Shulz Touts Ag Connection During WSU SOU

During his recent State of The University address, Washington State University President Kirk Shulz took time to praise the relationship WSU has with the ag community.  He said prior to the 1970s, the Washington wine industry was almost non-existent.  But he said several hard working Cougar helped to get the industry off the ground.  An industry that had a $5 billion economic impact for Washington last year.

“WSU has been all part of all that all along," Schulz said.  "And I think sometimes we don’t tell that story, but it’s interesting if you talk to some of the people in the ag community they’ll talk about ‘it was extension folks and faculty that helped us get started.”

Schulz also discussed one of the most anticipated agricultural roll-outs in recent years, the Cosmic Crisp.

“We expect to have these on store shelves in 2019.  We expect to have 12 million apple trees planted with the Cosmic Crisp apple.  This will be the largest introduction of an apple ever, and it’s being done because we had Washington State University faculty, staff and students that were focused on this and have really brought forward something that’s remarkable,” Schulz added

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekradio.com