Wheat in the News

8/30/10

Eric Younggren Blog - Eric is a NAWG officer and a wheat farmer from Minnesota who decided to start spreading the word about the true story of farming through his blog "My Wheat Farm" - it is well worth a visit!

From BASF: World Without Farmers - Imagine a world without farmers ... Still think food comes from the grocery store? Watch our new video with lots of interesting facts about agriculture - and learn more about BASF's approach to agricultural sustainability.

Cattlenetwork.com: More Farmers Are Tweeting To Respond to Activists "Opinions are being formed daily by 99.9 percent who don't know what it is like to be on a farm."

Green State TV/Croplife America: Modern Agriculture. Here's a great video about modern agriculture's ultimate challenge: feeding a growing world population using less land and water. We think that America's farmers and ranchers are up to the task!

Colorado Public Radio: Colorado Wheat Farmers See High Prices, Large Yields: Both CAWG Secây Treasurer Mark Linnebur and Executive Director Darrell Hanavan are interviewed. This story was also picked up by National Public Radio.

AgriLife research identifies wheat streak resistance gene (in a Colorado experimental variety)

New York Times: U.S. Farmers Wary of Gaining From Russiaâs Woes â reporter interviews Colorado Ag Commissioner John Stulp and farmers from near Springfield (click on slide show for more pictures)

New York Times Blog: Dust Bowl Haunts Wheat Farmers

Scientists: We've Cracked Wheat's Genetic Code

Fortune: Bracing for the Next Grain Drain

The Hand that Feeds Us: Want to know who's really making the money off of rising food prices?

Stock and Land: Wheat to Meet World Food Needs

Inside Futures: Right or Wrong, The Wheat Focus is Shifting to Production Next Year

8/15/10 - Denver Post: Wheat farmers play guessing game as prices soar

Kansas City Star: Some Kansas farmers miss out on wheat's winning streak

8/13/10-

Associated Press: Colorado wheat farmers could have $562M harvest

9News: 2010 Colo. wheat harvest a banner year - video interview with Darrell Hanavan

CNBC: Kansas Assn. of Wheat Growers President Paul Penner and his interview with CNBC about price spike.

Bloomberg: U.S. May Face Bottlenecks as Wheat Exports Rise, Analysts Say

Colorado Wheat: Colorado Breaks Record for Yield Per Acre in Winter Wheat Production

BARN Network: U.S. Wheat and Other Crops to See Record Yields, Yet Higher Prices

Wall Street Journal: Wheat Prices Climb on Supply Fears

Agripulse: Grain analysts react to USDA S&D rpt (audio story)

Bloomberg: U.S. Exporters Sell Wheat Via Canada as Adverse Weather Raises Demand

8/11/10 - DTN: What's next for Wheat? DTN Market Experts Ponder Market into 2011.

Stratfor.com - Drought, Fire and Grain in Russia

8/10/10 -The Diane Rehm Show: USW President Alan Tracy and NAWG President Jerry McReynolds were guests on a nationally syndicated NPR program, Aug. 10. The Diane Rehm Show hosted a segment discussing the recent Russia wheat export ban and its potential impact on global supplies and food prices. Tracy and McReynolds, a Kansas wheat producer, represented the U.S. wheat industry and assured listeners that the U.S. has an abundant wheat crop this year that will help meet any shortfall from Russia and other countries with weather problems.

Bloomberg: Wheat Falls for Third Day in Chicago as Rally Deemed Excessive

8/9/10 - New York Times: No Wheat Shortage, but Prices May Rise

Pork Magazine: What Defines a Family Farm?

Cattlenetwork.com: Now About Those Big, Bad Evil Factory Farms

8/6/10 - Continuing coverage of the Russian export ban and its effects.

DTN: Up and Down. Includes a basic explanation of what caused all this drama in the first place, as how DTN Contributing Analyst Alan Brugler sees it.

The World (Public Radio Int'l) - Wheat prices on the rise - "If wheat prices go up, don't point the finger at wheat growers," says Steve Mercer of U.S. Wheat Associates.

8/5/10 - Russia bans wheat exports, markets end day significantly higher.

Marketwatch: Putin touches the heartland - Commentary: Ban on Russian grain exports pumps up the wheat bubble

Will there be enough grain to feed the masses? What will this do to the price of a loaf of bread? Or doughnuts?

