U.S. Winter Wheat Forecast Down About 20 Percent

The historic drought continues to impact America as well as most other parts of the world, although the east-asian monsoon cycle looks good to go for this year (thank God...try to imagine 2-billion-plus people starving at once on the backs of a catestropic rice failure).

Nevertheless, the wheat/corn belts of the planet will be facing hard times not seen in decades this year and vastly reduced crop yields.

Love n' kisses,

-ex-farmboy Silent Thunder

U.S. Winter Wheat Forecast Down About 20 Percent
May 15th, 2009

Via: AP:

The nation’s farmers are expected to harvest about 20 percent less winter wheat this season, in part because of fewer planted acres and exacerbated by floods and other weather conditions, the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service said.

Nationwide, winter wheat production was forecast at 1.5 billion bushels, down 20 percent from last year. The nation’s production is expected to come from 34 million acres with average yields of 44 bushels per acre. Winter wheat acreage this season is down 14 percent.

“The drought really got Texas and it was the freeze that finished up the better Oklahoma wheat-producing areas. And southern Kansas was touched by the freeze as well,” said Mike Woolverton, grain marketing economist at Kansas State University.

More at link (AP via google):
www.google.com...





[edit on 5/15/09 by silent thunder]

reply to post by silent thunder



S&F. Good catch, farmboy.

Many don't get it, but anything that negatively affects our food supply right now is really bad news...

I'd assume the price of, well everything will go up.

Theres got to be a solution to problems like this, just can't think of any right now... but we need one.

as a former commodity's trader I can tell you most agriculture commodity's get a false price scare prior to harvest so prices go up and farmers can get enough money to cover their nut

Originally posted by genius/idoit
as a former commodity's trader I can tell you most agriculture commodity's get a false price scare prior to harvest so prices go up and farmers can get enough money to cover their nut

Well, be that as it may, there is no doubt that we are in the midst of a rather severe global drought at the moment and that in absolute terms crop yields will be lower than usual this year. I'm not claiming the Third Hoseman is bearing down on us quite yet, but there really is a thing called "drought" that hits now and then and this is one of those times in a rather shocking number of places.