat exports and
U.S. Wheat Exports
Figure 1: Weekly U.S.Weekly
wheat
exports in metric tons
(metric Tons)
1,400,000
September 13, 2013
September 28, 2007
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
Beginning of 2007/2008 marketing year
Beginning of 2013/2014 marketing year
0
1/2/04
1/2/05
1/2/06
1/2/07
1/2/08
1/2/09
1/2/10
1/2/11
1/2/12
1/2/13
Figure 2. U.S. wheat exports vs. U.S. dollar index
900,000
81.5
800,000
81
700,000
80.5
600,000
80
500,000
79.5
400,000
79
300,000
78.5
200,000
78
Weekly U.S. Wheat Exports
U.S. Dollar Index
Dollar Index (higher number = stronger dollar)
While net wheat exports have not
changed for several months, the
December USDA supply/demand
estimates did make some changes
across classes. For example, hard
red spring exports were reduced by
five million bushels, while soft red
winter exports were increased five
million bushels. Thus, the increase
in soft red imports was offset by an
increase in exports. The result was
that the entire carryout adjustment
came from a combination of a decrease in exports and an increase in
imports of hard red spring wheat.
Figure 1 shows that U.S. weekly wheat 2013/14 exports peaked the week of
Sept. 13 and have declined significantly since. This is similar to the 2007/08
marketing year when weekly exports rapidly increased through the first
quarter and then in the second quarter of the marketing year dropped off
significantly.
10/4/13
10/6/13
10/8/13
10/10/13
10/12/13
10/14/13
10/16/13
10/18/13
10/20/13
10/22/13
10/24/13
10/26/13
10/28/13
10/30/13
11/1/13
11/3/13
11/5/13
11/7/13
11/9/13
11/11/13
11/13/13
11/15/13
11/17/13
11/19/13
11/21/13
11/23/13
11/25/13
11/27/13
11/29/13
12/1/13
12/3/13
12/5/13
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) ended the 2013
calendar year by
forecasting a 10
million bushel increase in 2013/14
wheat ending
stocks relative to
earlier estimates.
The increase
came solely from
a boost in imports, primarily from
Canada. Increased imports of both
hard red spring and soft red winter
wheat were projected. Export
expectations were not increased
despite a strong export pace early in
the marketing year.
wheat becomes. Similarly, the cheaper the U.S. dollar relative to other wheat
exporters’ currencies, the more competitive U.S. wheat is compared to other
wheat for export.
Wheat Exports in Metric Tons
By T. Randall Fortenbery
WHEAT WATCH
Figure 3 shows weekly U.S.
export activity compared to the
relative values of the U.S. and
Australian dollars. Note again
that as the U.S. dollar strengthens against the currency of one
of our major wheat export competitors, U.S. exports are negatively
impacted.
In order to reach the USDA
export prediction of 1.1 billion
bushels of wheat for the current
marketing year, we will need to
average about 500 thousand metric
tons of exports per week beginning in mid-December (the time
this was written). As seen in Figure
1, this is in the bottom third of the
weekly range experienced over the
last three or four years This is also
about the level exports stabilized in
the 2007/08 marketing year following the large weekly declines in the
second quarter.
Similar to this year, the U.S.
dollar strengthened a bit through
the second quarter of the 2007/08
marketing year and correlated with
the drop off in weekly export activity. However, after the first of the
year (January 2008), the U.S. dollar
1,200,000
0.96
1,000,000
0.94
800,000
0.92
600,000
0.90
400,000
0.88
200,000
0.86
Weekly U.S. Wheat Exports
U.S. Dollar/Austrailian Dollar (lower number fewer U.S. dollars bought with
Australian dollars)
0.98
6/7/13
6/14/13
6/21/13
6/28/13
7/5/13
7/12/13
7/19/13
7/26/13
8/2/13
8/9/13
8/16/13
8/23/13
8/30/13
9/6/13
9/13/13
9/20/13
9/27/13
10/4/13
10/11/13
10/18/13
10/25/13
11/1/13
11/8/13
11/15/13
11/22/13
11/29/13
12/6/13
1,400,000
U.S. Dollar/Australian Dollar
weakened against most major currencies and exports stabilized, averaging
about 550 thousand metric tons per week. Total exports in December 2007 for
the marketing year were forecast to be 1.175 billion bushels. They ended the
marketing year 7 percent above that level.
