November 27, 2015
CapitalPress.com
13
Wheat
WAWG president looks to preserve tax exemptions
Klein wants to stop hits on
farmers’ bottom line
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Preserving tax exemptions for Washington
farmers is the top priority for the new Washing-
ton Association of Wheat Growers president.
Edwall, Wash., dryland wheat farmer Kev-
in Klein recently took over the reins of the or-
ganization during the Tri-State Grain Growers
Conference in Spokane. The presidency is a
one-year term. Officers typically move through
different leadership positions. Klein replac-
es Colfax, Wash., farmer Larry Cochran, who
moves into the past president position.
Online
http://www.wawg.org/
Washington sales tax exemptions for farmers
expire in the next year.
“We want to keep what we’ve had,” Klein
said. “A sales tax on fuel and parts for a small
farmer, it’s more taxes that you pay. It’s going to
hit our bottom line as we are already going in to
low wheat prices.”
WAWG is concerned about the possibility of
a carbon tax or increased regulations or stricter
fuel standards on air quality.
“Washington is already cleaner than a lot of
other states,” Klein said.
Klein said WAWG also wants to make sure
that state fuel tax increases are being used for
rail or river traffic improvements.
“We want to make sure the money gets put
back into rail for transporting our wheat down
to Portland or Vancouver, getting our wheat to
market,” he said.
Other priorities include discussions about the
next farm bill and keeping crop insurance at its
present level, Klein said.
“Not taking a big hit in the Farm Bill again,”
he said.
Klein hopes to keep the tax exemptions in
place and not have additional regulations on wa-
ter or pesticides.
Klein said he welcomes feedback from his
fellow farmers.
“A phone call or heads up if they see any is-
sue that might be of concern coming up that we
can get prepared for,” he said.
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Edwall, Wash., dryland wheat farmer Kevin Klein,
pictured Nov. 12 at the Tri-State Grain Growers
Convention in Spokane, is the new president of
the Washington Association of Wheat Growers.
Dry wheat conditions raise winterkill worries
More moisture
needed, commission
members say
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — Wheat fields
are so dry in Eastern Washing-
ton that sudden colder tempera-
tures could kill the crop, Wash-
ington Grain Commission board
members say.
Several members painted
worried picture during county
reports at the commission board
meeting Nov. 18 in Spokane.
The commission met without
electricity due to high wind
storms through Eastern Wash-
ington the day before.
The wheat plants might look
good from the road, said board
member Dana Herron, co-own-
er of Tri-State Seed in Connell,
Wash., and representing Benton,
Franklin, Kittias, Klickitat and
Yakima counties on the com-
mission board. But “drought-in-
duced mortality” would be “tre-
mendous,” Herron said.
“It’s dry and cold at the
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Washington Grain Commission CEO Glen Squires and chairman Steve Classsen listen as board
member Mike Miller makes a point Nov. 18 during the commission board meeting, held without
electricity due to high wind storms the day before. Commission members are concerned that expected
cold temperatures will cause winterkill in winter wheat fields already stressed by dry conditions.
same time,” he said. “If plants
have adequate hydration, it’ll
take a lot of cold weather. If
it’s a little bit dry, it won’t. We
could have more winterkill
with less cold weather this way
than normal.”
Eddie Johnson, a Wilbur,
Wash., area farmer represent-
ing barley farmers on the com-
mission, said the wheat doesn’t
have any reserve moisture. If
weather forecasts about sin-
gle-digit temperatures prove
true, it could affect the wheat’s
ability to survive.
The wheat hasn’t had an
opportunity to adjust to colder
nights. Johnson said there have
only been a few nights with
temperatures around 20 de-
grees, which serve to help the
plant gradually enter dormancy
to survive colder weather.
“If the weather turns to sin-
gle digits overnight, the wheat
can’t stand that sudden blast of
arctic cold,” he said.
Weather extremes are the
biggest concern, said Mike
Miller, a Ritzville, Wash., farm-
er representing Adams, Chelan,
Douglas, Grant and Okanogan
counties. One of his neighbors
reported peak winds of 97 mph,
he said.
“It’s not just windy, it’s hurri-
cane-force winds,” he said.
Mike Eagle, an Almira,
Wash., area, farmer representing
Spokane, Lincoln, Ferry, Ste-
vens and Pend Orielle counties,
said the wheat plant is already
stressed, and more cold would
add even more.
