How Has Coronavirus Impacted Washington Wheat?

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted a variety of Washington crops. But, what about wheat?

Michelle Hennings, Executive Director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers said a recent survey about coronavirus revealed growers are most concerned about market access and prices. When it comes to market access, at this point, wheat growers have not seen any major hickups.

“Actually, I think our exports are down only 3%, currently.  I don’t think that is really bad.  It is still down, but we want to make sure that our market access, especially when the other countries are dealing with the same issues, that the supply chain, there is no flaw.  So, we need to be very on top of that.”

Hennings said they continue to reach out to Congress as well as state lawmakers and other partners to work on keeping the food supply chain moving as much as possible. When it comes to the question of price, she noted that really won’t be answered until harvest gets underway in earnest across the Northwest in the next couple of weeks.

However, Hennings pointed out that COVID-19 has canceled a variety of customer tours and other events for the summer, meaning advocacy, outreach and education will look very different.

“We do a Washington state Ag tour, with legislators.  That’s been canceled.  We’re having a wheat college that we’re moving to a webinar type but we’re losing that face to face contact with those people to be able to sit down and educate legislators and the general public on farming.”

Hennings says she’s concerned that not meeting with lawmakers, especially urban lawmakers not familiar with Washington farming, will hurt the state’s Ag industry in the long run.

“So I feel we can’t get in someone’s door to talk to them face to face.  I feel we are going backwards I just hope it’s not going to retract and we can come back from that when the time is right.”

She added a variety of efforts, programs have all be put on hold thanks to the pandemic.

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