Why We Love Washington Wheat Farmers
There’s a lot to love about Washington wheat farmers. Cookies, cakes, breads, bagels, and so many other tasty treats are made with wheat grown on one of 4,067 wheat farms in Washington.
Read MoreOver the decades, farmers have worked with local universities and scientists to improve their “toolbox” to ensure a safe and healthy food supply, sustain the land and preserve the local ecosystems. Wheat farmers in Washington, and around the country, use these tools to nurture the land and grow more food than ever before, using fewer inputs. Dozens of family farms around the state, dating back more than 100 years, are a testament to the farming practices of Washington’s grain farmers.
There’s a lot to love about Washington wheat farmers. Cookies, cakes, breads, bagels, and so many other tasty treats are made with wheat grown on one of 4,067 wheat farms in Washington.
Read MoreDid you know Washington farmers have voluntarily planted MILLIONS of trees and shrubs along our rivers that help keep water clean and cool? These strips of vegetation are called riparian buffers.
Read MoreHave you ever noticed that one farm field may grow several different crops? Even if wheat is a farmer’s primary crop, that farmer may also plant the same field with a series of other crops — such as lentils, garbanzo beans and dried peas — as growing seasons change. This sequential planting of different crops on the same piece of land is called crop rotation.
Read MoreHarvest time is one of the most important seasons of the year for wheat farmers everywhere. It’s the culmination of all their efforts when farmers can finally reap what they’ve sown all year long. The precious grain that fills their bulk tanks isn’t the only valuable part of the wheat plant. The stalks left behind the combine have a variety of uses as well.
Read MoreWhen trade disruptions such as war, port delays, and politics shut down exports from Washington, we all suffer. The farmers rely on exports to keep their businesses viable. Global consumers rely on Washington to supply their markets with necessary food they cannot grow.
Read MoreWater isn’t something that necessarily comes to mind when you think about dryland wheat. But like with most plants, water is incredibly important to growing wheat. Through the natural water cycle of the region, Washington’s wheat farmers are able to work with nature to grow wheat in the desert. Though working with the water cycle is something that’s been done for hundreds of years, it’s truly something to marvel at.
Read MoreWheat is one of the world’s most essential crops, providing 20 percent of the calories necessary to feed the planet’s seven billion people. Washington alone exported more than 5.4 million metric tons of wheat last year alone.
Read MoreMuch has changed since our ancestor’s loaded wagons full of 100-pound wheat sacks in the fields and headed to the local grain warehouse. Our wagons are now trucks and our warehouses are now large, multimillion-dollar, temperature and pest controlled facilities. Computers run almost everything and, in Washington, we use three main transportation modes: trucks, trains, and barges.
Read MoreThe problem arises later in the growing cycle if the plant doesn’t have enough moisture to “fill out” the tillers that it started. The plant will “abort” tillers at any point in the growing cycle if there’s not enough moisture. Farmers call them “blanks” - empty husks which the plant started but wasn’t able to fill with kernels.
Read MoreWhen the original European settlers looked at the countryside east of Spokane, many of them knew two kinds of farming were possible in the arid, grassy hillsides and desolate scablands. First, it was a haven for sheep, especially in the south-central rocky country.
Read More“It will absolutely decimate your crop,” said Jason Evers, a crop consultant with Nutrien Ag Solutions. “We try to control the downy brome the best we can, to limit the amount of seed that it produces because if you let it go, it will rob all the moisture from the soil. If they rob that moisture, it will decimate your wheat crop.”
Read MorePests are real and, if left unmanaged, they can wipe out a crop. Today, farmers use methods that control the pests and protect the environment. Those methods include looking at the fields holistically, implementing pest control based on that view, and using a blend of tools rather than just one.
Read MoreFarmers need partners. Some of their most important partners are their crop advisors. Meet Gracie, a crop advisor in the Palouse region of Washington.
Read MoreNoxious weeds, like jointed goatgrass, are a pest that Washington farmers fight to remove from their fields each year. These weeds reduce crop yield and quality. We use integrated pest management systems, or IPMs, to solve these problems.
Read MoreOrganic and synthetic fertilizers have the same basic purpose: feeding the crop nutrients. All plants require nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), to grow. Most soil does not provide the necessary nutrients required on its own, plus the plants take up the nutrients during the growing cycle, so farmers add fertilizer on each crop each year.
Read MoreWashington wheat farmers use crop rotations to better conserve moisture, manage nutrients, and break up pest cycles.
Read MoreThe world’s earliest wheat farmers grew their crops in fields as small as a few acres and as large as a couple hundred. Farmers and their workers knew every corner of their fields intimately. Farming was no easy task on these smaller (relative, of course) plots of land. In fact, researchers have found that the earliest farmers burned many more calories growing food than they did hunting and gathering it (NPR, 2013). When a weed grew, they pulled it. They were precise. If locusts invaded, they lost their entire crop and faced a food crisis. They were susceptible.
Read More