08/03/07 More hard red winter and club wheat acres

Washington Ag August 3, 2007 As expected a survey of wheat varieties planted in Washington state for harvest this year showed a major increase in hard red winter wheat acreage. The survey conducted on behalf of the Washington Wheat Commission by the Washington Bureau of the Agricultural Statistics Service shows common soft white wheat is still the predominate class in the state but hard red winter wheat acres doubled from 2006 to 2007 to over 406-thousand acres. Washington Grain Alliance CEO Tom Mick says that's close to 30 percent of total acres. Mick: "Whether that is going to continue on next year is a big question because right now soft white prices are equal to or a little better than hard red. So I am not sure how the farmers are going to react to that." Soft white wheat prices were much higher this spring than last fall and Washington growers reduced their plantings of hard red spring wheat by 15 percent from last year. Mick says the state's farmers are more familiar with raising soft white, which also has lower input costs because it does not need as much fertilizer. Hard reds need extra nitrogen to make protein. The wheat variety survey also showed planted club wheat acres last fall increased over the previous year by over 56-thousand acres to 173,400 acres. I'm Bob Hoff.