For 2014, current market conditions suggest that the U.S. dollar will continue to strengthen relative to our export competitors and not track the
experience of 2007/08. Futures prices as of mid-December suggested that the
U.S. dollar will continue to appreciate relative to both the Australian and
Canadian dollars, as well as the Euro through June 2014. These currencies
represent our largest three export competitors in world wheat. Looking at the
broader U.S. dollar index, as of mid-December, the contract for June delivery was trading at a price three-tenths of a percent higher than the price for
December futures. The September 2014 dollar index was trading at almost a
0.5 percent premium to December.
The real issue of interest, of course, is how a change in exports impacts
farmer prices. While the work is preliminary, research at Washington State
University focused on measuring wheat price movements in response to various economic conditions suggests that for each 1 percent change in the value
of the dollar index, wheat prices change by 0.6 percent. In other words, if the
dollar index increases by 1 percent (the dollar gets stronger) without any other
changes in the supply/demand balance for wheat, prices would be expected to
decline about 0.6 percent. This impact comes from changes in export opportunities that result from changes in the value of the dollar.
If we look more specifically at just
Japan, the story is quite similar. As
the U.S. dollar has strengthened
relative to the Japanese Yen, U.S.
wheat export activity has declined.
By mid-December, the dollar had
hit a five year high relative to the
Japanese Yen.
Figure 3. U.S. wheat exports vs. U.S./Australian dollars
Wheat Exports in Metric Tons
the U.S. dollar index. The dollar
index is a weighted value of the
dollar relative to six foreign currencies. It includes the Japanese
Yen (buyers of U.S. wheat) and the
Canadian Dollar (competitors in the
wheat export market). In general,
the higher the index value, the less
competitive the U.S. is in export
markets. Note the recent decline in
U.S. wheat exports has been associated with an increase in the general
value of the U.S. dollar (as represented by the dollar index).
WL
Wheat prices through mid-December had adjusted to the possibility of a
less robust export market. Chicago futures for soft red winter wheat for July
2014 delivery peaked the third week of October and then declined almost
80 cents per bushel through mid-December. Lower domestic prices do compensate for a more expensive U.S. dollar suggesting that the current export
forecast is still realistic, but for a repeat of the 2007/08 experience (exports
exceeding mid-year expectations), we probably need to experience a decline in
the U.S. dollar value going forward.
Randy Fortenbery holds the Tom Mick Endowed Chair in Grain Economics at
Washington State University. He received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from
the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign.
WL
FEATURE
Education by rail
In the early 20th century, trains became one of the ways for universities
to spread their research and knowledge to rural communities
By Steven D. Aagard, Ph.D.,
University of Wyoming
Photo courtesy of the Whitman County Library
Colfax community members and area residents gather to see the farm
demonstrations at the railroad depot from the Oregon Railroad and
Navigation Company demonstration train. Photographer and date of
photo are unknown. (WCLWSU062, washingtonruralheritage.org)
FEATURE
By the early 1900s, much of the wild west had been
tamed, and many areas of formerly undeveloped prairie
had been claimed by ranchers and farmers. The Morrill
Act of 1862 and 1889 established land-grant universities in
each state. These universities were charged with providing not only academic opportunities for state residents,
but also to support farmers and ranchers with information
and assistance regarding agricultural advances.
The idea of using trains to educate people in rural areas
of the Middle Western and Western areas of the U.S.
started in the early 20th century. These trains, laden with
WL
exhibits, showcased advances in agricultural thought and
practice. The trains served as sources of information, technology and education for isolated farmers and ranchers
scattered across the West.
Taking to the rails
The concept of demonstration trains was developed
jointly by Perry G. Holden, vice dean of agriculture at
Iowa State University, and two local railroad companies
in 1903. Holden sent the trains through part of the state to
promote the planting of better corn. The trains carried lec-
WL
FEATURE
turers from the college, corn specimens, charts, bulletins and demonstration materials (Rasmussen, 1989).
