Wheat growers in D.C.

Farm and Ranch January 25, 2010 Representatives of Pacific Northwest wheat growing organizations are in the nation’s capitol this week.

Blankenship: “Washington wheat growers, my officers, as well as the officers of Oregon and Idaho, we all fly to D.C. for the National Association of Wheat Growers winter board meeting. Some business to take care as well as all of us heading to Capitol Hill to lobby our grower issues.”

That is Washington Association of Wheat Growers president Brett Blankenship prior to the trip to D.C. Committee meetings of the National Association of Wheat Growers actually began over the weekend. When the growers head to Capitol Hill Blankenship says cap and trade will be one of the issues they will be working on.

Blankenship: “We will certainly meet with Senators and express our concerns about carbon credit proposals that have been floating around. A lot of heartburn about what passed the House.”

Whether the Senate even takes up cap and trade legislation this year remains to be seen. Opponents are saying with the election of the Republican to the Senate from Massachusetts, cap and trade is dead.

Participants in the 2010 Wheat Organization Leaders of the Future, or WOLF program, were in D.C. ahead of the NAWG and U.S. Wheat meetings. The program is an advanced leadership program for state wheat grower leaders who will soon become part of the NAWG Board of Directors. Northwest participants this year include Blankenship from Washington, Craig Reeder of Oregon and Clark Kauffman of Idaho.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.