George Wishon

George Wishon is a fifth-generation rancher from Washington state, where he and his family run a cow/calf commercial Hereford operation. They run around 400 mother cows, summering in the mountain meadows and timber country of northeast Washington and wintering near Paterson on the Washington-Oregon line, grazing corn stalks, winter wheat, and desert grass. Along with the cattle operation, the family also runs a trucking business.

Wishon has been involved in agriculture his entire life and attended Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Oregon, earning associate degrees in agricultural livestock production and agricultural crops production.

He has been around R-CALF USA for as long as he can remember and now serves as Region I director, representing producers across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. He believes strongly in maintaining a competitive marketplace that allows independent producers to stay in business.

Wishon first started paying attention to industry issues during the Canadian cattle dumping concerns in the early 2000s. Today, he sees mandatory country-of-origin labeling as a top priority, along with growing concerns over electronic identification mandates and where those policies are headed.