At this time, rural travel using
roads and automobiles was very
difficult. Trains were a means of
high quality and efficient travel. In
addition, most prosperous communities in the Midwest and West
had railroad access. Demonstration
trains would stop at locations where
farmers, ranchers and others could
gather and listen to lectures, obtain
bulletins and publications and walk
through the train cars to study the
displays representing a host of topics and issues relevant to the agricultural practices of the day. Even
passers-by stopped to tour the train.
In addition, people in very isolated
areas traveled long distances to the
trains’ locations to benefit from the
information provided.
As a result of these first successful
efforts and general interest by the
public, other railroads and institutions of higher education adopted
the idea. In 1911, the peak year of
demonstration train use, 71 trains in
28 states, attracted an attendance of
995,220 visitors (Rasmussen, 1989).
By the end of the era, nearly fifty
different railroads had staffed and
operated trains for the benefit of
educating the public.
The normal cooperative agreement with the railroads was with
the states’ land-grant universities.
Usually, the railroad company
provided the train engine, cars
and crews, while the educational
displays and educator personnel
were employed by the colleges and
departments of the school. The
railroads were interested in production yields and increases in all
sorts of agricultural commodities.
As a result of education via these
trains, producers would increase
production. In turn, those production increases would increase the
In a 1909 annual progress report from the U.S. Office of Experiment
Stations on Agricultural Experiment Stations, demonstration trains
were noted as one of the most popular ways for the stations to disseminate information:
“The popularity of demonstration trains has not waned, and the character of such trains has become more comprehensive year by year. The practice has extended to every part of the country. As an example of the scope
and character of these trains, a demonstration train operated in Oregon
may be cited. This train consisted of seven cars, equipped with a large
amount of illustrative material, and was manned by a corps of experts
from the college and station staff. Demonstrations were given of the milking machine and other dairy appliances, using pure-bred cows from the
college herd; and also of pruning, grafting, and packing apples; talks and
exhibits on farm crops, insects, and fungus diseases, and other phases of
agricultural work. Much interest was aroused among the merchants, commercial organizations, and the general public, as well as among farmers,
and in many towns, the stores were closed during the time the train was at
the depot. During the trip of about a week, over 20,000 people visited the
train.”
In another example cited in the report, more than 30,000 people
were reached when a train stopped for four days in the Yakima Valley:
“A fruit-demonstration train operated in the Yakima Valley in
Washington included a flat car equipped with a model orchard in tubs and
a power sprayer, by means of which complete demonstrations of spraying and pruning were given. Another train in that State included specially
equipped cars for dairy stock, with a milking machine in operation; a dairy
car containing bottling appliances, milk coolers, separators, and similar
devices; a horticultural car; and a poultry car.”
—Excerpted from “Report on the Agricultural Experiment Stations”
published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Oct. 10, 1910.
amount of produce the railroads would ship, thus increasing profits for not only
the farmers and ranchers but the railroad companies as well. The railroad companies of the time had the corner on the transportation of agriculture produce
given the network of rails that crisscrossed the country. The roads were poor at
best and an undependable transport system when compared to trains.
Besides the universities and railroads, other entities also embraced the use of
demonstration trains. The Smith-Lever Act of 1916 established the Cooperative
Extension Service (Extension) which was dedicated to extending the university to people in rural areas. Extension had the charge of taking the unbiased
research developed at land-grant universities and disseminating it to the people
in a way that would promote improved agricultural practices. Soon, Extension
agencies saw the merits of using demonstration trains to promote a variety of
Extension topics.
In Washington state, Extension’s forerunner, the Washington Experiment
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WL
FEATURE
Photo courtesy of the Whitman County Library
Many residents of the Farmington community and surrounding area came to the railroad yard to see the various demonstrations provided by the Oregon
Railroad and Navigation Company farming demonstration train. Photographer and date of photo are unknown. (WCLWSU059, washingtonruralheritage.org)
Station, ran demonstration trains for nearly 30 years
beginning in the early 1900s. As in other states, the trains
were a way to get information about research, equipment
and agricultural experiments from Washington State
College (now Washington State University) into the hands
of the state’s farmers and ranchers.
A community event
In Colorado, the Denver Rio Grande Railroad and
Colorado Agriculture College’s (currently Colorado State
University) demonstration train started clocking miles in
1908. Soon after the effort began, Colorado fondly referred
to the train as the “potato institute special.” The first train
focused its displays and information on the increased
production of potatoes and included a model potato cellar.
