Washington Grain Commission – Podcast Series

Episode 39: You wanna talk weather? We’ll talk weather!

9.19.17 “You wanna talk weather? We’ll talk weather!” is the title of the second Wheat All About It! podcast featuring Jeremy Wolf, meteorologist at the National Weather Service based in Spokane. With Scott Yates, director of communications and producer relations for the Washington Grain Commission, asking questions about inland Northwest weather, Wolf gives listeners a primer on the meteorological phenomenon that makes Eastern Washington the place to grow small grains.

By Scott Yates|September 19th, 2017|Comments Off

Episode 38: When Nisshin Comes Calling, Chapter 2

In Episode 38 of Wheat All About It! entitled, "When Nisshin Comes Calling, Chapter 2", follow along with Scott Yates, director of communications and producer relations for the Washington Grain Commission, as he leads a team of young Japanese Nisshin executive through the Palouse, picking up harvest samples and talking with elevator staff in Rockford, Tekoa, Colfax and Dayton. Unlike Episode 37, where elevator staff west of Spokane spokes of a good to excellent harvest, the Palouse wound up too wet with a lot of prevented planting and poor stands.

By Scott Yates|September 12th, 2017|Comments Off

Episode 37: When Nisshin Comes Calling

9.5.17 In the first of two parts, Episode 37 of Wheat All About It! entitled, “When Nisshin Comes Calling,” follows the route of a three member team from Japan’s largest flour milling company, as they travel through Eastern Washington on a two day swing to talk with elevator staff, pick up harvest samples and learn about the growing season. On the first day, Scott Yates, director of communications and producer relations for the Washington Grain Commission, led the team west of Spokane where optimism and above average yields were the norm.

By Scott Yates|September 5th, 2017|0 Comments

Episode 36: Direct Seed: The Next Generation

8.29.17 The Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association was formed 17 years ago to serve as a resource for farmers in the region interested in converting to direct seeding, known elsewhere as no-till. In Episode 36, “Direct Seed: The Next Generation,” Kay Meyer, executive director of the PNDSA, talks with Scott Yates, director of communications and producer relations for the Washington Grain Commission, about the history of the organization, new technological improvements and her contention that every precipitation region in the PNW can successfully convert to the practice.

By Scott Yates|August 29th, 2017|Comments Off

Episode 35: Payday on the Palouse!

8.22.17 Gary Bailey is the Washington Grin Commission representative of the largest wheat growing county in the United States. Scott Yates, director of communications and producer relations for the Washington Grain Commission, drove to Whitman County to speak with Bailey as the farmer maneuvered his Case IH Quad Trax tractor through the rolling hills of the Palouse, shuttling 60,000 pound loads of wheat from the combines cutting it to the trucks that drive it to the elevator. In Episode 35 of Wheat All About It! entitled, "Payday on the Palouse" Bailey talks about family, landlords and why he prefers high prices to high yields. He also explains why he plants a "most desirable" variety of wheat.

By Scott Yates|August 22nd, 2017|Comments Off

Episode 34: The Many Hats of Mark Schoesler

8.15.17 Mark Scholesler, the leader of the Washington State Senate Majority Coalition and a Ritzville wheat farmer, talks about his career in politics, farming and why he never ran for president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers in Episode 34 of Wheat All About It! entitled, “The Many Hats of Mark Schoesler”.

By Scott Yates|August 15th, 2017|Comments Off

Episode 33: The Skin of the Earth

8.8.17 In Episode 33 entitled, “The Skin of the Earth”, Scott Yates, director of communications and producer relations for the Washington Grain Commission, attends Washington State University’s Wilke Farm Research and Extension Field Day held June 28. Devoted to “Everything Soil”, Dave Huggins, soil scientist with the ARS talks about the challenges of low soil pH and soil structure while Stewart Wuest, soil scientist at the ARS in Pendleton, discusses direct seeding in very dry environments.

By Scott Yates|August 8th, 2017|Comments Off

Episode 32: The Cat That Came Back

8.1.17 Episode 32, Scott Yates, director of communications and producer relations heads to The McGregor Company’s headquarters outside Colfax for a conversation with Cat Salois, the firm’s director of research and technology. Entitled, “The Cat That Came Back”, Salois talks about her background in the Pacific Northwest, her experience as a soybean breeder for DuPont Pioneer in the Midwest, her emphasis on ROI and the new wheat release, M-Press, which is the first time McGregor’s has licensed a variety from another company to sell under its own name.

By Scott Yates|August 1st, 2017|Comments Off

Episode 31: The World Wheat O’Clock Report

In Episode 31 of the Wheat All About It! podcast, Scott Yates, director of communications and producer relations for the Washington Grain Commission, puts himself in the anchor’s chair of “The World Wheat O’clock Report,” a summary of wheat-centric news culled from websites, periodicals, newspapers and commission material. There’s never a dull moment in the wheat industry if you know where to look!

By Scott Yates|July 25th, 2017|Comments Off

Episode 30: Rail’s future, rail’s past

7.18.17 Episode 30, In “Rail’s Future, Rail’s Past”, Scott Yates, director of communications and producer relations uses two segments to tell a story of railroads in the Inland Northwest. First, he talks with Keith Bailey, CEO of AgVentures, which manages both Reardan Grain Growers and Odessa Union Warehouse, about the benefits (and difficulties) of depending upon the 110 mile long CW short rail line that connects five country elevators with the new Highline Grain shuttle loading facility outside Cheney. Next up is a tour of the new Inland Northwest Rail Museum located just outside Reardan, with the president of the organization, Dale Swant.

By Scott Yates|July 18th, 2017|Comments Off