11/28/07 Region's wheat growers gather in Spokane

Washington Ag November 28, 2007 The Washington Association of Wheat Growers joins its counterparts from Oregon and Idaho for the Pacific Northwest Grains Conference which gets underway today in Spokane. The event at the DoubleTree City Center Hotel runs through Friday. Keynote speakers at the conference are ag economist Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh of Kansas who will speak about the farm bill, and Mike Krueger, founder and president, of "The Money Farm" of Fargo, North Dakota will speak about the wheat and grain markets. Tammy Dennee of the Oregon Wheat Growers League says producers can also attend several educational sessions. Dennee: "Spanning transgenic wheat to conservation issues, the new energy title, some technology tools and trends that growers can plug into. Ag taxation workshops. Then we have also planned a brand new series this year on leadership because we understand a number of our volunteer leaders serving in capacities on different boards of directors sometimes come to that table without all the skills they need to be effective in governance. So we have established a leadership track primarily for that purpose." The leadership sessions will be taught by Brenda Turner of Hermiston, Oregon. I'm Bob Hoff.