The arrival of this train in a community signified the start
of the planting season. In addition to providing valuable
agricultural information and the results of the most current research, the arrival of the train was the social event
of the spring. It was as important to communities in the
spring as the county fair was in the fall.
As these trains moved from town to town, people met
them in their very best dress and planned to spend a good
deal of time learning from the lectures and demonstrations. At some locations, the train was forced to remain
for an extra day so everyone interested could be allowed
passage in the cars to view the displays and listen to the
lectures.
Schools were even closed during a demonstration train
visit. The community really accepted the concept of allowing the youth an opportunity to learn from the trains.
Many of the exhibits dealt with topics such as boys and
girls clubs (predecessors to today’s 4-H program).
Equal opportunity learning
A wide variety of visual learning and teaching opportunities were available in demonstration trains. These included live demonstrations, posters and displays. Farmers
and ranchers would come from miles around to tour the
FEATURE
trains. Some of the materials were self-paced and full of visual information.
Interested people could spend as much time as they wanted viewing the
visual materials without having to interact in a formal learning situation
or having to read a great deal of textual information. The demonstration
train provided a neutral learning environment for all visitors regardless of
education.
In some ways, demonstration trains were the Internet of their day. They
provided informal and formal learning opportunities to distanced individuals and served as the source of up-to-date information and provided
visual evidence of innovations to often isolated individuals.
Winding down
By the 1940s, most demonstration trains had stopped roaming the
countryside. For approximately 40 years, though, they had provided visual
learning opportunities and hands-on workshops to isolated communities
across the mid-western and western U.S. They brought sources of current
information and new techniques that would otherwise have been unavailable to farmers, ranchers and homemakers in rural communities.
Though they often have been overlooked in reviewing the development
of agricultural extension efforts, demonstration trains provided opportunities for many skeptical, uninformed or hesitant ranchers, farmers and
homemakers to actually see the benefits of new techniques and to believe
enough in the benefits to change agricultural practices.
WL
References
Boyd, G.W. and Martson, B.W.
(1966). History agriculture extension in Wyoming. Laramie, Wyo.:
University of Wyoming.
Hansen, J.M. (1977). Democracy’s
college in the centennial state: A
history of Colorado State University,
Ft. Collins, Colo.: Colorado State
University.
Hansen, J.M. (1991) Beyond the
ivory tower: A history of Colorado
State University cooperative extension, Ft. Collins, Colo.: Colorado State
University Cooperative Extension.
Rasmussen, W.D. (1989) Taking the
university to the people: Seventyfive years of cooperative extension,
Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University
Press.
THE
BOTTOM LINE
Making decisions in the family business
By Michael Stolp
Northwest Farm Credit Services
Family businesses include different perspectives based
on whether people are owners, family members and/
or employees. Individuals may be a member of all three
stakeholder groups or only one. Discord or even battles in
family businesses occur when people confuse these roles
and perspectives.
It’s important for all stakeholders to understand their
role in the business and the types of decisions that are appropriate for them to address. Here are examples:
Stakeholder group
Family business decision examples
OwnerValues, vision, risk, growth, return
on investment, capital allocation
Business/employeeBusiness plan, employment,
business operations (i.e. working on
and in the business)
FamilyEmotional attachments, work/
life balance, family properties,
philanthropy, family unity events
Common challenges in making ownership decisions
and allocating capital in family business include:
valid requests for information are viewed as a polite
nuisance, or worse, unnecessary.
•G
overnance and decision making: Decision making in family business is frequently clouded by who
and how. The group of primary decision makers is
often incomplete, not representing all owners. And
how decisions are made may be misunderstood, not
always including a protocol for pros, cons and fit with
strategic priorities.
• Guiding philosophy: Debates over good and bad
decisions often revolve around whether the issue is a good
fit for the business. This is a tough decision if the business
doesn’t have a clear understanding of its values, vision,
appetite for risk and growth and return on investment
objectives.
