Sandison: Washington Ag Economy Very Strong

Washington State Department of Agriculture Director Derek Sandison says the statewide ag economy is “very strong”.  Sandison said while several commodities, including apples, hops and eggs are doing well, more must be done to help the struggling wheat industry.  He said he wants to see the Federal Government, specifically the USDA, to develop equipment and technology to help wheat farmers hurt by falling numbers.

“Basically a field analyzer to help us to identify on a sort of qualitative level the falling numbers status of wheat as it’s being harvested, so that segregation can occur if it looks as if you’ve got with low falling numbers."

Sandison said they also want to work with WSU research outlets across the state, and conduct a scrub, to see if the state has wheat lines susceptible to low falling numbers.

Sandison said while it does not impact day-to-day operations of the WSDA, he’s looking forward to the confirmation of Sonny Perdue as Director of Agriculture.  And he says that role will be very important, especially with the U.S. pulling out of TPP and with the likelihood that NAFTA will be altered.  Trade is valued around $7.7 billion for the state of Washington, and Sandison wants to see encouraged and promoted, through new trade pacts, as well as improvement of existing deals.

“Trade is enormously important to the state of Washington and will continue to be so, our concern again is that we have some uncertainty and instability in foreign markets right now to see that situation stabilize as quickly as possible.”

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