08/10/05 Wheat and the School Fire

Washington Ag August 10, 2005 According to what the Washington Association of Wheat Growers has been able to glean, apparently not much standing wheat has been destroyed, in that major wildfire, the School Fire, in southeastern Washington. Gretchen Borck of the Wheat Growers Association talked to grain elevators in the area yesterday. Borck: "In checking with the Columbia Country Grain Growers is that they haven't lost any wheat. I am amazed. They went out an made a fire break and they have been able to save their wheat so far. In Pomeroy Grain Growers Area, we are not sure if we have lost any wheat there or not. We know we have a little bit of CRP that is being burnt. We are having some grazing pasture land being burnt, but as far as wheat goes I think we have missed the bullet so far." Over 13-hundred firefighters are battling the School Fire which has spread over 37-thousand acres since Friday. As for the progress of grain harvesting in Washington, the Agricultural Statistics Service reports that at the start of this week 58 percent of the winter wheat had been harvested, 43 percent of the state's spring wheat, and 36 percent of the barley crop had been cut. I'm Bob Hoff.