Case study: The Bakers
If you’ve ever experienced any of the above challenges,
you’re in good company. Take the hypothetical (although
very near real-world) farm family, the Bakers. They are
successful producers and food processors, with a great
family including two parents and four children. Mom and
Dad Baker gifted ownership shares to on- and off-farm
children. When the children were young, ownership was
never an issue. Mom and Dad made all the decisions. Two
of the Baker children returned to the operation, while two
built careers in the city. All Baker siblings are married.
• Owners’ identity: Parents may gift or transfer shares
of ownership to on- and off-farm
children, not realizing their generosity and tax planning strategy
Sponsored by the
created a larger shareholder group
Agricultural Marketing
and diffused ownership in the
family business.
& Management
•O
wners’ rights: Ownership
includes certain rights and access.
Examples include understanding
where the business is headed, a
return on investment and a review
of financial statements related to
their ownership interest.
• Communication: Owners who
do not work in the business may
feel they exist in a vacuum, where
Organization.
For more information and
a schedule of classes visit
www.lcammo.org.
The stage was set for the perfect
storm when the two on-farm siblings
began making significant changes to
the business and built two beautiful
new homes, financed by the business.
Peace and harmony were a distant
memory after the two off-farm siblings
(and their spouses) began requesting
a business plan, return on investment and dividends. At one impasse,
one off-farm sibling “wanted out and
wanted his money” to build his dream
lake house.
The Baker scenario paints an uncomfortable picture in family business.
However, the Bakers restored harmony
THE BOTTOM LINE
in their business with a more professional approach to
addressing different perspectives. Consider the following steps the Bakers took as you reflect on your family’s
business:
• Differentiate roles: The Bakers became deliberate
in understanding whether they were speaking as an
owner, business/employee or family member. The
off-farm Bakers understood business/employee decisions were left to their family members working in
the business, and the on-farm Bakers understood that
they were working not only for themselves, but for the
entire ownership group.
• Develop personal goals: Each Baker developed personal goals, including professional and financial goals.
These goals helped the Bakers understand what they
wanted for and from the business.
• Build a business plan: Without a clearly understood
business plan, the Baker business had no compass.
Varying perspectives about where the business should
be headed resulted in unhealthy conflict. A clearly
understood vision, including growth and return on investment objectives, helped owners understand priorities and the concept of “patient capital,” recognizing
that certain investments made sense when considering
the long term. On the other hand, the Bakers’ business
plan included specific financial targets that allowed
for dividends.
• Separate personal and business investments: The
on-farm Baker siblings separated their personal purchases from the business and began to fund personal
WL
expenditures from personal sources of funds, including salaries and distributions from the business. The
company no longer paid for homes or other consumer
goods.
• Conduct professional owner meetings: The Bakers
began to conduct two owner meetings each year. The
on-farm Bakers provided reports addressing financial
progress, crop and processing updates, market conditions, the competitive environment, employee succession and leadership planning and progress surrounding strategic priorities/goals. One meeting each year
included a review of the next year’s business plan,
year-end financial performance and decisions surrounding dividends or reinvestment in the business.
When the people in family businesses make the rules
together, harmony and success are far more likely.
Misunderstanding and conflict are replaced by confidence
and clarity around how and why capital is allocated.
Moreover, a family business legacy is created with a foundation for future generations.
Michael Stolp earned his master’s in agricultural economics
from Purdue University. His agribusiness experience includes
working with Cargill and Cenex/Land O’Lakes. Today, Michael
is Northwest Farm Credit Services’ (NWFCS) Vice President
of Market Research and Development. In this role, he leads
NWFCS’ Knowledge Center and Business Management Center
(BMC) and is the primary facilitator for the BMC. He is a member
of the Family Firm Institute and is a Certified Family Business
Advisor. Michael grew up in Sprague, Wash., where his family
owns a farm and ranch. For more information about NWFCS
visit their website at northwestfcs.com.
“A story of
agriculture will
be told. It would
be better if it
were told by
you.”
— Jerry McReynolds,
past president of the National
Association of Wheat Growers
Parker, 5, and Haiyden Sackman, 3, help their grandfather,
Daryl Deardorff, in the field during harvest 2013 on the Deardorff
Brother Farms in Colville.
Photo by Jayne Deardorff
Jacob Swannack, 8, in the family’s field
near Lamont.
Photo by Amy Swannack
Driving through the Okanogan Highlands on Havillah Road over Labor Day Weekend. The Cascades are in the
background.
