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Fighting 'Fires' to Help Save Washington Wheat by Roger Wesselman Wheat Life, May, 2003

The growing season has started and I do hope and pray that everything is going well for you as a grower—as well as for our landlords and city cousins. It is refreshing to see nature open itself up in the spring.

The issues wheat growers face are numerous and we, as your state wheat-grower association, are trying to deal with as many as possible. At the state level we have our lobbyist, Heather Hansen, with the help of WAWG officers, committee chairmen, and members who are experts on various issues, watching over the state legislature and state agency personnel to make sure wheat growers’ interests are being met.

Transportation and agency accountability are the big issues this season. But along with these issues are: removing the 30-day limit on warehouse receipts for grain in emergency storage; controlling game damage to crops; promoting bio-diesel; increasing seed testing fees; exempting some equipment from personal property tax; reaffirming the role of the state conservation commission; allowing “agricultural lands of long-term significance” to enroll in CREP without losing ag base designation; limiting the purchase of land by state agencies unless approved by county government; and correcting “use tax” for repair of equipment used to reduce field burning. This is only a partial list and I haven’t even gotten into regulatory reform, general water issues, watershed planning, water rights relinquishment, or trust water rights.

There are two issues that both state and federal officials are supportive of that concern the movement of wheat to market.

• First, the Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad (PRCC), owned by WATCO. The WATCO Company railroad lines serve 20 percent of the wheat and barley industries in eastern Washington: $9.1-million is needed to provide basic support in track maintenance and upgrade. This $9.1-million has been submitted for consideration to congressional appropriations committees. And the state House and Senate have in each of their transportation bills several railroads listed to receive monies, including: Palouse River & Coulee City Railroad—purchase 302 miles of rail line, to be managed by the Port of Whitman County ($7,350,000); PR&CC Cheney-Coulee—repair numerous Palouse River and Coulee City RR bridges in Grant and Lincoln counties over the railroad’s 375-mile system ($8,000,000); Blue Mountain RR Wallula-Walla Walla upgrade—rebuild 30 miles of Blue Mountain RR’s track from Wallula to Walla Walla ($1,260,000); Port of Columbia Railroad improvements—funds for 39 miles of track upgrades on the Walla Walla–Dayton branch line ($11,500,000); and the Port of Columbia County-Dayton—improvement to Port of Columbia County’s rail facilities at Dayton ($320,000).

• The second state/federal issue that wheat growers are concerned with is that the Corp of Engineers is not going to appeal the lawsuit against dredging on the Snake River. We request your assistance in raising awareness about the benefits of dredging for the industry, and to have the Department of Justice appeal the court injunction. WAWG has found concern and support for the dredging—to keep our transportation waterways open, to get product to market.

The Jones Act has cost U.S. agriculture millions of dollars in extra freight charges and markets on the West Coast. The WAWG delegates asked for an ag exemption as it applies to the Jones Act because it is a non-tariff barrier to free trade that only hurts and restricts our trade within the U.S. This waiver for ag commodities on the West Coast should take place because there are not enough U.S. flagships in the area. Did you know that Canadian wheat is being shipped to Hawaii because it is cheaper than Washington wheat—due to the extra freight because of the Jones Act? And our fertilizer cost could go down if we could get it from Alaska without it having to be sent via U.S.-flagged ships. We could also be competitive with feed grains, especially barley, destined for California if not for the Jones Act. (The act was established in 1920 to keep a fleet of ocean-going ships available in case of war. It was waived during the Gulf War because of a lack of ships. We have few ships under U.S. flags that can move grains or even war materials efficiently. We must open this up through competition for better, more efficient movement of our product.)

Finally, we asked our congressional delegation to support: ARS facility (Johnson Hall) improvement in Pullman (acting on recommendation of the 2003 congressional study of Johnson hall, as directed by ARS); the ARS Wheat Quality Laboratory in Pullman can meet stakeholder needs and maintain and enhance its leading position in U.S. ag research through program enhancement, which should include an Asian foods specialist, quality gene discovery, and infrastructure support to the farmer (we are asking for $475,000); and last the ARS Genotyping Lab that will apply DNA molecular marker technology to key breeding problems from grain quality to disease resistance and will serve programs in 36 states ($750,000 support funding).The Congressional delegation was pleased to see us, and though they could not guarantee funding for all the projects we presented, I felt, and continue to feel, that the presence of Washington wheat growers will have a positive influence when it comes to decision making for the wheat industry in Washington.