Rebuilding West Side Grain Economy

Rebuilding West Side Grain Economy

The Second Annual Cascadia Grains Conference is to be held in Tacoma on this Saturday, January the 11th. Its purpose is aimed at rebuilding a regional grain economy west of the Cascade Mountains in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.

 

The full day conference will focus on three value-added enterprises -- brewing and distilling, baking and other food uses as well as animal feed. Washington State University Thurston County Extension Directory Lucas Patzek shares how this conference is unique in its offerings

 

Patzek: “We have a very strong emphasis on how to create market relationships and how to rebuild a lot of the infrastructure that we are lacking in Western Washington. So a lot of this is an economic development type conversation, business development conversation. So we offer more than just the typical traditional production education programs. We also growers how to interact with buyers. We teach buyers how to interact with growers -- so it is a little bit bigger than just production.”

 

If you are interested in learning more about the grains industry in Western Washington and Oregon, this conference will be well worth your time. Patzek adds

 

Patzek: “So they need to go to cascadiagrains.com to register. The regular registration price is $95 per person and the-day-of-price is a little bit higher. Basically we offer three meals effectively with your registration. It’s just a one day conference. And you get access to our tasting tour of craft brewed and craft distilled products from Washington, Oregon and B.C.”

 

Previous ReportODA Director Assesses Oregon Agriculture 2014
Next ReportSenate Confirmed Yellen as Next Federal Reserve Chair