But before people start hoarding sacks of flour, it might be a good time to review some marketplace fundamentals. According to the USDA, wheat inventories in this country are at a 20-year high. So there's plenty to draw down, and plenty to sell to markets the Russians are briefly backing out of.

Yet that certainly hasn't slowed speculation in wheat futures.

BakingBusiness.com: Russian wheat ban pushes futures prices higher

Marketwatch: Wheat's in a sweet spot, but run may not last

Bloomberg: U.S. Wheat Growers to Gain Amid Russian Drought, Gartman Says: Tom Keene

Wall Street Journal: Wheat Prices Hit Two-Year Highs Following Russian Ban

Bloomberg: Wheat Soars to 23-Month High as Russia Bans Exports; Rice Gains

Reuters: http://bit.ly/9FHHch

Bloomberg: http://bit.ly/cUjV2w

Wall Street Journal: http://bit.ly/bHirow

8/4/2010 - Local TV station 9News did a story on how the Russian drought is affecting wheat prices here in Colorado: http://bit.ly/bWKxEN

8/4/2010 - Whither ” or Wither ” the Wheat Rally? - from the Wall Street Journal http://bit.ly/9UU4bI

8/4/2010 - UPDATE 2-Russian heatwave hits activity, prices ok for now- from Reuters http://bit.ly/aP0BYP

8/4/2010 - U.S. Wheat Producers Benefit From Shortage - NPR news story http://n.pr/aAICXn

8/2/2010 - Wheat bread surpasses white in sliced bread sales: http://bit.ly/cs2dvM

7/30/2010 - Wheat prices end July with huge monthly gain http://bit.ly/a9XhUW

7/28/2010 - CRP Sign-up information from Rod Johnson, Kiowa County:

FINALLY A CRP SIGN-UP HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED from Monday, August 2 thru Friday, August 27. The County Committee has scheduled three informational meetings in the county all the same day, Tuesday August 3; 9:00 am at the Community Building in Haswell, 1:30 pm at the KA Hall in Sheridan Lake and 7:00 pm at the Fairgrounds in Eads. There are several important issues that will be discussed and will affect your bids. We will give priority to processing CRP offers for those producers who attend the meetings. This is not the way we like to do business but feel it is a necessity to get through this short sign-up period. There will be numerous handouts and serious discussions needed on making offers. This is considerably different than extensions and re-enrollments we have experienced in the past where you had to do very little. My recommendation, DON'T MISS THE MEETINGS! If you do not attend a meeting and want us to tell you what we discussed at the meetings, we will hand you lots of paper to read and put your name on a list. We will not have time to discuss all the details with each individual the first couple of weeks of signup. You will be contacted after we assist those who attend the meetings. The W.I.F.E organization has graciously agreed to furnish refreshments for all three meetings.

For other counties, please contact your local FSA office.

7/23/10 - 9News still has their harvest story, featuring the Wickstrom family farm, up on their website: http://bit.ly/cJ8blb

7/22/10 - Wheat Jumps to 13-Month High as Droughts Curb Output in Russia, Australia From Bloomberg News

7/20/2010 - Did you know that American farmers receive far less in government assistance than most developed countries? Learn more at http://bit.ly/dnnU5I

7/7/2010 - From the Fort Morgan Times: Wheat Growers Make Research Their Top Priority http://bit.ly/bip4Of

7/7/2010 - BASF Plant Science and Monsanto to expand their collaboration in maximizing crop yield, Wheat added as a fifth crop to the companies joint plant biotechnology pipeline: http://bit.ly/cYROEb

7/7/2010 - Excellent article from The Economist on Ug 99 wheat rust. This is a major reason why public and private investment in wheat investment is necessary.http://bit.ly/96QNE7

6/29/10 - From Akron News- 2010 Central Great Plains Research Station field day focuses on wheat

6/29/10 - Younggren Testifies to House Subcommittee on 2012 Farm Bill - NAWG Second Vice President Erik Younggren testified June 24 to key House Members on wheat growers' experiences with 2008 Farm Bill programs and the process the Association will go through to set 2012 Farm Bill priorities. Click here for complete story and a link to his testimony. http://bit.ly/dxOy2o

6/25/10 - Farmers from even the most remote small towns are engaging life-long city dwellers in stories of their farm through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. These conversations are at the core of building understanding of agriculture by the 98 percent of Americans not living on the farm. Improving individual effectiveness is the goal of the AgChat Foundation's first training session to help farmers be more effective in telling their personal story. The conference will be held August 30-31 in Chicago. For more information, click here.

