Drought conditions boost wheat prices
The extreme dry conditions in wheat country have boosted the price for wheat to levels that have not been seen since May 1996. Fortunately, Marion County farmers were able to harvest a wheat crop this year and some of them will benefit from the higher prices.
One reason that not all area farmers will see higher incomes this year is that much of the wheat harvested has already been marketed. Wheat crossing the scales at the local elevator could have been sold for $3 per bushel at harvest time, a price that was higher than most farmers had seen in several years.
On Aug. 30, the price of wheat passed the $4 mark and on Sept. 9, the price was posted at $4.74 per bushel.
Western Kansas counties saw wheat production cut dramatically because of the dry winter and spring conditions. As the harvest figures came in, the wheat industry began to realize that the wheat production was gong to be significantly less than first estimated and the prices began to rise in late spring.
By the end of August, the wheat harvest progressed into Canada, and the production numbers that came out of that country also were being reported much less than first predicted. Recently, Australia is reporting lower production figures than first guessed.
Cooperative Grain and Supply in Hillsboro reports close to 60 percent of this year's receipts have been sold. Many local farmers are asking the "could have," "should have," questions.
How high will prices go? How fast will they come down when the market reaches its peak? If the markets stay strong, should I plant more acres of wheat for next year?
If you're not a farmer these answers are easy. If your household income depends on these answers, this is a stressful time. Dry, hot weather this summer has the current conditions for planting wheat looking questionable. Normal rain this fall will surely produce the hopes for an optimistic crop next summer.
According to Lyman Adams, general manager of Cooperative Grain and Supply, all crop prices benefited from the drought conditions. The conditions were wide-spread in the Midwestern states, as far south as Texas, throughout Kansas, and as far north as South Dakota and Montana.
"The good news is that we had a wheat crop in this part of the state," said Adams. "But the bad news is that we sold about 60 percent of that wheat before the end of July."
Adams said that the fall crops, such as milo, soybeans, and corn, are very marginal because of the drought. "It is just a mixed bag on the whole thing," he said.
