Winter wheat condition and the battle for crop acres

Farm and Ranch November 11, 2010 This week’s crop progress report from the USDA continued to show winter wheat in the Pacific Northwest in much better condition than the U.S. as a whole. Washington’s winter wheat is rated 88 percent good to excellent; Idaho’s 84 percent good to excellent and Oregon’s winter wheat 68 percent good to excellent. There is no wheat in the region rated very poor and just two percent in Idaho is in poor condition.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says nationally winter wheat is still not looking good.

Rippey: “Some dryness affecting portions of the central and southern plains, the eastern cornbelt and also some lingering drought in the southeast. Overall just 45% of the crop rated good to excellent, 17% very poor to poor. Last week those numbers were 46% and 16% respectively so just another slight notch down in condition from last week.”

A year ago at this time the crop was rated 63 percent good to excellent and only seven percent very poor to poor.

If winter wheat remains in poor condition in areas where farmers can also grow corn and soybeans, Brian Hoops of Midwest Market Solutions in Yankton, South Dakota says wheat acres could be reduced.

Hoops: “Farmers are going to look at corn and soybean prices and possibility of a poor yield in winter wheat, most likely tear out that winter wheat, plant it to corn and soybeans, which is what the corn and soybean market’s job is to do is to attract enough acres through any means necessary to try to start to rebuild ending stocks and reverse the trends we have in corn and soybeans.”

That will be the battle for crop acres for 2011.

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

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