Photo by Michael Machado
Your wheat life...
Send your photos!
Email pictures
to [email protected]. Please
include location of picture, names
of all people in the picture and
ages of all children.
Amy Swannack waiting on husband Don
for a fill near Lamont.
Photo by Amy Swannack
(Above) The third, fourth and fifth generations of
the Williams family during harvest 2013 on their
farm near Reardan. From left are Travis, Alyson,
Lizzie (14), Jessie (11), Del and Bobbie Williams.
Photo by Alyson Williams
(Left) Harvest on Swale Meadows Farm in
Centerville with Mt. Adams in the background. The
combine is owned and operated by Louis and Kurt
Cosner, whose family has been leasing the farmland
for the past forty years.
Photo by John Miller
HAPPENINGS
All dates and times are subject to change.
Please verify event before heading out.
JANUARY 2014
7 Managing Risk and Volatility.
AMMO workshop at Marcus Whitman
Hotel in Walla Walla. Preregister by
phone at (877) 740-2666 or email lcammo@
live.com. More information at lcammo.org
7 Managing Growth and Capital.
Hands-on, case study-focused session
for those who have a strong understanding of financial statements and
analysis. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Red Lion
Hotel on North River Drive in Spokane.
Sponsored by Northwest Farm Credit
Services’ Business Management Center.
(866) 522-9193. Register at northwestfcs.
com/en/Resources/Management-Education/
Calendar-Registration
8 WAWG Board Meeting. Meeting
starts at 10 a.m. at the Davenport Hotel in
Spokane, Wash. (509) 659-0610, wawg.org
AMMO workshop at C&D Event Center
in Tekoa. Preregister by phone at (877)
740-2666 or email [email protected]. More
information at lcammo.org
Risk. Hands-on, case study-focused session for those who have a strong understanding of financial statements and analysis. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Terra Blanca Winery
and Estate Vineyard, Benton City, Wash.
14 Managing Your Input Costs
with Technology. AMMO workshop
at Coulee City Gun Club. Preregister by
15 Managing Your Input Costs
with Technology. AMMO workshop
at Marcus Whitman Hotel in Walla Walla.
Preregister by phone at (877) 740-2666 or
email [email protected]. More information
at lcammo.org
16 Washington Grain Commission
meeting. WSCIA office at 2575 NE
Hopkins Ct., Pullman. (509) 456-2481
20-22 Direct Seed & Oilseed
Cropping Systems 2014
Conference. Three Rivers Convention
8 Managing Profits, Cash and
Center in Kennewick, Wash. Registration
and more info at directseed.org/events
session for those who have a strong
understanding of financial statements
and analysis. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Red Lion
Hotel on North River Drive in Spokane.
21 Making Sound Capital
Risk. Hands-on, case study-focused
AMMO workshop at Wilbur Community
Hall. Preregister by phone at (877) 7402666 or email [email protected]. More
9 Managing Growth and Capital.
Hands-on, case study-focused session
for those who have a strong understanding of financial statements and analysis.
8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Terra Blanca Winery
and Estate Vineyard, Benton City, Wash.
68 10 Managing Profits, Cash and
Management Decisions. AMMO
workshop at Coulee City Gun Club.
Preregister by phone at (877) 740-2666 or
email [email protected]. More information
at lcammo.org
22 Making Sound Capital
Management Decisions. AMMO
workshop at Marcus Whitman Hotel in
Walla Walla. Preregister by phone at (877)
26 Winterfest. Art show, book sale, 5k
run, chili cook-off, fireworks. Deer Park,
Wash. deerparkchamber.com
28 Increasing Profitability with
Financial Know-How. AMMO
workshop at Marcus Whitman Hotel in
Walla Walla. Preregister by phone at (877)
29 Increasing Profitability with
Financial Know-How. AMMO work-
shop at Big Bend Community College
Library in Moses Lake. Preregister by
30-Feb. 1 Family Business
Succession Planning Seminar.
