The New Crop Bringing Hope to the Valley
Agricultural experts test a hearty, drought-resistant forage grass that could transform local ranching.
The story, cleaned up
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Judging from a number of experiments that have been conducted in the county this summer, County Agriculturalist Lee M. Lampson is of the opinion that Sudan grass will prove a very profitable and prolific forage crop in this district. Mr. Lampson has not yet tabulated results from all the experiments, but an excellent showing has been made in the ones he has checked. In the irrigated sections the grass makes an exceptionally vigorous growth and requires much less irrigation than corn or other forage crops. Mr. Lampson now has in his office samples of this year's crop from the I. B. Richards farm near Prosser and the farm of Poston Sons at Carley. The Richards grass is about six feet high and covered the ground in a thick mat. The grass in the Poston fields averages eight feet in height and was grown on valley land without irrigation.
“In the irrigated sections the grass makes an exceptionally vigorous growth and requires much less irrigation than corn.”
Agricultural innovation in the Mid-Columbia has always been the engine of local survival, from the early trials of Sudan grass in 1915 to today’s high-tech irrigation and viticulture. Balancing water usage against production remains the central, ongoing tension for the region’s growers.
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