Chat with a Wheat Guru

 It’s amazing how many stories are out there about wheat. An article out of Wichita saying “The nation's farmers are expected to harvest about 20 percent less winter wheat this season, in part because of fewer planted acres and exacerbated by floods and other weather conditions. This according to the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service. Nationwide, winter wheat production was forecast at 1.5 billion bushels, down 20 percent from last year.

 Here’s another one. Be patient about pricing your wheat.??That's the advice market analysts are giving farmers following the release of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's May world grain balance sheet.

 So what’s going on? I asked Travis Jones of the Idaho Grain Producers Association. ?”It is kind of an interesting turnabout, if you will, from 2008 when acreage was way up in response to all those high prices that were much needed in farm country, but of course what goes up, must come down, and that’s where we’re at now when it comes to price and obviously we’re seeing the production trend follow that price downward spiral. Price has been holding steady between $5-6 when you’re talking wheat and depending on where you’re at. With the report that came out recently about the acreage being down nationwide and even globally, I think that’s what we expect in Idaho too, but overall I think farmers are pretty optimistic in Idaho.”