Grass Seed Association May Split Up Washington, Idaho Growers Lose The Tie That Binds Them

A line of fire now stands between the grass farmers in Washington and Idaho.

In Eastern Washington, grass field burning will end next year, but will continue in North Idaho.

And the growers’ 40-year joint effort, the Intermountain Grass Growers Association, is coming apart.

In the wake of the state mandated end to grass burning to improve air quality, farmers in Eastern Washington have tried to start a Turfgrass Seed Commission. If the growers vote for it, the state-approved group could collect assessments to fund research and marketing.

Cut loose from their Washington counterparts, the IGGA’s remaining 30-plus grass growers who can legally burn their fields have started their own North Idaho Farmers Association, which will include potato and other crop farmers as well as bluegrass growers. NIFA’s nonprofit status is pending.

“The IGGA’s existence for now is kind of in limbo mainly because Washington does have one more year of burning,” said Terry Jacklin, president of the association. “After that, there’s such a separation with the way we will be farming and the way they (in Washington) will be farming that it just seems logical for them to have their own commission.”

This has been a long time coming. Four years ago, the Washington State Department of Agriculture got its first call about forming a turf grass commission. This February, farmers sent a formal petition.

The WSDA is inviting the states’ hundreds of turf grass growers and conditioners to Moses Lake on Wednesday to discuss what the commission could do for the grass industry.

“I have been approached by a number of turf grass growers who want to quickly establish a commission to deal with critical issues such as alternatives to field burning and pesticide registrations,” said Jim Jessernig, director of WSDA. “We want to be sure we have wide industry support.”

The commission, if approved by growers, would cover producers of Kentucky bluegrass, perennial rye-grass, tall fescue, fine fescue, slender fescue and creeping red fescue in Eastern Washington.

Since Washington’s farmers can’t burn, “a benefit would be research, chemical research (as an alternative to burning) and chemical registration,” said Steve Stilson, general manager of a seed processor in Pomeroy.

A new commission might also include grass growers in the Columbia Basin who didn’t share the urban air quality problems that the IGGA’s Spokane and North Idaho-area farmers once did. While Spokane and Whitman county growers will lose their Idaho counterparts in the IGGA, they may pick up more support within the state with a new commission.

“It’s pretty mixed up in the grower community right now,” said Glenn Jacklin, Jacklin Seed Co.’s operation’s manager.

“We’re still kind of fragmented and we’re not getting our problems solved,” he said. “We need growers associations to direct the universities to do research and the USDA’s research dollars.”