PNW wheat production up 18% this year

Farm and Ranch October 4, 2010 A USDA report last week put total U.S. wheat production this year at 2.2 billion bushels. Department chief economist Joe Glauber says that is down two percent from the August forecast.

Glauber: “NASS took down the acreage number and so we are looking at a smaller winter wheat production number and as a consequence, even though it was offset a bit by what was going on with the spring wheat, the overall production at 2.22 billion bushels, again pretty much in line with last year‘s crop. A small change to this year‘s, a little bit lower.”

While the U.S. wheat crop was little changed from 2009 the National Agricultural Statistics Service says total wheat production for the Pacific Northwest was much higher this year. Up 18 percent over last year at 320 million bushels. Most of that is soft white wheat. Total U.S. soft white wheat production in 2010 is pegged at 253 million bushels, an increase of 42 million over 2009.

Both winter and spring wheat average yields were up in all three PNW states. The winter wheat yield in Idaho was 82 bushels an acre, in Washington 69 and in Oregon 67 bushels an acre. In Idaho the spring wheat yield was 79 bushels, in Washington 52 and in Oregon 69 bushels.

Pacific Northwest barley production this year was 52.5 million bushels, down seven percent from the 2009 crop. Nationally barley production was down 20 percent from last year on record low acreage.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.