This Week’s Wheat Digest, May 22-26, 2017

NAWG Weekly Wheat Digest

The Fence Post (May 24, 2017)  Farm, Rural Groups Denounce Trump Budget
Farm, rural, conservation and nutrition groups issued dramatic statements denouncing President Donald Trump’s budget proposals for the Agriculture Department and food assistance programs, even though Trump got two-thirds of the vote in rural America and a higher percentage in some places. The groups highlighted cuts to crop insurance, conservation, food stamps and rural development, and said they would work with Congress to oppose the cuts…”Our farmer leaders agree with the National Association of Wheat Growers President David Schemm who believes MAP and FMD merit an increase in federal funding, not elimination as proposed in this budget.”

High Plains Journal (May 22, 2017) Keeping US Wheat on the World’s Dinner Table
Using our nation’s abundant land, climate and technology resources, American farmers produce enough wheat to not only handily fill our domestic consumption needs each year, but have enough left over to be a significant competitor in the world’s grocery cart. The April 2017 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report predicts U.S. exports will reach 27.9 million metric tons this year. The National Association of Wheat Growers reports more than 20 percent of the world’s total wheat exports come from the United States.

Midwest Producer (May 24, 2017) K-State Researchers Race to Stay Ahead of Wheat Blast Disease
In 2009, ambitious and newly minted with a master’s degree, Christian Cruz wanted to help wheat farmers in his native South America with a disease that has devastated the crop for nearly 30 years. And then he got the chance to make his dream a reality. The wheat blast fungus thrives in warm, wet environments, such as that found in Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and the northeast region of Argentina, where growers have struggled with it for more than three decades…He began working on the project as a doctoral student at Kansas State University, which in 2009 had received $6.5 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture to study the disease. The National Association of Wheat Growers also recently reported that the United States’ overseas sales of wheat are approximately $11.5 billion annually.

FarmTalk Newspaper (May 23, 2017) Some Farmers Looking for Bin-Buster Wheat
As wheat harvest begins to move northward across Oklahoma, some farmers in the north central part of the state could be looking at their second straight year of exceptional yields. State wheat officials say the central corridor running from Interstate 40 northward into Kansas and up to Interstate 70 contains this year’s best wheat.

KTVZ.com (May 22, 2017) Cold winter, Wet Spring Spur Wheat Disease in E. Oregon
Wheat disease is significant in Oregon, where the grain ranks among the state’s top-valued agricultural commodities. The state is known for its soft white winter wheat, most of which is exported to Asia for its use in noodles. Stripe rust arrived in the fall and spread quickly on susceptible winter and spring wheat varieties in Oregon State University test plots. Cool and wet conditions in eastern Oregon continue to favor the fungal disease, said Christina Hagerty, a wheat pathologist in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

Manitoba Co-Operator (May 23, 2017) MacAulay Not Saying if He’ll Fix U.S. Wheat-Grading Irritant
Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay has heard the Canadian grain sector’s request to fix a trade irritant over grading imported American wheat, but isn’t saying if he’ll do anything about it. Given United States President Donald Trump’s bellicose anti-trade comments, followed last month by Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s resolution to the U.S. Senate’s finance committee, the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association (WCWGA) issued a news release urging Ottawa to “harmonize regulations and ensure the free flow of wheat between Canada and the United States.”

World-Grain.com (May 25, 2017) U.S. Legislators and Farm Groups Push Vack Against Proposed Ag Budget
U.S. President Donald J. Trump on May 23 proposed a fiscal year 2018 budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture at $137 billion (budget authority), down $12 billion, or 8%, from an estimated $149 billion in F.Y. 2017, and outlined budget aims over the next 10 years that would sharply reduce expenditures and even eliminate a number of long-standing programs. Leaders of the congressional agriculture committees pushed back against several of the more draconian proposals, which were roundly panned by farm and nutrition organizations.

Digital Journal (May 25, 2017) WAWG Opposes The Administration’s Proposed Budget Cuts To Crop Insurance and Other Trade Development Programs
With the release of the Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal, the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) expresses a great deal of concern over significant reductions to risk management programs, trade development programs, and more. WAWG President Ben Adams, a wheat grower from Coulee City, Wash…WAWG Executive Director Michelle Hennings added, “Rural America could be devastated by weakening the farm bill and imposing restrictions on essential programs related to crop insurance, commodity, conservation, trade, nutrition, and economic development. Given the current economic conditions and historic low prices, now is not the time to make such drastic cuts.

FarmWeekNow.com (May 24, 2017) Wheat Tour Results Less Optimistic than USDA
It appears heavy spring rains and other factors washed away potential of the winter wheat crop at some locations. Participants of the Southern Illinois Wheat Tour, organized by the Illinois Wheat Association (IWA), estimate a weighted average yield of 61.1 bushels per acre this season. The projection represents a significant drop-off from USDA’s estimate earlier this spring of a statewide average wheat yield of 73 bushels per acre, one bushel shy of last year’s record.

KTIC (May 23, 2017) Nebraska Wheat Disappointed in Budget Proposal
Both the Nebraska Wheat Growers Association (NWGA) and the Nebraska Wheat Board (NWB) are disappointed in the proposed FY 2018 budget released by the Administration and believe parts of the request would be damaging to Nebraska’s wheat farmers. Two particular areas of concern for NWGA and NWB include cuts to crop insurance and elimination of funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD).

WATTAgNet.com (May 19, 2017) Western Kansas Hit with Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus
Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) has hit the wheat crop in western Kansas. The virus is spread by the wheat curl mite and causes stunted growth and streaks of yellowed, non-uniform discoloration, and has been known to cause 100 percent crop mortality….“Infections that occur in the fall are the most damaging, with yield losses of 50 percent or more. Spring infections may cause losses closer to 20 percent,” Kansas Wheat said.

Source: Wheat World