Hannelore Sudermann

Most people see wheat in two places: the fields and products in the supermarket. But this year, many also are seeing wheat piled in mounds outside grain elevators where the grain is exposed to the elements. When elevators managers run out of room in their storage bins, they're forced to store grain on the ground. Though it happens every harvest, this year several factors have forced grain elevators to leave much of the season's bounty outside. According to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, as much as 10 million bushels of wheat in Washington may have been stored on the ground this season. A cut in sales overseas, an unusual harvest and a limited number of train cars all contributed to the excess of wheat at inland elevators.

A worker at Hogue Winery rakes Gewurtzraminer grapes into a hopper. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Vietnam has made its first U.S. wheat purchase in 22 years. Though the Binh Dong Flour Mill is only buying 10,000 metric tons of red wheat, this deal could open the doors for Washington and Oregon farmers to sell their product to areas that until recently have been closed to trade. "It represents an opening of world markets previously off limits to U.S. producers and grain shippers," said John Schlueter, executive vice president of the Pacific Northwest Grain and Feed Association in Portland. "Very literally, it's the foot in the door for what we hope will be expanded future business."

Washington's prison employees are taking steps to break out of their current union. Hundreds have signed cards stating that they want to switch from the Washington Public Employees Association to another collective bargaining representative. And the Teamsters Union, which has been courting Department of Corrections workers the past few months, has formally requested an election to decertify the WPEA.

1. Gene Brash. Photos by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review 2. With an uncertain future ahead of them, Gene Brash and Bill Workman lead supply mules into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. 3. Above: Bill Workman and Gene Brash save about a mile and a half by fording the South Fork of the Flathead River just north of the Black Bear Camp. The vast Bob Marshall Wilderness is off-limits to motorized travel, except for emergencies. All supplies must be transported on the backs of mules to backcountry Forest Service crews. 4. The cabin at Black Bear Camp has only the essentials for living in the woods. The stove was air-lifted in before the Bob Marshall Wilderness was declared a wilderness area in 1964. 5. Left: "When you come out here, you leave behind all the fussing and worrying in your other life," Brash says. "Can't do anything about it, anyway, so you might as well forget about it." 6. Above: For almost 20 years, Gene Brash, right, and Bill Workman have packed supplies to forest service workers camped in the wilderness. 7. Right: As the sun starts to light the land around the Black Bear cabin, Brash returns for a cup of coffee after feeding the mules and horses. 8. Above: Mules are loaded with the everything the backcountry crews need, whether it's timber for bridges or rafts for rangers working the river. 9. Above: After seven hours of bearing loads weighing up to 200 pounds, even the best mules can use a back scratch. 10. Below: At the end of a day that started well before sunrise, Brash takes a break with a good book. "He's smarter than a whip," Bill Workman says. "He may try to make you think he's a dumb hick, but it ain't true. He reads a lot. He can figure out how to build anything just by reading about it in a book."

Former Broadview Dairy worker Ron Burton adds lids to the jug filler line at the Darigold plant Friday. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

After years of trying, the race is won. Jacklin Seed Co. announced this week it has obtained a patent for a fungus which makes Kentucky bluegrass naturally resistant to insects and disease. It's a technique the company had been trying to perfect for years, finally achieved last winter, and now has patented. Industry experts have said it could revolutionize turf maintenance, reducing the need for pesticides. It was a race to see who could get a disease-resistant "endophyte," or fungus, that exists naturally in ryegrass and tall fescue to fix itself to the bluegrass and bentgrass strains.

1. When the harvest brings truckload after truckload to the Rockford Grain Growers elevator in Spangle, the bins start filling up and Jack Olsen, who manages the facility, has to check which can take the next day's yield. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review 2. Dust diffuses the lone light illuminating the late night unloading of grain. When the farmers stay in the fields far into the night, Jack Olsen, too, works late. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review 3. Above, Olsen checks the bins holding wheat samples. Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review 4. At left, barley makes its way from the bins to a truck that will cart it south early the next morning. "Barley is the worst," says Olsen. "You get that dust on your skin and you just scratch and scratch and scratch." Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Spokesman-Review

Governor Gary Locke dedicates the a Kaiser Aluminum facility at Mead on Monday. He is flanked by Rich Hadley of the Spokane Chamber of Commerce, left, and plant manager Tom Franklin. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Washington State Department of Corrections employees, numbering nearly 4,000, may be in the market again for new union representation. Their extended contract through the Washington Public Employees Association expires in November and some workers say they're unhappy with the wages, working conditions and benefits the union has gotten them. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is courting the DOC workers, including those at the Walla Walla penitentiary and the Airway Heights Corrections Center.

