01/11/07 Winter wheat acreage report Friday

Farm and Ranch January 11, 2007 One of the first pieces of the puzzle that will determine the size of the U.S. wheat crop in 2007 will be known tomorrow. USDA issues its first estimate of planted winter wheat acres. With very strong wheat prices at planting time last fall, USDA chief economist Keith Collins says the expectation is for planted acres to be up. Collins: "We would expect to see higher production due to higher acreage for the 2007 crop. And probably you could count on better yields around the world to supply more wheat." Private firms are putting out their estimates of acreage. Allendale Incorporated is looking for U.S. winter wheat plantings to total just over 44 million acres, up from just over 40 million in 2006. By wheat class Allendale's projection is for Hard Red winter plantings of 32 million acres compared to 29. 3 million last year. Soft red winter at 7.9 million acres. Up from 7.4 in 2006. And White winter wheat to total 4.1 million, up from 3.8 last year. What gets planted isn't necessarily what gets harvested. Weather is key. There have even been some wire reports suggesting the strength of the corn market could mean some Midwest producers will tear out their winter wheat to put in corn this spring. In addition to winter wheat acreage there will also be USDA reports on grain stocks and supply and demand tomorrow. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.