There’s reason for optimism, and reason for concern, as wheat farmers across Idaho prepare for another growing season.  Britany Hurst Marchant, Executive Director of the Idaho Wheat Commission said on the positive side, the Gem state has received a lot of snow this water year.

 

“Our snowpack looks pretty good, our water equivalent in that snowpack is above normal but still not super high. The good news is that we won't be in a drought and we know that we'll still be getting more snow, but we don't want to be too overly optimistic about not having any water issues going forward. This year should be great.”

 

Hurst Marchant added she’s hopeful additional winter storms in the coming weeks will continue to improve the subsoil moisture, benefiting not only for this year’s crop, but next year as well.  She added additional rain and snow is still needed in dryland parts of the state.

 

While the water situation has improved compared to 2021 and 2022, one thing that hasn’t changed is input costs.  She noted those are, unfortunately, still a concern.

 

“They're still high. A lot of that from the conflict still going on in the Black Sea region. But yeah input costs and inflation are still a real problem for this year unfortunately, so we'll see how that pans out,” Hurst Marchant noted.

 

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