Washington Ag Year In Review

It's hard to believe that in less than a week 2015 will give way to a new year. But that means it's time to take a look back at the ag stories that made the news in Washington State this past year and it began with avian influenza as the European Union joined a list of nations putting restrictions or bans on poultry products from Washington, Idaho and Oregon. At that point, avian influenza has been detected in three backyard poultry flocks in Washington, one in Idaho and one in Oregon.

The problem of wolves has been an on-going issue all year. A number of bills were passed through the house and Dave Dashiell, Cattle and sheep producer who lost 300 head of sheep to wolf depredation in 2014, testified in favor of the bills.

DASHIELL: We got whacked pretty hard last summer by the Huckleberry Pack. So far between us and the Wedge Pack a couple of years ago there's been, depending on how you want to figure it, something in the neighborhood of $250,000 worth of economic damage.

Another major issue was the port slowdown which was caused by the 9 month long labor dispute between the ILWU and the PMA. Due to continued problems and delays at the port, Hanjin Shipping Co., the largest shipper at the Port of Portland withdrew. Port officials said it was a devastating blow to ag exporters in Oregon, Southeast Washington and Western Idaho, who had to re-route goods by truck to ports in Seattle and Tacoma.

And that's Washington Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.