01/21/09 Wheat and drought

01/21/09 Wheat and drought

Administrator
Administrator
With wheat prices in 2008 bouncing all over the board from very high to recently not so high, Idaho wheat farmers may be wondering about the future. Questions emerge about worldwide demand and the global economy, rising input costs, and competition from other nations. Listen carefully to what was written in a recent news report from an agricultural official down under. Australian wheat production for 2008/9 is nearly 11% lower than the September forecast. Despite the poor spring rains in some areas, total wheat production is forecast to be around 7 million tons above last years drought affected harvest. You heard it twice&problems with water. Blaine Jacobson, Executive V.P. of the Idaho Wheat Commission, talked recently about Australian wheat. "Australia is being affected by climate change and they are going to be the first continent that is affected by droughts. Australia is going to be challenged over the long term on getting a good quality wheat crop the way that they have been in the past." Not to benefit from others' misfortunes but the world demand and the world consumption of wheat is still growing so wheat prices should be increasing again and that's good news for Idaho farmers. Again, Blaine Jacobson: "We still expect wheat prices will strengthen and we still expect it to be a good crop to grow."
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