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Newly elected U.S. Wheat official looking ahead to Farm Bill discussions

A recently elected member of the U.S. Wheat Associates Executive Board says the depressed ag economy continues to challenge U.S. wheat farmers.

Ohio farmer Doug Goyings was elected Thursday during the joint USW and National Association of Wheat Growers Board Meeting in Washington D.C. He says a big challenge looking ahead will be maintaining funding for wheat growers in the 2018 Farm Bill.

“U.S. Wheat has a lot of funding that comes through the Farm Bill through MAP funds and FMP funds. We have to make sure that still stays in the Farm Bill,” says Goyings.

The Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Program (FMP) provide funding to U.S. commodity groups to expand export markets. Goyings tells Brownfield times are tough for American wheat growers and expanding exports is critical today.

“We just have too much in inventory so it’s hurting prices, while the world has had better wheat in the last couple of years so everybody has wheat. We just need to pull back on acreage and if there’s a bit of a weather issue somewhere else in the world, though hopefully not here, the wheat prices will come back,” says Goyings.

Goyings is a 4^th generation grain farmer from Paulding in Northwest Ohio and is a board member and previous chairman of the Ohio Small Grains Checkoff.

He is the first Ohioan to serve as a member of the USW Executive Board. U.S. Wheat Associates is funded in part through farmer checkoff dollars.

Audio: Doug Goyings, U.S. Wheat Association