Controversial new national air quality standards could mean new limits for agriculture and industry in the Inland Northwest - particularly among grass growers and farmers. State and municipal officials across the country are asking for delays in implementing the tough new standards because of potential economic impacts. Even if the standards take effect immediately, measures required to reduce air pollution and meet the federal limit won't be implemented for at least five years, environmental officials say.

Seeds of change 1. Filling and sealing seed bags was done entirely by hand when this photo was taken at Jacklin Seed in 1949... File/The Spokesman-Review 2. ...Automation has simplified the process today for Shawn Pitchford and Marshall Emmons. Photo by Liz Kishimoto/The Spokesman-Review

A Superior Court in Kennewick this summer ruled that a grain elevator operator's uncommon lung problems were likely related to his work. The case has caught the attention of grain growers and grain elevator operators throughout the region because it points to possible safety hazards within the business. "Anything that suggests that we are operating in an unsafe environment is naturally of concern to us as employees and as employers," said Jonathan Schlueter of the Pacific Northwest Grain and Feed Association in Portland. The association maintains this case is one of a kind.

A fish issue may help farmers in the upcoming Conservation Reserve Program sign-up. Having a nationally recognized salmon habitat near their acreage may benefit regional landowners who want to use the federal program to set aside erodible and environmentally sensitive land. With only 21 percent of their applications accepted in the spring sign-up, and after a reduction of $31 million in annual CRP payments, Washington landowners and their congressional delegation are arming themselves to recover those lost acres this fall.

Rooted in North Idaho by time and family, Jacklin Seed Co.'s owners announced Thursday the sale of their company to Boise-based J.R. Simplot Co. The sale will end more than a half-century of Jacklin family ownership when the grassgrowing and processing business is turned over to the region's top agricultural company. Pending federal regulatory approval, Jacklin Seed plans to transfer ownership to Simplot on Oct. 8.

Washington cattle ranchers are avidly watching a patch of U.S. Forest Service land in Ferry County. Though only 90 head of cattle now graze the 20,000-acre Tonata site in the Colville National Forest, what happens here may affect how ranchers can use public land for grazing statewide. "We're following it very closely," said Mary Burke, president of the Washington Cattle Association. "When there's new and different requirements, federal agencies tend to use those as a precedent."

During the past five years, most job growth in the area has been in the service industry, trade, and local government, said Fred Walsh, regional labor economist with the Employment Security Department. By contrast, real estate and construction jobs have cooled off, because fewer people are moving to the area, he said. This summer, the job placement office of the Employment Security Department is buzzing, as between 90 and 120 people look for work each day. What they want are jobs with security.

The recent labor battle between the Teamsters Union and United Parcel Service is viewed by some as a major turning point in labor relations. Perhaps it may even have as positive an impact for labor as the air traffic controllers' strike was negative 16 years ago. The two-week strike by Teamsters against the country's largest shipper ranks among the more memorable labor actions in recent years, locally as well as nationally.

The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is starting over again. In considering favorable factors to allow lands in the set-aside program, it appears volcanic ash is in, wildlife covers are in, air quality is in and even salmon might be in. Though Washington farmers were burned in the last CRP sign-up when they lost acreage eligible for federal funds, they soon will have another chance at winning money to idle a portion of their lands, prevent erosion and protect the environment.

Happy to be back UPS driver Ron Skogstad delivers a high-five to a well-wisher as drivers celebrate the end of their strike during a lunch break Wednesday at Zip's on East Sprague. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

After more than two weeks of postal pandemonium, the nation's package delivery system may soon begin to snap back into place. "We're hoping to begin to pick up customers (today) and start rebuilding UPS," said Al Rapp, spokesman for UPS in Seattle. Though the United Parcel Service strike may be over and 185,000 Teamsters nationwide - including 650 in Eastern Washington and North Idaho - start their return to work today, things may never be the same.

Bruce Billingsley, at left, a UPS driver for the past 22 years, talks with Robert Hawkinson, a part time UPS worker, on the picket line Monday. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

1. Penny Piper consults with family members by radio while harvesting wheat. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Mike Piper checks a few stalks of barley in a field next to his home outside Davenport. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Picture-perfect harvest. Dwarfed by an ocean of grain set against a majestic summer sunset, Penny Piper's combine tracks across wheat fields last week at the family farm outside Davenport. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review