Capital Press
A g
The West’s

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2018
Weekly
VOLUME 91, NUMBER 6
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
Selling WHEAT with
SINCERITY
U.S. Wheat Associates
Kah Hee “Roy” Chung represents U.S. Wheat Associates across south Asia. INSET PHOTO: Roy Chung with customers. “I like to say that I impart knowledge that will enable my students to make good
judgment,” he says.
Roy Chung of U.S. Wheat Associates has become a rock star among many overseas
buyers, because he teaches them how to profit by using U.S. wheat in their products
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
M
ost U.S. wheat farmers will
never meet Roy Chung, but
during the last four decades
he’s played a vital role in sell-
ing the wheat they grow.
As the bakery consultant for U.S. Wheat
Associates based in Singapore, Chung
meets with customers around Asia to
show them how to use U.S.-grown
wheat in the cakes, cookies, crack-
ers and noodles they sell. U.S.
Wheat is the overseas marketing
arm of the industry.
His hard work pays off. The
countries Chung visits in south
Asia — Singapore, Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philip-
pines, Vietnam, Myanmar and Sri
10 miles
Lanka — purchase about 4.4 million metric
tons of wheat worth $1.1 billion each year,
according to U.S. Wheat. That’s more than 16
percent of all U.S. wheat exported each year.
Chung’s secret: He tells buyers they will
not find another, more sincere farmer-owned
wheat organization anywhere in the world.
U.S. wheat may not be the
cheapest option, he says,
but it offers the best value.
“In business, all peo-
ple want to make money;
our motivation is to assist
them (making) money while
getting the satisfaction of selling
our products to them,” Chung said.
“Hard work and sincerity never fails.”
Turn to WHEAT, Page 12
Asian
connection
Roy Chung works out of
Singapore on behalf of
U.S. Wheat Associates.
The South Asian countries
that make up the majority
of imports of U.S. wheat
to that region represent a
total value of about $1.1
billion per year.
Source: The World Factbook, CIA
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
Gulf of
VIETNAM
Thailand
Tuas
MALAYSIA
Yishun
New Town
Ang Mo Kio
New Town
Queens- Bedok
town
Singapore
THAILAND
Si nga
N
MALAYSIA
Kuala
Lumpur
Singapore
Changi
Airport
pore
Stra
it
INDONESIA
South
China
Sea
BRUNEI
MALAYSIA
SINGAPORE
Borneo
INDONESIA
INDONESIA
Padang
Sumatra
Equator
Pontianak
Kalimantan
N
100 miles
Oregon, Washington, California sue to save WOTUS
Washington Gov. Jay
Inslee, right, speaks at
a preview of the 2018
legislative session Jan. 4
in Olympia. Washington
joined nine other states
and the District of Colum-
bia Feb. 6 in suing the
Trump administration for
overturning the Obama-
era definition of ‘waters
of the United States.’
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Oregon, Washington, California and
seven other states sued the Trump admin-
istration Feb. 6 to rescue the Obama-era
Clean Water Rule.
The states, joined by the District of
Columbia, claim that discarding the 2015
rule’s definition of “waters of the United
States” will leave them vulnerable to pol-
lution flowing across their borders.
“I won’t allow the Trump administra-
tion to continue to ignore the law to try
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
More Inside
Agencies put brakes on WOTUS
Page 4
to undermine important environmen-
tal rules simply because it doesn’t like
them,” Washington Attorney General
Bob Ferguson said in a statement.
The lawsuit, led by New York Attorney
General Eric Schneiderman, was filed in
the U.S. District Court for Southern New
York on the same day as the Environmen-
tal Protection Agency and Army Corps of
Engineers finalized suspending the rule
until at least Feb. 6, 2020.
The delay will give the agencies time to
reconsider the 2015 rule. In the meantime,
a 1980s definition of the waters covered by
the Clean Water Act will remain in force.
Before Trump’s EPA suspended the
rule, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
had issued a nationwide stay. Previously, a
U.S. district judge in North Dakota blocked
the rule in 13 states, including Idaho.
Turn to WOTUS, Page 12
Expert: West will be warm, dry this spring
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
SPOKANE — The Pacific
Northwest will remain wet through
March and then turn dry in April, a
weather expert predicted Tuesday.
“Whatever moisture comes,
it better come pretty quick,” said
Art Douglas, professor emeritus of
atmospheric science at Creighton
University in Omaha, Neb.
Douglas delivered his annual
forecast Feb. 6 at the Spokane Ag
Expo and Pacific Northwest Farm
Forum. He has been speaking at
the event since the winter of 1977-
1978, he said. Douglas said the
Pacific Northwest is “OK” — not
particularly wet, which would be
expected in a La Niña.
But going forward, he’s con-
cerned about “superwarming” in
the spring, which could cause an
early snowmelt, and the trend to-
ward a warmer, drier summer and
an El Niño possibly developing.
But, he said, the Pacific North-
west is probably one of the better
parts of the world for wheat this
year, compared to the wheat-pro-
ducing regions of Argentina, India
and Australia, where drier condi-
tions have developed.
Turn to WEATHER, Page 12
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Weather expert Art Douglas predicts a warm and dry
spring and summer for most of the West.