ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, U.S. – During its annual meeting the U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) board of directors elected new officers on July 11.

USW officers for 2017-18 are:

• Chairman Mike Miller of Ritzville, Washington
• Vice-Chairman Chris Kolstad of Ledger, Montana
• Secretary-Treasurer Doug Goyings of Paulding, Ohio
• Past-Chairman Jason Scott of Easton, Maryland

Vince Peterson succeeded Alan Tracy as USW president, a staff office position, on July 1.

USW officers were elected to these one-year positions at the February 2017 Winter Wheat Conference in Washington, D.C.

Miller is a fourth-generation farmer who operates a dryland wheat farm and grows multiple crops on a separate, irrigated farm in east central Washington. He has served on many local, state and national boards. He is the current chairman of the Washington Grain Commission and this is his sixth year as a USW director representing Washington. Miller is also active in supporting wheat research and development.

Kolstad is the fourth generation of his family to farm in Montana’s “Golden Triangle” region. He grows hard red winter (HRW) wheat, dark northern spring wheat, durum, barley and dry peas. A commissioner of the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee, Kolstad has been a USW director since 2012. He is also a member of the Montana Grain Growers Association and Montana Farm Bureau.

Scott is a sixth-generation wheat farmer from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where he is farm manager of Walnut Hill Farms and produces soft red winter (SRW) wheat, row crops and vegetables. He is also an independent sales representative for Pioneer Hi-Bred Int'l, under the title Scott’s Seed, LLC. Scott is a founding member of the Dorchester County Young Farmers, past president of the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board and the Maryland Grain Producers Association. In 2011, he won the Maryland Young Farmers Achievement Award.

Goyings’ family has been farming in northwestern Ohio since 1884. Goyings grows soft red winter (SRW) and have hosted numerous trade teams on their farm. He has served in Ohio and national agricultural leadership positions for 36 years. Goyings has been a member of the USW board since 2009 and is a past chairman of the USW Long-Range Planning Committee. He serves as a director for the Ohio Small Grains Checkoff Board, is a past-president of his local Farm Bureau and has served as a director for the Ohio Veal Growers Inc., Creston Veal, Inc. and Paulding Landmark, Inc.

USW is a market development organization working in more than 100 countries. Its mission is to “develop, maintain, and expand international markets to enhance the profitability of U.S. wheat producers.” The activities of USW are made possible by producer checkoff dollars managed by 19 state wheat commissions and through cost-share funding provided by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service.