Wsu wa impact

WSU IMPACT on the state’s agricultural economy Agriculture in Washington State is diverse, robust, and profitable. One of the state’s largest employers and the second leading exporter, in 2009, the $36 billion food and agriculture industry contributed 11 percent to the state’s economy.

Washington is the second most agriculturally diverse state in the U.S. after California, producing more than 300 commodities.

Washington State University’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences provides the research, education and outreach that drive this sector. Growers find that research so vital to their success they tax themselves to help fund it. Of the 23 commodity commissions in Washington State, 17 assess fees from their membership to fund research, most of it performed by WSU.

WSU Extension: Supporting access to locally grown, fresh produce From the urban Puget Sound region to the rural Palouse, WSU Extension works across the state as a valuable source of information and technical assistance. For example, the WSU Small Farms Team organizes farm walks where farmers gather at a farm to learn from WSU experts and each other. This team also works with market managers to improve and sustain local farmers markets. Additionally, WSU Extension is working to increase access

to locally grown, fresh produce for lowincome residents through Growing Groceries, community gardening, Master Gardeners, and other programs.

Cougar Gold: WSU’s Flagship Cheese Cougar Gold is an award-winning American cheese produced at the WSU Creamery in Pullman. Crafted by WSU students, Cougar Gold emerged from research done at WSU in the 1940s in cooperation with the American Can Company to develop methods of packing cheese for troops during World War II. WSU produces more cheese than any other school by far (including the University of Wisconsin in America’s No. 1 cheese-producing state).

The WSU Creamery produces 250,000 cans of cheese annually, and the creamery’s operations and research are fully funded through cheese and ice cream sales.

A Perfect Pairing: WSU and the Washington Wine Industry Washington State is the nation’s second largest wine producer and ranked among the world’s top wine regions. Washington wine is a $3 billion+ industry, employing more than 19,000 people, hosting in excess of 700 wineries, and attracting over 2 million visitors annually through wine tourism. The industry owes much of its success to the groundbreaking research of WSU horticulturist Walter Clore, the official “Father of Washington Wine,” in the 1960s. Today, WSU has the largest cadre of faculty focused on emerging issues of cool-climate wine in the United States. WSU offered the region’s first four-year program in viticulture and enology and also offers two-year professional certificate programs, as well as self-directed programs, in V&E. The industry consistently supports WSU research, including the funding of both an Endowed Chair and an Endowed Professorship in Viticulture and Enology.

Small Grains: WSU and Small Farms West of the Cascades The lack of a local or even regional organic feed, malt, and small-grain-based food system in coastal Washington is in stark contrast to the high demand and enthusiasm of growers, processors and consumers for local food.

Farmers in this region are not grain growers per se, but they do use grains and legumes in their rotations and wish to add more. WSU researchers are constantly fielding requests from people trying to source anything from 20 tons per year of organic wheat, barley, peas, or other legumes to 20 tons a week of organic flour. These feed and foodstuffs now come from central Canada, the Midwest, and beyond. WSU is assisting growers and processors by investigating and identifying the best crop varieties for the region, exploring processing technologies, and calculating costs of production and processing. This research will help to enable end-users—feeders, millers, bakers, distillers—to source these organic products locally.