Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers spearheaded a bipartisan letter Sept. 27 to the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) asking for a change to aid wheat growers affected by falling numbers.
The letter, signed by 10 other congressional representatives, calls for the RMA to forgo current agency procedures used to calculate growers’ actual production history (APH) due to falling numbers test results.
As it is now, APH measures a grower’s average yield over a multi-year period, meaning that discounts applied for falling numbers could have significant long-term impacts on farmers.
Falling numbers refers to the stage at which starch and protein start to break down in a wheat kernel. Wide temperature swings in May and June contributed in some areas to the phenomenon.
The threshold number is set at 300, and anything below is deemed lacking, which affects sales.
The term is LMA – late maturity alpha-amylase – the change in the kernel from starch to sugar.
The 300 refers to 300 seconds in the test method of how long a plunger takes to sink through a mixture of ground flour and water.
McMorris Rodgers’ letter follows a Sept. 2 roundtable discussion held in Colfax with area wheat growers and ag industry leaders on what to do about falling numbers.
“This policy, if not changed, will have a negative effect on a grower’s APH for the next decade,” McMorris Rodgers wrote. “We believe this policy, in effect, penalizes growers for circumstances out of their control, specifically growers who choose not to file a crop insurance claim.”
Also in the letter, the congresswoman asks that RMA policy be adjusted to allow growers who have not made a crop insurance claim to report their actual production – without falling numbers’ discounts.
Among others signing the letter were U.S. senators Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Patty Murray (Wash.), Jeffrey Merkley (Ore.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.).
The letter was addressed to Brandon Willis, RMA Administrator for USDA.
In 2013, the Washington Grain Commission at WSU began falling numbers tests on wheat.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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