06/12/08 Stable winter wheat yield; smaller cherry crop

Washington Ag June 12, 2008 The Washington Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service is forecasting a sweet cherry crop in Washington this year of 100-thousand tons, down 41 percent from last year. The agency says a mid-April frost and poor pollination during bloom impacted a large portion of the crop, especially earlier varieties. Similar problems impacted Washington's Bartlett pears too and that production is forecast at 150-thousand tons, down 13 percent from 2007. Breweries and beer lovers should see more hops this year. Ag Statistics says hop acreage strung for harvest in Washington is up 25 percent this year over 2007. The June crop production report forecast winter wheat yields in Washington this year at 63 bushels an acre, the same as the May forecast. And when this year's wheat harvests gets underway the Washington Association of Wheat Growers hopes to have some state lawmakers visiting eastern Washington farms. Association president Randy Uhrich says its all part of reaching out. Uhrich: "We are trying to get an outreach program just to educate some of the western legislators kind of what we do and the importance of what we do and just kind of educate them about farms and how they work and the importance of it." I'm Bob Hoff.