Agriculture

Richland farmers market goes online

RICHLAND — Hens don’t stop laying, bees producing honey or bakers baking when the Richland Farmers’ Market closes for the season. Nor do the market’s shoppers stop buying, eating and enjoying the produce, crafts and merchandise they were buying each Friday from the vendors and merchants on The Parkway in Richland. They just have to shop online.

Wine grape harvest is looking good

WENATCHEE — Wine made from this year’s grape harvest won’t be ready for a couple of years, but if this year’s weather was any indication the wine should be pretty good drinking. “They’re looking fantastic in the tank,” said Vicky Scharlau, executive director of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers. “They’re calling to this one to put on the shelf as far as long-term stability.”

Shipping numbers promise profits for apple growers

YAKIMA — Record shipments of fresh Washington apples this season are raising hopes for better returns for growers over the next year in the face of competition and a slow economy. The industry had shipped 17.6 million boxes of apples from the 2009 crop through Nov. 1, according to industry organizations that track those figures.

Agriculture news briefs

WSU Extension to offer calf marketing pool information

Ag agencies receive almost $400,000 in grants

OLYMPIA — Two local agriculture agencies — the Washington Apple Commission and the Washington State Horticultural Association — recently received almost $400,000 in U.S. Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grants. The state received $2.6 million through the federal program. The Washington State Department of Agriculture chose 14 projects.

Stimulus funds flowing into Columbia Basin project

A $55 million jump-start on the expansion of the Columbia Basin Project is under contract, thanks to federal stimulus funds. Members of the Colmbia Basin Development League heard federal, state and reclamation district officials discuss the project at their annual meeting in Moses Lake on Thursday.

More cuts: County pay on the line

WENATCHEE — Most Chelan County employees may be asked to cut hours and pay next year under the latest proposal to trim about $2 million in spending. But the plan hinges on approval from several employees’ unions.

Early apple numbers are looking good

WENATCHEE — After a record 2008 season of 109 million boxes, estimates indicate about 2 million fewer boxes were harvested this year. Todd Fryhover, president of the Washington Apple Commission, said the initial estimate this year was 107 million boxes, but now he thinks the final harvest numbers, which will come out later in November, will be lower.

Pumpkin patches and corn mazes

Farms entertain and add revenue with interactive farm features

MALAGA — When Steve Scott planted a pumpkin patch on his Malaga farm eight years ago, he said he did it for the children. He still plants the pumpkin patch and makes a corn maze from field corn to show children a farm. But it’s also bringing in a quarter of his farm income. With 1,500 to 1,800 people visiting Gau-Sco Produce and Pork Farm during a good October, it’s no surprise that the annual pumpkin patch and other farm activities have become a major part of Scott’s farm income. “It’s catching on,” said Scott. “More people want to come out to the country and it’s close to town.”

Troubled times for New England tobacco farmers

SOUTHWICK, Mass. — They’re among the lucky few, John, Fred and Dave Arnold. There’s a good supply of crisp broadleaf tobacco drying in their 14 curing sheds and over the next couple of weeks they’ll be pulling it down, bundling it up and selling it for the best price they can get. Pretty much what their family has done every year since the 1830s in the Connecticut River Valley. There’s no better place in America to grow broadleaf and shade tobacco, the kinds used for premium cigar wrappers and binders. But these are troubled times along New England’s own tobacco road, roughly 75 miles straddling western Massachusetts and Connecticut.

State gets grant for specialty crops

SEATTLE (AP) — Sen. Patty Murray says Washington will receive $2.9 million in federal aid to promote and market the state’s specialty crops. The Washington Democrat said Thursday that the money from a Department of Agriculture grant program will help growers of such crops as sweet cherries, apples, raspberries and Concord grapes.

Sunday briefing

Boardings on commercial flights out of Pangborn Memorial Airport increased 9 percent through September.

Waiting for water

More than a year of low precipitation means hard times for ranchers, dryland wheat farmers

Despite recent rains, North Central Washington is far behind the average for annual precipitation. The U.S. Drought Monitor includes most of Douglas and Okanogan counties and parts of Chelan County under a “severe drought.” That means lean times for ranchers and dryland wheat farmers who depend on the little precipitation the area receives. “I think this last crop — in Douglas County — we raised a crop on probably 7 to 5 inches of moisture,” noted Kevin Whitehall of Central Washington Grain Growers in Waterville. “We should be 10 to 11 inches. There’s just no subsoil moisture left.” He said that many farmers have been dusting-in seed — planting in dry soil — and hoping for precipitation. Recent precipitation has helped, but still isn’t enough. Rain and snow on Oct. 13 produced three-tenths of an inch of precipitation in Waterville. “We’ll take anything we can get,” Whitehall said. “But we need 4 to 5 inches.”

Farmer steals funds from farmers market association

EAST WENATCHEE — William “Bill” Smith, an East Wenatchee farmer, has pleaded guilty to first-degree theft for depositing more than $6,000 from the Washington State Farmers Market Association into his personal bank account. Court documents say that a board member from the Suquamish-based association, which promotes farmers markets throughout the state, contacted the East Wenatchee Police Department in January 2009 when she suspected their treasurer, Smith, 52, might be embezzling.

WSU gives up Colockum lease; Chelan County could take it over

WENATCHEE — For years, the Colockum Research Station was a hub of study and exploration for Washington State University students and faculty. From cattle ranching to wildlife management, forestry to watershed dynamics, the sprawling 11,500-acre station in the wildlands south of Wenatchee has offered an array of experiences since WSU began leasing it in the early 1960s from the state Department of Natural Resources.