WSU Field Days & RMA Funding Opportunity

Washington State University field days provide a great opportunity to meet the experts, view field trials, and gather useful information about crop management practices. The 2012 crop tour season will begin May 30th with the Horse Heaven Tour. Included in the tours will be a two-gene variety wheat resistant to imidazolinone herbicides which WSU extension specialist Stephen Guy says shows promise for the dry regions and should be released to farmers next year.

The USDA Risk Management Agency has announced its intent to award approximately $3.0 million to fund the 2012 Risk Management Education and Outreach Partnerships Program. To talk about the program here’s Risk Management Specialist, Jo Lynne Seufer.

SEUFER: Thank you Lacy. We’re hoping that commodity groups, minority groups, community based organizations, and other non-profits serving our American farmers will apply for funding that can go towards education and outreach projects that will help farmers better manage risk on the farm. That can include everything from financial management, production and yield risk, or legal risk, liabilities, and also marketing - because we all know how volatile the markets are.

All applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov by May 24. Also, the RMA would like to remind Pacific Northwest nursery growers of the May 1 sales closing date for 2013 Nursery Multi-Peril Crop Insurance coverage.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.