June Review
As lush green fields turn to a shade of golden brown, it becomes apparent August is a month of transition for all of us here in the Treasure State. The same statement rings true for the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee. We’ve had our fair share of transitions this month, some of them more welcomed than others.
To start things off, we were honored to present Lola Raska with a Montana State University Foundation Seed Program sign. A few months back we launched a naming campaign for the new wheat and barley varieties that were slated for release. We offered up a few possible names for growers to vote on, and MT Raska was chosen for the new Durum variety. “This is a very nice honor and I’m truly humbled,” said Lola Raska. “It’s especially meaningful to me for a couple of reasons, one, because the name was chosen by growers across the state who took the time to vote in the naming contest and two, because Durum was the long-time crop of choice on my family’s farm in Northeastern Montana.” We plan to hold a similar naming contest again next year.
One of the larger projects we are continuing to work on is a digital Spring Wheat Dashboard. This is a collaboration with multiple other states to better display wheat qualities and characteristics from across the Pacific Northwest.
This dashboard will essentially take the crop quality information collected each year and make it more easily accessible to buyers. We are very excited about this collaboration and will make sure to keep you posted on its progress.
After a long hiatus due to Covid, we’re incredibly excited to inform you that trade teams are once again visiting Montana. This last month we hosted a team of six buyers from South Korea. We traveled throughout Central Montana and made stops at multiple farms, so the team could speak with producers firsthand. Despite the varied growing conditions due to the drought, the team was pleased with this year’s crop and is expected to remain a consistent buyer of Montana Wheat.
Finally, we bid farewell to our Executive Vice President Cassidy Marn. Saying that Cassidy will be missed is an understatement and words honestly can’t describe how much we as staff appreciate her hard work and dedication to Montana producers. Cassidy is off to pursue a new adventure in agriculture and we wish her the best. You’ll find a few words from Cassidy below this article.