Wednesday’s Longview Daily News reported that Wahkiakum County is facing major budget cuts due to a slump in the timber market. Commissioners are planning an $80,000 cut to the county extension program that could eliminate the 4-H program, Master Gardeners, and local agricultural support.
King County Extension’s Susie Craig is quoted in a USA Today article today following up on the recent article on the importance of hand washing in which she also was quoted.
A business story in Friday’s Seattle Times about the turnaround in the state’s cranberry industry includes quotes from horticulturist Kim Patten.
A story in today’s Othello Outlook on the sticker shock for completing the Columbia Basin Project to provide more irrigation water to the Odessa subarea cites a 2005 WSU study on the return on investment for irrigated potato acreage.
A Wenatchee World story from last week on the maturing of the Lake Chelan area wine industry mentions the research of WSU and Walter Clore, and the advice Clore provided on grape growing to local farmers.
Tuesday’s Ellensburg Daily Record includes a profile on Lana Thomas Cruse who is retiring after 24 years working with 4-H and family living programs at Kittitas County Extension.
On Wednesday the Daily Record followed up on its story about Cruse’s retirement with a story on the search process for her replacement.
Thursday’s Daily Record reported on former WSU economist Desmond O’Rourke’s comments at the annual CWU Economic Outlook Conference on what he believes the state’s agriculture industry must do to remain internationally competitive.
Thursday’s Columbia Basin Herald included a story about Boon Chew’s research on the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from different potato varieties.
In this week’s Capital Press: Yakima Extension’s Mike Bush is quoted in a story about a synthetic pheromone spraying program to combat light brown apple moth; a story about improvements to the protocol developed by entomologists Vince Jones and Jay Brunner to measure orchard damage from codling moth; and coverage of the Extension-sponsored Whidbey Country Living Workshop.