Wheat Harvest and Challenges Pt 2

Wheat Harvest and Challenges Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I’m Bob Larson. Wheat harvest in Washington is behind us for 2020, but wheat prices could sure use some help. Break even runs at about $6.50 per bushel, but Washington farmers are looking at $5.00 and below.

That’s why, according to Washington Association of Wheat Growers’ Michelle Hennings, last week’s announcement that wheat growers will be part of the next round of Coronavirus Food Assistance Program is a bit of good news …

HENNINGS … “We are very involved in that process at the national level. We weren’t included in the CFAP first round and so we’ve done some work with Congress and in some letters to USDA educating them over there on why wheat needs to be included in the CFAP.”

Hennings says USDA just needed some help with their numbers …

HENNINGS … “They didn’t look at the whole time-frame and they took snapshots of two different timelines and so it didn’t show the loss that actually occurred if you were to look at the whole time-frame and price. So, we set up an example for them and sent them letters stating that, you know, this is how we see it and we would like you to reassess how you look at wheat, especially for the 2020 crop year.”

But, Hennings says CFAP won’t be a cure-all …

HENNINGS … “It’s tough for wheat because we’ve been on an all-time low for a long time, but COVID did not help us by any means. We were low to begin with and so that was part of an issue we had in talking with USDA.”

Listen tomorrow for more on what wheat growers can do moving forward.

Previous ReportWheat Harvest and Challenges Pt 1
Next ReportWheat Harvest and Challenges Pt 3