Articles

By Bob Brueggeman Barley was an important small grain cereal crop grown on large acreage in Washington State until about a decade ago. The grain back then was targeted for domestic and overseas feed markets, hence the barley breeding program at Washington State University has historically been focused on high yielding feed varieties. As advanced […]

Breeders soak up oversea experiences By Mike Pumphrey One of the best things about working in agriculture is seeing the fruits (or seeds) of my labor turn into products people enjoy and rely on for nutrition. Watching people eat foods baked from wheat that I’ve had a hand in creating gives me enormous satisfaction. And

Soft white (SW) wheat is the fourth largest class of wheat grown in the United States with an annual average production over the last five years of 6.32 million metric tons (MMT), or about 232 million bushels. Although SW is the fourth largest class measured by production, it is the third largest if measured by exports

Vince Peterson may be the organization’s president and Mark Fowler, it’s vice president of overseas operations, but when it comes to the voice of U.S. Wheat Associates, that would be Steve Jon Mercer, a veteran of…

A best management practice results in maximum yield balanced against minimum inputs, a small environmental footprint and overall production system sustainability. But knowing which management decisions are best is complicated. Recent technological advances, however, are making it easier as efficient and inexpensive on-farm research and data collection are helping farmers make the most of superior

One of the most important activities the Washington Grain Commission (WGC) undertakes over the course of a year is hosting trade teams. More funding may be devoted to other line items in the budget, but the amount of time WGC staff and commissioners devote to planning, hosting and summarizing trade team visits, eclipses all other

“The Little Things That Run the World” (insects, that is) was the intriguing title of an address by the famed biologist E. O. Wilson at the 1987 opening of the invertebrate exhibit at the National Zoological Park, in Washington D.C. Of course, no one group of organisms ‘runs’ the complex ecosystems of Earth. Still, insects

The second RiverFest held in Columbia Park on the shore of the Columbia River on September 7, demonstrated that the first event was no fluke. More people, more exhibits, more food vendors and more entertainment meant more opportunities for educating families about the benefits of the Lower Snake River dams. The Washington Grain Commission (WGC)

Molecular technology has been rapidly changing in the past 20 years, making my job as Washington State University’s winter wheat breeder more complicated, and more streamlined simultaneously…