Coronavirus Impacting Local Wheat Growers In A Variety Of Ways

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on agriculture has varied commodity to commodity. For the wheat industry, COVID-19’s impact has been more subtle and in some cases delayed.

Michelle Hennings, Executive Director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers said she's heard of wheat growers receiving spot checks from Labor and Industries to ensure the operation is following state mandated COVID-19 protocols, put in to place back in June. Hennings noted these safety steps implemented by the Governor’s office took a one size fits all for agriculture in Washington, which she noted does not work.

“We pointed out that dryland wheat farmers are not as labor intensive as irrigated fruit and vegetable farms, and our members typically employ between two and five employees.  The wheat farmers generally don’t work next to each other, they have one person in a combine, one person in a tractor and bankout wagon, one person in a semi, and a lot of these are family farms that are without the same household.”

Hennings noted farms that do not comply with Governor Inslee’s Proclamation 20-57 are subject to a fine of up to $10,000.

On the federal level, COVID-19 has also impacted the wheat industry. Hennings noted CFAP funding was discouraging for the industry as whole, and not just because several varieties were excluded from assistance.

“When they initially did the CFAP, they took a timeline of only two snap shots, of the complete timeline, so we and the National Association of Wheat Growers provided comments explaining what we saw as the flaw in the process for actually taking a look at the whole timeline with the wheat price.”

Hennings noted the wheat industry wants USDA to consider that timeline for looking at the 2020 harvest and beyond.

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