02/14/08 Growers to be surveyed on merging wheat & barley commissions

Washington Ag February 14, 2008 Both the Washington Wheat Commission and Barley Commission have voted to begin the process of combining the two organizations. At the end of February producers will be getting a survey in the mail asking for their opinion of such a consolidation. Wheat Commission Chairman Hal Johnson: Johnson: "We want to start out by getting input of producers to see if they think it is a good idea and if they do think it is a good idea we will move ahead developing legislation, which again the producers and other people will have input into what that legislation looks like. And then we have to get it through the legislature before this can happen. So we have a long road ahead us on this one." The legislation would be for the 2009 session of the state legislature. Johnson says merging the two commodity commissions would mean better representation for growers and save money too. There would no need for additional staff. The assessment rate for wheat and barley would remain the same as now. In the past year the Wheat and Barley Commissions and the Washington Association of Wheat Growers formed the Washington Grain Alliance, which has the three entities being jointly managed and staffed. Since the Wheat Growers organization is a private group, not a public agency, it cannot be part of the total consolidation of the commissions. I'm Bob Hoff.