The increased snowfall in the Palouse this year has led some farmers to worry about a wheat fungi known commonly as snow mold.

WSU Extension plant pathologist Tim Murray said the term snow mold describes several different types of fungi that grow on wheat beneath the snow.

Murray said snow mold is a bigger concern this year because snow has been on the ground for a long time. The area north of U.S. Highway 2, around the Waterville Plateau, is prone to the fungi, he said. The best conditions for the fungi is when the ground hasn’t frozen before it snows and snow stays on the ground for about 100 days, Murray said.

“(Waterville Plateau area has) had snow on the ground for probably 75 days and the way the weather forecast is looking, they’re probably going to have it for another three weeks or so, putting them into that 100-day range,” Murray said.

Dusty Druffel, Buck & Affiliates Insurance West vice president, said if wheat farmers take a big loss in their crop yield from snow mold or other problems, many have insurance to cover them. The process consists of the insurance company working with the farmer to see how much they will get for their crop loss, Druffel said.

“As soon as they see they have damage, they’ll call their insurance agent, we’ll file a claim, and we’ll send an adjuster out and they’ll go through the field with them and do inspections,” Druffel said.

The adjustor will then determine whether there is enough damage to make the farmer eligible for replant payments.

Though individual farmers in high elevation areas, like the Waterville Plateau, may suffer from snow mold, Murray said the likelihood of seeing a significant effect in the overall Washington wheat market is slim.

He said the traditional snow mold problem area is roughly 250,000 acres while the entire area designated for growing wheat in Washington is about two million acres. Even if the Waterville Plateau area suffered a 10 percent loss, Murray said the state market still wouldn’t suffer.

For the farmers that may suffer crop loss this year, Murray said snow mold cannot be cured but can be managed.

Farmers should plant early in the season around the third week of August, he said, and plant snow mold resistant wheat varieties. Taking these steps can help minimize the risk, Murray said.