Shaping the Future of Buckwheat in Western Washington Agroecosystems: Final Report

This final report evaluates buckwheat’s potential as a multifunctional crop in western Washington by combining multisite variety trials with a regional producer survey. Field trials compared six buckwheat entries at Viva Farms (Burlington) and the Organic Seed Alliance Research Farm (Chimacum) in 2021 and 2022 (the 2022 Viva trial was lost to flooding). Researchers measured yield, biomass, flowering and maturity timing, days in flower, and canopy transmissivity at multiple time points. Results showed strong site-year effects on yield and clear varietal differences in flowering and maturity; the WSU Population matured earlier than the control, while La Harpe tended toward longer flowering and stronger early canopy patterns in the interpretable 2022 dataset. A companion SESRC-led survey (25.1% response rate) characterized edible-seed producers’ motivations, ecosystem service priorities, and challenges, highlighting high costs, low prices, weed pressure, and infrastructure constraints. Outputs also include an accepted regional buckwheat extension manual and multiple grower and academic presentations.