Listen Here: Profit Matters 7-29-16
By Rural Oklahoma Network, Ken Root, & Whitney Flach
This report was produced by the Rural Oklahoma Network.
Wheat harvest is big this year in the United States and in Russia. Plains farmers hit it right for rainfall. The newest mountain range in Oklahoma is a pile of wheat near Enid showing the incredible increase over a normal year. At the same time, Russia is expecting the largest harvest since the Collapse of the Soviet Union almost 30 years ago.
Crops in several other major exporting countries also look strong. The result is very cheap wheat, which is making it weigh on the price of corn as wheat can be used as livestock feed but usually is too expensive.
Current wheat prices are close to $2 lower than the cost of production for a lot of wheat growers, but OSU Extension Grain Market Economist Dr. Kim Anderson says there?s just not much happening in the global market to cause any drastic price bumps in the near future.
Anderson says, ?We need about another $2 to get up above the cost of production for many producers. If you look on the horizon there isn’t much out there to cause prices to increase.?
With about 70% of this years wheat in the bin, Russia is expecting its largest harvest since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Anderson says crops in Ukraine, Argentina and Australia also look strong. Recent heavy rainfall has threatened the yield and quality of France?s crop, but Anderson doesn?t think the losses will be enough to make up for the extremely large surplus seen around the world. For producers back home with wheat in the bin, Anderson continues to recommend the marketing assistance loans through the FSA. He also encourages producers to plant wheat this fall but suggests not planting marginal acres.
