09/21/07 High wheat prices mean added revenue for wheat commission

Washington Ag September 21,. 2007 How are you going to spend all that money? That's become a frequent question to members of the Washington Wheat Commission because of the record high wheat prices. The assessment the commission collects on wheat sales is based on a percentage of price so the higher the price the more revenue for the commission. Chairman Randy Suess's first response to the question is this. Suess: "I think a lot of wheat was marketed at some lower prices and we really don't have a good handle on it yet and probably really aren't go to know that until about January. Are we going to have more money to deal with? There is no doubt in my mind we will." The commission began brainstorming at its September meeting about how increased funds could be spent and Suess highlights some of the items on a short, but by no means final list. Suess: "We came up with some ideas of doing an equipment endowment for WSU or just doing some basic research projects. What can we do to help us with foreign market access or the sanitary-phytosanitary issues we have with India and Brazil? WSU keeps hitting us up for a new greenhouse or an addition to the one they have down there." Suess says the Wheat Commission also wants to hear from growers about how they would like to spend the additional revenue. Those expenditures wouldn't occur until the 2008 fiscal beginning next July. I'm Bob Hoff.