Below average wheat in eastern Washington State, total loss in some counties
7/12/2021 12:00:00 AM
CATEGORIES:
Agriculture
Relief, Response & Restrictions
AFFECTED AREAS:
Adams County, WA
Asotin County, WA
Benton County, WA
Chelan County, WA
Columbia County, WA
Douglas County, WA
Ferry County, WA
Franklin County, WA
Garfield County, WA
Grant County, WA
Kittitas County, WA
Klickitat County, WA
Lincoln County, WA
Okanogan County, WA
Pend Oreille County, WA
Spokane County, WA
Stevens County, WA
Walla Walla County, WA
Whitman County, WA
Yakima County, WA
Start Date: 6/28/2021
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Wheat 30 miles south of Spokane was short, sparse and blue with kernels that were tiny, dry and shriveled. The CEO of the Washington Grain Commission was expecting winter wheat to yield about 50 bushels per acre for Eastern Washington, although the average was about 70 bushels per acre.
The Spokane Spokesman-Review (Wash.), July 9, 2021
The wheat 35 miles west of Spokane was pinched and shriveled after the heatwave killed half of the farmer’s 8,000 acres just three weeks before harvest. Drought and a late frost also hurt the crop.
KREM-TV CBS 2 (Spokane, Wash.), July 2, 2021
Dryland wheat farmers in eastern Washington were suffering amid the second driest spring on record and intense heat. Wheat was a complete loss in Benton, Yakima and Klickitat counties, according to the executive director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. Wheat was below average for many eastern Washington counties.
The state’s wheat industry requested a drought declaration from Gov. Jay Inslee in mid-June, but the Inslee administration refused the request.
Capital Press (Salem, Ore.), June 28, 2021
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