Colorado Wheat
Colorado Wheat growers are disappointed that they are not eligible for payments under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, or CFAP. But The Colorado Corn Growers Association is holding out some hope that assistance from the USDA may still be coming.
Madison Andersen, Communication Coordinator with the group says the National Association of Wheat Growers is working toward some kind of relief.
Andersen: “Our hard red winter and hard white winter wheat were not included in it. NAWG has been advocating from the start with the CFAP. They have recently sent a letter to Secretary Perdue to see what can be done and if we can get all classes of wheat included. We’re keeping our eyes on that one to see what happens.”
Colorado is a major winter wheat producing state. Hard winter wheat (red and white) is the dominant class of wheat produced in the state, accounting for more than 95 percent of the total.
The Colorado Association of Wheat Growers says Colorado wheat producers planted 1.85 million acres to wheat in the fall of 2019, down 300,000 acres from fall of 2018 and the lowest planted acreage since 1945.
Langin, a hard red winter variety released by Colorado State University (CSU) in 2016, became the top planted variety with 20.1% of the acreage. This was the first year Langin took the first-place spot, which was previously held by Byrd for five years in a row.