“That plant’s pretty small,
and then to get hit with the cold,
I think it’s going to be pretty
hard on it,” Eagle told the com-
mission. “There was just no
moisture for it to come out of
the ground.”
Washington wheat industry explores fall-planted spring wheat
Research raises
concerns about
potential harm to
market
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
The Washington wheat in-
dustry wants to see if spring
wheat can be planted earlier
to give farmers more bushels
of a market class that trades at
a premium to winter wheat.
Washington State Uni-
versity spring wheat breeder
Mike Pumphrey is developing
spring wheats with cold toler-
ance that could grow as winter
wheats.
The Washington Grain
Commission
provided
$20,000 to Pumphrey’s pro-
gram to research the matter.
Commission board member
Dana Herron called the work
“transformational,” saying it
could mean fall-planted dark
northern spring wheat could
replace some hard red winter
and soft white winter acres in
some areas, because it would
be more valuable to the farm-
er.
In the marketplace, hard
red spring wheats and hard red
winter wheats are kept sepa-
rate. Hard red spring wheats
typically trade at a premium
to winter wheats.
Many acres in Washing-
ton are spring wheats plant-
ed in the middle of winter or
early spring, Pumphrey said.
Such varieties are common in
Canada or California, where
wheats have a moderate ver-
nalization requirement.
“As long as it’s managed
where protein content is ac-
ceptable and the quality of the
wheat is good, it’s going to be
the same wheat,” he said. “It
just gives the grower some
flexibility in rotation options.”
Dark northern spring
wheat coming out of the Pa-
cific Northwest has desirable
milling and baking quality.
“We don’t want to compro-
mise that,” Herron said. “We
just want to make the growers
a little more money.”
But the research is raising
some concerns in the industry.
Oregon State University
winter wheat breeder Bob
Zemetra said hard red win-
ter, hard red spring and dark
northern spring wheat classes
all come with different quality
expectations.
“You’d limit or potentially
reduce the return to the farm-
ers by having people question
whether we have a true hard
red spring wheat class, and
then they’d just buy hard red
wheat,” Zemetra said.
Zemetra is concerned
about potential misrepresenta-
tion to customers and reduced
return to farmers because the
market no longer trusts the
classes. He advises breeders
to steer towards varieties that
stay true to their market class.
Herron doesn’t agree with
concerns about loss of class-
es and markets as long as the
wheat performs in mills and
bakeries and is graded by the
FGIS.
Pumphrey said the biggest
concern would be if a variety
is grown that is of poor quality
and damages the market. But
if a wheat performs like the
better hard red spring wheats,
he doesn’t see its planting
date being a big deal.
“If we have a really good
quality wheat, then it’s a
good quality wheat, period,”
he said. “I think our custom-
ers would be very pleased
with the product if we have
a nice, strong, high-protein,
good baking, good milling,
facultative spring wheat, true
spring wheat or winter wheat,
period.”
Farmers Ending Hunger...
Begins With You!
Market
concerns
harm
demand for
Sprinter
Grain commissioner:
Idea still valid
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
It’s not the first time a
Washington wheat variety has
blurred lines between market
classes.
In 2014, Washington State
University winter wheat
breeder Arron Carter released
Sprinter, a winter wheat with
kernels and quality that acted
more like a spring wheat.
The variety raised concerns
in the industry about poten-
tial confusion and whether it
would be classified as a win-
ter or spring wheat or poten-
tial grading as a mixed class,
which carries a lower price.
Demand for the variety has
dropped off. Carter isn’t sur-
prised.
“It happens,” he said.
“Sprinter was a different type
of cultivar that had to be treat-
ed differently. People take no-
tice of that.”
The benefits of a variety
have to outweigh concerns,
Carter said. He also cited con-
cerns in the industry over hard
white wheat lines, partial waxy
wheat lines and durum wheat
lines.
Carter believes different
groups within the classifica-
tion system need to communi-
cate more with each other. The
Washington State Crop Im-
provement Association clas-
sifies vernalization require-
ments, while the Federal Grain
Inspection Service grades on
kernel morphology.
“Two different systems try-
ing to make all cultivars fall
into line,” Carter said.
• Farmers Ending
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