Hard Red Winter

Kansas wheat fields are coming up short in a big way this year. Drought and freeze damage have pushed the expected harvest down to 196 million bushels, nearly half of what farmers brought in just last year.

Drought is hitting the Great Plains hard, pushing winter wheat production down as farmers face one of the weakest harvest outlooks in decades and futures prices rise in response.

In it’s most recent report, USDA is forecasting lower domestic wheat production.

The latest numbers from NASS show American farmers are expected to produce 1.38 billion bushels of winter wheat this year.  If that number is realized it would be a 2% increase from 2024’s harvest numbers.  As of May 1st, the national yield is expected to average 53.7 bushels per acre, ...

Congratulations to Almira, WA wheat-farmer Mike Carstensen, who was elected the U.S. Wheat Associates next Secretary-Treasurer.  Carstensen will take office this July, and serve until June 2026.   Also, at last week’s meeting in Boise, USW voted to make current Secretary-Treasurer Gary Millershaski of Lakin, KS, the next Vice Chairman, and to make current Vice Chairman Jim Pellman of McClusky, ND

According to NASS, planted Winter Wheat acres increased both across the Northwest and across the nation.  Idaho growers seeded 760,000 acres of winter wheat for the 2025 crop, unchanged from 2024, but 1% above the 2023 crop.  Oregon farmers planted 750,000 acres, up 1% from the 2024 crop and up 1% from 2023.  Washington winter...

This week Corteva unveiled a drought-resistant wheat seed that company officials said could be revolutionary in advancing more climate-resilient hybrids for a crop that’s been difficult to innovate.  The new proprietary hybrid wheat seed has the potential to increase yields by 10% while using the same amount of land and resources.  The non-GMO t...

Farmers across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho proved their fields of gold are gold medal worthy in three of the four National Wheat Yield Contest categories.

According to NASS, American farmers are expected to produce 1.17 billion bushels of winter wheat this year. The forecast, the first for winter wheat production in 2022, calls for an 8% drop from 2021. As of May 1st, the U.S. yield is expected to average 47 ...

According to NASS, the expected winter wheat crops is slightly smaller than predicted just a month ago. As of June 1st, Idaho’s winter wheat production is forecast at 59.2 million bushels, down 11% from last year. Harvested area, at 680,000 acres, is up 20,000 acres from 2020. Yiel ...