Wheat crop production points to high prices

Washington wheat growers are expected to harvest less wheat this year according to new estimates from the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Based on a survey last month, the agency believes winter wheat will be down three percent from last year’s crop, while spring wheat acreage will be down nearly 25 percent.

Dave Losh with the ag statistics service reported this year’s smaller wheat crop was due to a combination of crop rotations and fears over the stripe rust outbreak of the past two years.

“I think a lot of guys got scared by the bad rust the last couple of years,” said Losh.

Winter wheat harvest is expected to be 1.7 million acres, down 60,000 acres from 2011. Spring wheat harvest is expected to be 480,000 acres, down 140,000 acres from last year.

Replacing wheat in rotations resulted in increased plantings of garbanzo beans, barley and canola. Farmers are expected to harvest 150,000 acres of barley this year, up 35,000 acres; 115,000 acres of chickpeas, up 38,000 acres, and 17,000 acres of canloa, up 6,500 acres from last year.

Lower wheat plantings means Washington farmers may not be able to take advantage of rising prices.

Soft white wheat hit $8 a bushel on Main Street in Colfax Tuesday.

Randy Suess, a Steptoe farmer and chair of the U.S. Wheat Associates board of directors, said the poor Midwest crop and a heat wave in Russia are diminishing stocks of wheat.

“We’re about the only ones who have been getting any rain,” said Suess.

Suess said he spoke with a Kansas farmer who reported “going through the motions” to harvest his crop just so he could qualify for insurance payments.

Many farmers in the northern tier states that would normally pick up the wheat production this year planted corn crops because of high prices this year, said Suess. That puts an additional squeeze on the wheat market.

Drought in the Midwest last year made Washington the second highest producing wheat state in the country.

Losh reported wheat yield reports from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas were all higher than last year’s dire numbers, but were still behind average.

“But corn is going to be real scary,” added Losh.

Triple-digit temperatures have zapped corn crops that have already suffered from this spring’s lack of rain, said Losh.