Wheat Crops in Nebraska Thrive While North Dakota’s Take A Dive.
You would think geographically Nebraska and North Dakota would be experiencing similar crop conditions this year. You'd be wrong.
I'm not slamming Nebraska for their good fortune. The only bad thing about Nebraska is that I have to drive through South Dakota to get there!
I'm glad Nebraska is enjoying a bumper crop. The last few years they've been riding the flood/drought roller coaster. This year, with the wheat harvest just about wrapped up, Nebraska is reporting higher quality in test weights and protein. The good news continues with higher yields in many portions of the state. Even better...
"Along with that, we have $6 cash wheat for the first time in a number of years,"
Just a little farther north, the same can not be said for the wheat fields of North Dakota and our neighboring Canadian provinces. Sure, the prices may be there in some cases, but the supply is not. This from AgWeek
Millers and bakers are draining wheat reserves and paying more for spring wheat used in baking, as drought shrivels crops across the Canadian Prairies and northern U.S. Plains that produce more than half of the world's supply.
Now there are ample wheat stocks all around across the world. But, if the drought continues to decimate the new supply of high-protein spring wheat that millers and bakers need to produce the foods we love, prices are going to start really jumping at the grocery store.
The U.S. spring wheat harvest is expected to drop 41% from a year ago to the lowest production in 33 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Globally, this is putting more than a pinch of salt in the baking plans of companies all around the world.
"I canceled more contracts last week than I wrote. If they don't have a crop, they have no choice," said one commercial grain buyer"
So let's cheer for Nebraska's bumper crop and hope for better Northern Plains yields in 2022.