West Nile Virus Confirmed & Wheat Ambassadors

I'm Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

On September 25th the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Pullman reported positive test results for West Nile virus in a Yakima County horse to the State Veterinarian's Office. This is the only confirmed case of West Nile virus in a Washington horse this year. Spread by mosquitoes that have fed on infected birds, West Nile virus can sicken people, horses, birds and other animals, but it does not spread from horses to people, or other animals.

J.D. Rosman and Charlene Gray had the honors of being the first annual Wheat Ambassadors through the Washington Association of Wheat Growers Ambassador Scholarship and Leadership program all this past year. Now it's time to pass the torch and Kara Rowe, Director of Affairs and Outreach for WAWG says that J.D. and Charlene both did a super job and that both agreed this is a great program.

ROWE: We asked them what they would do differently and they said that they wouldn't change a thing. We thought maybe we asked too much. We very much tout it as a leadership program, and sometimes that means we are requiring a little bit more of the kids that go through, but we asked them and they said they really wouldn't tweak anything.

Wheat ambassadors are expected to reach out to their communities and help convey the importance of agriculture. A $2,500 and a $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to the chosen ambassadors. J.D. and Charlene had thoughts on that as well.

ROWE: They said, it's not only worth it for the scholarship money, but they also said they enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the industry that they were raised in and learn more about some of the behind the scene stuff that goes on.

High school seniors interested in applying to be a Washington Wheat Ambassador should visit wawg.org. The application deadline is October 15th.

That's Washington Ag Today.

I'm Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.