New Ag Director, Mosquito Control & Drought Emergency Relief Funding

New Ag Director, Mosquito Control & Drought Emergency Relief Funding

New Ag Director, Mosquito Control & Drought Emergency Relief Funding

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

Effective June 15 Derek Sandison will replace Bud Hover, who resigned in March, as director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Sandison is currently the director of the Columbia River office at Ecology and has a history of successfully working with stakeholders in addressing complex water issues. As Director of the WSDA, Sandison will oversee a staff of 750 with a budget of roughly $158 million.

The state Department of Ecology recently updated and re-issued a water quality permit that allows mosquito control districts, local governments and commercial applicators to use pesticides to spray larvae and adult mosquitoes in and near water. For more information about the permit and the review process visit Ecology's website.

Dan Newhouse, farmer and U.S. Congressman representing Washington's 4th District, talks about what kind of funding is available at the federal level for those in the ag industry affected by the drought.

NEWHOUSE: There are some compensation for crop and livestock programs through the farm bill that can help with losses, but also can provide feed and water for cattle in times of drought; so there are those kinds of things that we're looking at that they're trying to make sure that are available. In the long term, which I think that there's much more we can do, has to do with infrastructure. We've been working very hard to improve water storage delivery systems within the critical basins of Central Washington. Those things coupled with the assistance that I'm hopeful is forthcoming from state sources will make the best we possibly can of this dire situation that we're facing.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray with the Ag Information Network of the West.

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