PNW Ag Network recently attended a wheat field day hosted by WSU in Bickleton. Here we spoke with Andy Juris, past president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers.


 

PNW Ag: We are lucky enough to catch Andy here at Bickleton, and we were having a great informational conversation I thought we really needed to share with everybody else out there. Can you share some of what we were talking about?

Andy Juris: Well, among other things, I think it's really important for farmers to take ownership of their industry. Along with being members of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, and being active at county levels, that we take things that we see at these field days home. If we have concerns, if we have thoughts about supporting these programs and research, we should make that known. Farmers are really good at doing what they do on the farm, putting their head down, and persevering through a lot of adversity. Sometimes that's not as conducive to getting out and making our opinions known. We're really good in the coffee shop, maybe we're not so good showing up to a grain commission meeting or a research review.

I really appreciate people like Clark Neely who does such a great job of laying these plots out. Mike Pumphrey, the wheat breeder, talked about what a fabulous job Clark did here. As a cooperator since the 1980s, we've always appreciated WSU. It's a concern for me and the growers of the area here that WSU continue to be able to do that. It's people like Clark that really make that happen, and we appreciate it. That's my encouragement to the farmers: support these programs, send WSU a message that we do stand with them, and that we continue to be willing to partner with them to do this research.

PNW Ag: Is there someone they should reach out to and express their opinions?

Andy Juris: I would encourage anyone to contact the Grain Commission website. Our checkoff dollars that we pay per bushel goes toward that, and the commission has to make some pretty hard decisions as to what they're going to do with money. Farmers in your respective area, you can go on the commission website, find out who your commissioner is, and find their contact info to reach out. You can always contact the CEO of the Grain Commission as well, but it's always great for the commissioners to hear from the farmers themselves. 

PNW Ag: I believe you said the annual meeting is now on Zoom, so they can attend online too.

Andy Juris: Yep, for all commission meetings, all you've got to do is reach out, and they will provide you with a Zoom link, and you can tune in from the comfort of your own home.

PNW Ag: So your call to action is farmers speak up, we need to hear you. We need your opinion, we need to know which things need to go in the trials, we need your feedback. It's so important to continue in agriculture, so we need your opinion. You guys are the ones on the ground doing all the work.

Andy Juris: If we want to continue to see a stable and viable small grain industry in the Pacific Northwest, it's going to be up to us to really help move that forward. It can't just be a couple of guys on the front lines, it's got to be a group effort.

Bickleton Wheat Field Crop Tour 2024

Pictures from the 2024 PNW Wheat Crop Tour in Bickleton on July 3, 2024.

Gallery Credit: Townsquare Media

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