PULLMAN — Summer is no respite from school days for WSU’s agricultural faculty. The classroom just moves outofdoors to research facilities and plots in commercial farmers’ fields. Their students are farmers and other workers in agricultural industries. WSU has been holding field days under one name or another for more than a hundred years. Faculty […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — The U.S.-China trade agreement signed today is good news for Northwest agriculture, according to Desmond O’Rourke, director of Washington State University’s International Marketing Program for Agricultural Commodities and Trade. The agreement eliminates export subsidies for Chinese agricultural products, lowers tariffs on agricultural imports from an average of 15 percent to 14.5 percent […]
No one needs to tell farmers and ranchers that the economic crisis in agriculture is real, or that it’s not going to go away any day soon. Thousands of farmers across this broad country are leaving agriculture due to collapsed commodity prices. For generations producers have coped by concentrating on how to be more productive, […]
SOUTH BEND, Wash. — Smaller harvests and poor markets created serious problems for Northwest fisheries in 1998. Tighter harvest quotas and strong competition from inexpensive imports point to continued problems in1999. This was the assessment published today by the 1999 Pacific Northwest Agricultural Situation and Outlook Report. Steve C. Harbell, WSU extension marine resource agent, […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — Liberalized trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement is producing positive benefits on a broad basis, but some Pacific Northwest farmers aren’t on the winning end of the deal, says a Washington State University economist. Thomas Worley, a Washington State University extension economist, published […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — The coming year should be a generally good one for most segments of Washington’s agricultural industry, according to the 1998 Pacific Northwest Agricultural Situation and Outlook Report, which will be published Jan. 2. A notable exception will be wheat. The economic report is the product of 44 agricultural economists and other authorities […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — El Nino will bring good news for some fisheries and bad news for others in the coming year. Gil Sylvia, of Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, Ore., says El Nino is bad news for coho and shrimp fishermen and good news for albacore (tuna). Writing for the 1998 Pacific […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — Likely 1998 market conditions for major commodities produced on Eastern Washington farms and ranches will be the focus of the 1997 Agricultural Outlook Conference, Tuesday, Nov. 25 at the Doubletree Inn at Pasco. Economists and other industry observers will offer their views on market prospects for forages, apples, potatoes, grains, grapes, livestock […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington’s commodity commissions give generously — five times the national average — to support agricultural research, but public-sector funding is falling short, according to Washington State University’s James R. Carlson, associate director of the Agricultural Research Center. “In fiscal year 1995-1996, Washington’s commodity commissions contributed over $4.7 million to support research at […]
PULLMAN, Wash. — Managing Market Risk, an introductory course on understanding commodity futures and options for farmers, is scheduled at Colfax, Waterville, Walla Walla and Ritzville during January and February. Larry Makus, professor of agricultural economics at the University of Idaho, will provide an introductory explanation on how to use cash forward contracts, hedging, options […]