Condition of Pacific Northwest's Wheat Harvest

In yesterday's report we reviewed the world wheat supplies -- today we will look closer at home. I spoke to Syngenta's Ric Wesselman and he shares a look at where wheat growers are in regards to harvest in the Pacific Northwest.

Wesselman: "It's been a challenging year for the average farmer. I think you had a good portion of the harvest that went fairly normally and progressed nicely then these rains have really thrown some challenges to some guys and thrown some unusual circumstances. So I think most folks have gotten through that phase-- most I still see a few fields standing here and there but they've made good progress. Yields -- I think -- some guys say they aren't awesome but I think if you go to the five or ten year average they are pretty healthy yields -- all in all when things have been counted up."

Fall planting has began for some and Wesselman says so far it is progressing nicely.

Wesselman: "I think some of these rains have pushed some guys off. The fall rains before you plant bring on additional weeds. So folks are looking at glyphside or maybe something like Gramoxone Pre-plant to take out a flush of weeds before they plant their fall crop. Then you go into this phase of getting it into the ground. But you know what amazes me about these folks in the northwest is they can get wheat in the ground pretty quickly. The speed of farming has really advanced."