E-Malt.com News article: 2050

USA: A soft market and increasing demand for barley has prompted winter wheat producers to plant their smallest acreage since 1962, Idaho States Man reported on January 13. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday estimated farmers committed only 720,000 acres to winter wheat this fall, down 40,000 from a year earlier. Farmers planted 703,000 acres in in 1962.

Idaho Grain Producers Association Director Steve Johnson said the grain market is being affected by the rising presence of malt barley operators. “There´s a little more encouragement to produce other crops,” Johnson said. “In Idaho, we´re seeing the benefits of good barely contracts through Anheuser-Busch, Modello and Great Western. They´re competing to get the supplies and offering good contracts.”

In addition, conditions and the market for wheat have been less than attractive since the mid-1990s, Weston grain grower Ray Buttars said. “One of the reasons is the lack of both topsoil and deeper soil moisture,” said Buttars, an association executive committee member. “And with the increased opportunities for growing malt barley, there´s at least an option that is more attractive to growers.” Prices last year averaged under $3.50 a bushel for wheat, but Buttars doubted the 5 percent reduction in acreage would do much to strengthen the market because of the huge amount of wheat produced worldwide.


16 January, 2004