Coeur d’Alene Resort, Coeur d’Alene,
Idaho. Sponsored by Northwest
Farm Credit Services’ Business
Management Center. (866) 5229193. Register at northwestfcs.com/
en/Resources/Management-Education/
February 2014
4-6 Spokane Ag Expo. The largest
farm machinery show in the Inland
Northwest. More than 250 agriculture
suppliers and service companies all
under one roof. Held at the Spokane
Convention Center. agshow.org
4-6 Young and Beginning
Producers Conference. Open to
AgVision customers who have not already attended the conference. Sponsored
by Northwest Farm Credit Services’
Business Management Center. For
eligibility requirements contact Wendy
Knopp at (509) 340-5476.
5-7 Executive Producers
Summit. Red Lion Hotel on North
River Drive in Spokane. Sponsored
by Northwest Farm Credit Services’
Business Management Center. (866)
522-9193. Register at northwestfcs.com/
en/Resources/Management-Education/
11 WAWG Board Meeting. Meeting
starts at 10 a.m. at Washington Wheat
Foundation Building, Ritzville, Wash.
(509) 659-0610, wawg.org
11 Managing Safety on the Farm.
AMMO workshop at Marcus Whitman
Hotel in Walla Walla. Preregister by
12 Managing Safety on the Farm.
AMMO workshop at Masto Center on the
Big Bend Community College campus in
Moses Lake. Preregister by phone at (877)
18 Business Succession and
Effective Family Communication.
AMMO workshop at Marcus
Whitman Hotel in Walla Walla.
Preregister by phone at (877) 740-2666
or email [email protected]. More information at lcammo.org
19 Business Succession
and Effective Family
Communication. AMMO work-
shop at Masto Center on the Big Bend
Community College campus in Moses
Lake. Preregister by phone at (877) 7402666 or email [email protected]. More
20 Business Succession
and Effective Family
Communication. AMMO workshop
at the Kalispell Room at the Northern
Quest Casino in Airway Heights.
25 Working Business Plans:
Your Financial and Market
Reality Check. AMMO workshop
at Marcus Whitman Hotel in Walla
Walla. Preregister by phone at (877)
740-2666 or email [email protected].
More information at lcammo.org
at the Kalispell Room at the Northern
Quest Casino in Airway Heights.
Tax-free Income
for Your reTIremenT
Tax-free income is the best gift you can
give yourself at retirement. Converting to a
Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA)
from a traditional IRA allows for tax-free
accumulation as well as tax-free withdrawals
in retirement – which means you don’t have
to worry as much about what income tax
rates will be in the future.
There are tax considerations and other
factors that determine whether converting
to a Roth IRA is right for you.
Edward Jones, its employees and financial
advisors cannot provide
tax or legal advice. Please consult your
attorney or qualified tax advisor regarding
your situation.
call today to schedule an appointment to learn more. We’ll discuss your retirement
goals to help determine if a roth Ira makes sense for you.
at Masto Center on the Big Bend
Community College campus in Moses
Lake. Preregister by phone at ((877)
740-2666 or email [email protected].
More information at lcammo.org
Submissions
Listings must be received by
the 10th of each month for the
next month’s Wheat Life. Email
listings to [email protected].
Include date, time and location
of event, plus contact info and
a short description.