6/25/10 - Two articles written by Aussie farm reporter Colin Bettles of Rural Press (sister organization to Farm Progress Publications in the US). Bettles visited Kansas earlier this year. A Lesson in Building National Peak Body, Cost Pressures Follow Kansas Farmers

6/24/10 - Supreme court sides with Monsanto in Roundup Ready alfalfa case. Why does this matter to wheat growers? From the Monsanto blog:

The Supreme Court decision doesn't a have direct impact on other crops, including Roundup Ready sugarbeets.

What it does is give a clear legal process to environmental challenges. A court can't order an injunction (ban) on the presumption of harm (as it did in Roundup Ready alfalfa), but must follow a four-factor test to determine whether injunctive relief is necessary. Learn more about the four-factor test (and why this ban didn't pass muster), in the official court ruling.

With companies such as Monsanto returning to wheat breeding and stating the intent to develop biotech wheat traits, farmers need to be aware of these issues.

Monsanto blog entry, with links to other news stories: http://bit.ly/chkc7N

6/23/10 - Why do we need a Farm Bill? Gene Hall has some excellent arguments for keeping America's food security, on the "Texas Agriculture Talks" blog. http://bit.ly/aKXXus

CAWG President Jerry Cooksey was interviewed by 9News on June 12 about hail losses at his family farm and around the Roggen area. bit.ly/aXN2Nk

Another article about recent hail storms by the Greeley Tribune bit.ly/csngRS

Ag Journal: Local price spread dulls wheat harvest hopes. Executive Director Darrell Hanavan, CAWG Past President Ross Hansen, and CWAC Board Member Steve Beedy are interviewed in this story: bit.ly/a6Tkkj

Here's an interesting article that points to the work our U.S. Wheat Associates overseas office staff is doing:

Grain co-operative manager tells Australia they need to quickly develop an international wheat promotion and training program or risk losing export markets "Everywhere we went, there was a US Wheat Associates poster on the wall."

http://bit.ly/9MLbRB

IGC: Soy and maize expansion at the 'expense of wheat'

Wednesday June 09 2010

A huge expansion in maize and soy plantings over the past half a century has come at the "expense of wheat", and efforts need to be made to promote stability in world wheat markets, according to one expert in London.

Speaking at this week's IGC Grains Conference, Vince Peterson, vice president of the US Wheat Association, told delegates that that whilst world soy plantings have expanded by a massive 300% over the past 50 years, and the area sown to maize has increased by 57%, land sown to wheat has remained more or less stable.

Up until 1990, he noted that world wheat production had shown a linear trend, but this has since "bent downwards". By contrast, maize production has accelerated since 1990, as has been the case for soy.

He noted that major issues which have played a key role in the continual decline in wheat production include the growth of biotechnology and the increased use of oilseeds and maize for biofuel production.

The increased presence of biofuels on world markets has pushed demand for maize higher and increased profitability, making wheat a less attractive option for the world's grain producers, Peterson said.

Possible solutions

As the US Wheat Association strives to increase interest in wheat production and boost wheat market stability, Peterson explained that the easiest thing to do is "let price regulate the subject". He said that wheat price increases relative to maize and oilseeds would incentivise production, however, he added that this is not a good way to promote stability in a market which has seen many fluctuations over recent years.

Instead, Peterson suggested increasing productivity through efficiency, cost, and yield improvements. But this would undoubtedly lead to discussions about biotechnology, a sensitive subject, particularly amongst consumers, he said.

But, citing a Food Technology Survey by the International Food Information Council, Peterson noted: "77% of Americans surveyed would purchase wheat food products derived from biotechnology if pesticide use is reduced, whilst 80% would purchase it if wheat is produced in a 'sustainable' manner, i.e. by feeding more people using less land and fewer pesticides."

Centralisation of trade

He also noted that food demand is becoming increasingly focussed on regions in the Southern Hemisphere as population growth becomes centralised in Africa, Asia and South America.

He said that this ultimately means that world trade in wheat will also be focussed on these regions over the next few decades.

World wheat flour trade in 2009/10 is forecast to rise by 3% to 12.6 million tonnes, marking a new record. But he said that political intervention (e.g. through import tariffs) and corruption within markets, are artificially affecting trading flow patterns.

"There are lots of problems in this arena interfering with the market," he said, adding that a positive conclusion to a WTO Agreement would promote economic growth in all areas.

This would, he continued, "reduce governmental interference", which discourages investment and stifles free and open trade.