08/21/08 Growers await CRC harvest price announcement

Farm and Ranch August 21, 2008 Dave Paul, Director of USDA's regional Risk Management Agency Office says he's been getting more calls than usual from wheat growers wondering when the 2008 Crop Revenue Coverage, or CRC, harvest price will be announced. Paul says plans are to announce the harvest price around September 5th. Paul: "That price is essentially the Portland August average daily settlement price for the soft white wheat contract capped at $2.00 above last year's $6.27 base price for the CRC policy." At mid-week Paul says that average soft white wheat price was running around $8.22 a bushel. And he expects there will be some payouts on the 2008 wheat crop in the northwest. Paul: "Everywhere you go you kind of hear it is a mixed bag. Some good stuff. Some wheat that is just average that people thought might be a bit better and then some wheat that really isn't all that good. Some areas we have had reports 30-50% below average in certain parts of the region." Paul says a lot of that wheat is covered under CRC. Paul: "Which is a huge benefit with that pricing component because if that price does come up that much higher than that $6.27 base price from last fall, those producers in a loss situation, their coverage actually goes up commensurate in price." I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.