chris Grover aamS®
Financial Advisor
1835 First Street
Cheney, WA 99004
509-235-4920
866-235-4920
Jay mlazgar aamS®
Financial Advisor
609 S. Washington
Suite 203
Moscow, ID 83843
208-882-1234
Brian e. Bailey aamS®
Financial Advisor
303 Bridge Street Suite 3
Clarkston, WA 99403
509-758-8731
866-758-9595
Greg Bloom
Financial Advisor
Professional Mall I I
1260 SE Bishop Blvd. Suite C
Pullman, WA 99163
509-332-1564
Larry Kopczynski
Financial Advisor
2501 17th Street
Lewiston, ID 83501
208-798-4732
866-798-4732
Terry a. Sliger
Financial Advisor
1329 Aaron Drive
Richland, WA 99352
509-943-2920
888-943-2920
ryan Brault aamS®
Financial Advisor
3616 W. Court St. Suite I
Pasco, WA 99301
509-545-8121
888-545-8126
Advertiser Index
2nd Harvest Food Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Ag Enterprise Supply Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
AGPRO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
ATI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Barber Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Battery Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Blue Mountain Realtors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Brock Law Firm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Butch Booker Auction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Byrnes Oil Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Carpenter McGuire & DeWulf PS . . . . 17
Class 8 Trucks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Connell Oil Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Country Financial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Diesel & Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Edward Jones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Evergreen Implement Inc . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Equipment Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Farm & Home Supply. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Great Plains Equipment Group . . . . . . 13
Helena Chemical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Hillco Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
J & M Fabrication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Jones Truck & Implement. . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Kincaid Real Estate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Landmark Native Seed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Lange Supply Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Les Schwab Tire Centers. . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Meridian Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Micro-Ag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
North Pine Ag Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . 20
Northwest Ag Show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Northwest Farm Credit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
OXARC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
PNW Farmers Cooperative. . . . . . . . . . . 40
Perkins & Zlatich PS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Pioneer West Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Pomeroy Grain Growers Inc . . . . . . . . . 17
Ramada Airport. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
RH Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Rock Steel Structures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Scales NW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Seedmaster Drills-Kevin Klein. . . . . . . 30
Spectrum Crop Development . . . . . . . 65
Spectrum Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Spokane Ag Expo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Spokane Co. Conservation District. . . 31
SS Equipment Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
State Bank Northwest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
T & S Sales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Whitney Land Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Verdesian Life Sciences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Walter Implement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Water Right Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Wheatland Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Thank you to all of our advertisers.
Support those who support your industry.
Photo courtesy of the Alex McGregor private collection and the Whitman County Library
An Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company farming demonstration train in Hooper, Wash., in 1910. Photographer is unknown. See story on
page 58. (WCLLX033, washingtonruralheritage.org)
“
“
ruggedly simple, dependable and profitable
JONES TRUCK
& IMPLEMENT
“The Apache is in a class of its own. I’ve never ridden in a sprayer that’s got a better ride than the Apache.”
Jarod Barker, Barker Farms, Puryear, Tenn.
Flex Frame consists of C-channel flex
frame rails and a pivoting front axle
Pivoting front axle and oscillating joint keep all wheels
on the ground at all times.
The flex frame means:
Lower wear and tear on machine and operator
Reduced stress on accumulators and shocks
Your Agricultural Supply Headquarters
Now 2 locations to better serve you!
425 Walla Walla Hwy.
Colfax, Wash.
509-397-4371
1-800-831-0896
1-800-525-6620
Service: Greg Mayer
Parts: Casey Jones
Visit us online: www.jtii.com
Terry Largent 509-336-1344
Bob Kerns 509-336-1342
Dan Helbling 509-336-1346
Less maintenance, less downtime
Increased durability for a longer life
“Flex Frame” = Smoother Ride and Durability
304 N. 9th Avenue
Walla Walla, Wash.
509-525-6620
Smoother ride
Learn
moremore
about the
2012 Apache
Sprayers
at www.ETsprayers.com
Learn
about
the 2012
Apache
Sprayers at www.ETsprayers.com
Learn more about the 2012 Apache Sprayers at www.ETsprayers.co
Sprayer Packages Available!
Special payment terms on Tractor Tires (OAC)
T R A CK S
John Deere, 8000T-9000T,
CAT 35-95 series 16”-36” Widths,
Case Quad Trac 30”& 36” Widths
We carry rubber
tracks for
mini-excavators
and skid
steer machines
NO PAYMENTS! NO INTEREST! If paid in full on or before June 15, 2014
FARM TIRES TRACKS • ATV TIRES • BATTERIES
Walla Walla
509-529-2423
Cheney
509-235-5700
Spokane Alki
509-534-0564
Quincy
509-787-1551
Milton-Freewater
541-938-5507
Hermiston
541-567-8528
Pendleton
541-276-1571
Colfax
509-397-4678
Grand Coulee
509-633-3090
Ephrata
509-754-2479
Growing with Farmers and Ranchers for over 60 years!
TM
Meridian Manufacturing Inc. is all about solving industry issues with technology and a commitment to the highest quality. We’ve
spent decades manufacturing industry-leading storage solutions that set the standard in product excellence. Our products are
designed to make your job easier and safer, while saving you time and allowing you to capture valuable market opportunities.
VISIT OUR DEALER LOCATOR AT WWW.MERIDIANMFG.COM
© 2013 Meridian Manufacturing Inc. Registered Trademarks Used Under License.

January - Wheat Life

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