CWAC and CAWG Elect New Officers

By Darrell Hanavan

July 9, 2004

The Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee (CWAC) and the Colorado Association of Wheat Growers (CAWG) met recently in Lamar to elect their new officers for the 2004-05 fiscal year (FY). Terry Swanson of Walsh was elected as the CWAC president and Brad Warren of Keenesburg was elected as the CAWG president.

CWAC elected Cary Wickstrom of Orchard as vice president, Dan Anderson of Haxtun as the secretary-treasurer and Dave Davis of Peetz will serve as the past president. CAWG elected Randy Wilks of Burlington as vice president, Dusty Tallman of Brandon as secretary-treasurer and Ron dark of Matheson will serve as the past president.

The new officers began their one-year term in office on July 1.

The following wheat producers were elected to the CWAC and CAWG board of directors for FY 2004-05:

•Dave Davis of Peetz (CWAC) and Dave Anderson of Haxtun (CAWG) will represent District #1 (Logan, Phillips and Sedgwick Counties).

•Cary Wickstrom of Orchard (CWAC) and Jeremy Shook of Akron (CAWG) will represent District #2 (Morgan, Washington, and Yuma Counties).

•Randy Wilks of Burlington (CWAC and CAWG) will represent District #3 (Cheyenne and Kit Carson Counties).

•Dan Anderson of Haxtun (CWAC) and Brad Warren of Keenesburg (CAWG) will represent District #4 (Boulder and Weld Counties).

•Dale Ness of Byers (CWAC) and Ron dark of Matheson (CAWG) will represent District #5 (Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Jefferson Counties).

•Steve Beedy of Genoa (CWAC) and Kurt Thompson of Limon (CAWG) will represent District #6 (El Paso and Lincoln Counties).

•Burl Scherler of Sheridan Lake (CWAC) and Dusty Tallman of Brandon (CAWG) will represent District #7 (Bent, Crowley, Kiowa, Las Animas, and Otero Counties).

•Terry Swanson of Walsh (CWAC) and Bob Wood of Springfield (CAWG) will represent District #8 (Baca and Prowers Counties).

•Mike Williams of Hayden (CWAC and CAWG) will represent District #9 (Moffat, Rio Blanco, and Routt Counties).

CWAC also announced its funding priorities in a drought-reduced budget for this next fiscal year include maintenance of support for the wheat breeding program and wheat related research at Colorado State University (CSU), development of direct exports from Colorado to Mexico, an expanded wheat quality survey of the milling and baking properties of the Colorado winter wheat crop for use by domestic and export buyers and strategic planning to prioritize the short and long-term goals of the organization.

CAWG announced that its top priorities are continued reform of federal crop insurance to provide protection to producers for crop losses that result from long-term disastrous weather conditions and the opportunity to purchase higher levels of coverage, support for additional funding of $20 million for the Hard White Wheat Incentive Program, support for legislation that would provide for consistent and reliable rail transportation that is fairly priced and strategic planning to prioritize the short and long-term goals of the organization.