As harvest season progresses, the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and other agricultural representatives are awaiting the results of a federal mediation process regarding the Lower Snake River dams in the greater Pacific Northwest, which play a critical role in the U.S. supply chain. Breaching the Lower Snake River dams has been proposed by some entities as a solution to salmon population decline. The four dams – Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and Ice Harbor – are the subject of a decades-long dispute over salmon and other fish species in the Columbia-Snake River basin.

Captain Jeremy Nielsen’s role in the transportation chain that takes wheat to market is mostly unseen to farmers, but without him, their grain would be dead in the water. Nielsen is a river pilot, responsible for navigating ocean-going vessels through the lower Columbia River. Using a ladder on the outside of the ship, river pilots board as vessels pass under the bridge in Astoria, relieving bar pilots who are responsible for bringing vessels over the bar at the mouth of the river.

Through the first half of 2023, Idaho is on pace to set a record for total agricultural export value for the third straight year. Idaho businesses exported $603 million worth of agricultural products to other countries during the first six months of 2023, according to recently released U.S. Census Bureau data. That was 10 percent more than the $548 million worth of ag products exported from Idaho during the same period in 2022, which was a record year for the state for ag export value. In 2022, a record $1.13 billion worth of ag products were exported from Idaho, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Dustin and Jennifer Young have owned Idaho Grain Inspection Services (IGIS) in Pocatello for the past five years. If you grow wheat or barley in Idaho (and other grains), their services can help producers market the grain more effectively. IGIS is a privately owned but federally regulated official service provider for grain testing, which means IGIS holds the federal designation for the state of Idaho.

A much larger 2023 U.S. hard white (HW) wheat crop also shows acceptable quality performance in milling, dough properties and finished products like pan breads, Asian noodles, and steamed breads. The Pacific Northwest (PNW), California and Southern Plains composites all show acceptable to excellent bread baking potential according to respective protein contents. Performance in Asian noodle applications and steamed breads is somewhat more variable.

The new director of USDA's Western Wheat Quality Laboratory has one goal in mind: To keep a good thing going. Sean Finnie joined the lab July 30 as director. "Really, my priority was not to mess things up," Finnie told the Capital Press. "I did a lot of just listening and learning how the lab works, understanding the priorities of the stakeholders ... really just trying to listen to growers, all the way to food manufacturers."

“Cole” Cole says, “When Cody first came back [to the farm], I was old school. We had two combines, but he thought we ought to just invest in one larger combine and a grain cart, and it’s one of the best changes we’ve made.” But Cody brought more changes than just the equipment. He’s excited by many of the newer technologies that increase farm efficiencies. Cody and Cole dry farm about 4,000 acres at Double-C Acres near Soda Springs