The Biden administration is committed to destroying four hydroelectric dams on the Snake River in southeastern Washington state. Given the energy crisis in America—with two-thirds of the U.S. risking electricity outages this summer, including nearly everyone living west of the Mississippi, according to a recent warning from the North American Reliability Corp.—it’s a strange time to remove more than 3,000 megawatts of hourly capacity from the western interconnection electrical grid. Still, Biden announced that he is determined to "bring healthy and abundant salmon runs back to the Colorado River System." He meant the Columbia River System.

Idaho Wheat Commission and Idaho Grain Producers Association were privileged to host members of the Idaho Legislature, as well as several others involved in the Idaho agriculture industry for the Pacific Northwest Wheat Marketing Legislative Tour in Portland, Oregon this week. Participants were able to learn about and follow the wheat chain from field to fork, focusing on the export market that is vital for Idaho's wheat industry.

Half of the world’s wheat crop suffers from heat stress. A 1 °C increase in temperature can reduce wheat yields by as much as 6%. Drought and water availability also are critical, impacting the majority of wheat growing areas of the world.

U.S. wheat farmers have long played a major role in the fight against world hunger, which is why the U.S. Wheat Associates’ (USW) Trade Policy Team has been helping push for changes to the international food assistance programs under the 2023 Farm Bill. Among other things, proposed changes would reinstate the Food for Peace program’s original intent to allow U.S. farmers to share their harvest to fight global hunger.

USDA cut its forecast Wednesday for the value of U.S. ag exports in fiscal year 2023 to $181 billion, a $3.5 billion reduction from the agency’s February prediction of $184.5 billion...USDA left its sorghum export forecast unchanged at $800 million, but cut its wheat prediction $900 million to a total of $7.4 billion. The cut in wheat exports is “significantly due to smaller-than-expected winter wheat production for 2023-24.

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Director of Trade Policy Peter Laudeman recently returned from Australia, where he joined members of that country’s wheat and grain industries in discussions on plant breeding innovations and other issues ripe for collaboration. Laudeman attended an international conference in Canberra focused on the research and regulatory landscape of gene-edited crops and implications for international trade.

Join NAWG’s advocacy campaign to engage with legislators on increasing Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) programs authorized in the Farm Bill. MAP’s authorized funding has not changed since 2006 and FMD funding has remained the same since 2002. Inflation and sequestration have significantly eroded our ability to compete with other countries who are steadily investing more in their agricultural export promotion efforts. Please visit NAWG’s website to participate in the grassroots efforts to make your voice heard.