12/31/07 More revenue for Washington Wheat Commission

Washington Ag December 31, 2007 We reported earlier this fall that with its assessment based on a percentage of wheat's sale price, the Washington Wheat Commission was going to see much increased revenue from the 2007 wheat crop due to all-time record high prices. Compared to the 10 year average of assessment collections of 2.9 million dollars, the latest estimate is for the commission's intake to be between 5.5 million and 6.8 million dollars for the current fiscal year. What to do with all the money? Here is outgoing Wheat Commission Chairman Randy Suess. Suess: "The message I want to get out to people is we are going to be very fiscally conservative with the money we are receiving from the wheat. I don't see us just spending it willy-nilly. If anything we'll put it away for lean years we know are going to be coming on the horizon. But we are collecting ideas from farmers right now, would lie input on where they would like to see this. Do they want more money going to research at WSU? Do we need to make a better marketing effort over seas? Just where is a good place to put this money? So, we have a list we are compiling and that's what we will be discussing at future commission meetings. I would like to invite anybody to come up and attend our commission meetings and provide their input on where they think that money should go." The Wheat Commission will next meet January 16 & 17th in Spokane. I'm Bob Hoff.