05/24/06 Smaller Wheat Commission budget

Washington Ag May 22, 2006 The Washington Wheat Commission has adopted a budget for its fiscal year starting July 1st of nearly 3.26 million dollars. Grower Chairman Randy Suess says the spending plan for research, market development and grower services is down a little from the current year. Suess: "We wanted to stay pretty conservative on this thing because it is based on last year's crop which was a little shorter than normal so we didn't want to over expend. We do have dollars in reserves and I have never been afraid to use those dollars in reserve, but we just tried to stay on an even keel from where things were in the past. We probably improved more than anything in research areas. It takes almost 38% of our budget, right now goes to research projects over at WSU." WSU wheat breeders and researchers are also getting about 170-thousand dollars to purchase equipment from funds left over from this year's Commission budget. Suess: "It has been one of those things that the legislature is really coming up with. Not only dollars for equipment, but dollars for technicians. So this is a way for us to help with possibly a one-time funding, giving those dollars down to WSU for some specific items that they need." The Commission is funded by an assessment on producer wheat sales. I'm Bob Hoff.