WAITSBURG - After struggling to control rust in their wheat fields last spring, Touchet Valley farmers aren't taking any chances this year.

Most, if not all, wheat growers in Prescott, Waitsburg and Dayton are mixing a fungicide like TILT or QUILT in with the herbicide they normally spray mostly through ground applications.

"I don't know of anyone who isn't," said Matt Weber, a certified crop advisor with the McGregor Company in Waitsburg. "After the horror stories last year, they're not taking any chances."

Last year, farmers in the Touchet Valley lost an average 10 to 15 percent of their...