Drought and Wheat Growers Pt 2
I’m Bob Larson. Drought conditions are plaguing the west this year, and no group is more aware of this than Washington wheat growers with extreme drought gripping much of Eastern Washington.
Washington Association of Wheat Growers Executive Director, Michelle Hennings says crop forecasts are looking pretty grim …
HENNINGS … “This is a perfect example of how crop insurance is one of our number one priorities for farmers, is that they need that in case these devastating years they may have.”
Hennings says it’s a tough pill to swallow …
HENNINGS … “And, you know, they don’t make money on crop insurance either. You know, some of them are at 85% so, you know, that doesn’t cover your full crop. So, there’s still a downfall to it, but at least it helps the farmer not completely fail with the crop that they have.”
But, Hennings says this is not something new for wheat growers …
HENNINGS … “Well, they’ve been through drought before and they definitely know that it’s not fun, but we always hope for next year’s crop and we hope for the price. One of the positives so far is that the price of wheat has come up a bit so that always helps out as well.”
Hennings says we’re in this together …
HENNINGS … “We just try to do what we can to make sure that they have protection when we have these times of devastation come through.”
Hennings says this is all part of being a farmer with good years and bad, this obviously being the latter.
