July 12, 2018
Changes Coming to Wheat Letter Delivery
By Steve Mercer, USW Vice President of Communications
For many years, “Wheat Letter” has been published every other Thursday on our website (www.uswheat.org) and delivered to subscribers via email. This predictable schedule has benefits but we have found that our readers need certain news or market analysis days before the next scheduled publication date.
We will soon adjust how “Wheat Letter” articles are published to create the flexibility to report important news and information quickly while still providing a regular mailing. After July 16, 2018, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) will post individual new “Wheat Letter” articles, such as an analysis of a new USDA report or wheat industry news, first in a blog format on www.uswheat.org. We will also feature these new posts on our social media pages, https://www.facebook.com/uswheat and https://twitter.com/uswheatassoc.
In addition, USW will continue sending a summary email featuring all the “Wheat Letter” blog posts from the past two weeks on the regular every-other-Thursday schedule. If you would like to receive these emails subscribe here.
USW wants to continue improving how we communicate with our domestic stakeholders and our overseas customers. My team would very much like to hear your suggestions; feel free to send me a note at smercer@uswheat.org any time.
And, please look for more changes to come – not too far in the future.
USDA Decreases World Wheat Production on Dry Conditions
By Stephanie Bryant-Erdmann, USW Market Analyst
USDA raised 2018/19 U.S. wheat production to 51.2 million metric tons (MMT), up 8 percent from 2017/18, if realized. Along with the increase, USDA also released its first U.S. by-class forecast for U.S. wheat. Increases in hard red spring (HRS), soft red winter (SRW) and soft white (SW) wheat are expected to more than offset a 12 percent year over year reduction in hard red winter (HRW). U.S. spring wheat production is expected to increase to 15.9 MMT, up 52 percent from the previous year when drought shriveled the crop. Read the full article here.
Andres Saturno Joins U.S. Wheat Associates in South American Region
U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) is happy to announce that Andres Saturno has joined its staff as a Technical Specialist in its South American region. Saturno started his position July 9, 2018, and is based in USW’s Santiago office. Read the full article here.
The Trump Administration Can Prevent the Threat of Wheat Export Losses Under CPTPP
Implementation of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) without the United States is a time bomb set to demolish more than 60 years of hard work by multiple generations of U.S. farm families to develop a large and loyal market for U.S. wheat in Japan. The U.S. government has the power, however, to defuse this device and avoid an unnecessary and costly disaster. Read the full article here.
Give U.S. Wheat Farmers the Freedom to Compete
The familiar African proverb says that when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. Unfortunately for America’s farmers, that grass is the wheat growing in their fields as the big guys in Washington, D.C., and Beijing escalate their trade fight. Read the full article here.
“Tonight’s announcement appears reckless and is not a targeted approach. We cannot turn a blind eye to China’s mercantilist trade practices, but this action falls short of a strategy.” — U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in a statement on the Trump Administration’s threat to implement new tariffs on an additional $200 billion in Chinese imports.
A Founding Member Lost. John L. Sullivan, 86, of Wallace, Nebraska, recently passed away. Throughout his life, Mr. Sullivan supported agriculture by serving as president of Nebraska-Wyoming Wheat Growers; founding member of the National Association of Wheat Growers; director and chairman of the Nebraska Wheat Board; and as a leading board member with Great Plains Wheat and Western Wheat Associates. He played a key role in the merger of those two export development organizations into U.S. Wheat Associates in 1980. We salute Mr. Sullivan for his service and send our condolences to his family.
World Food Prize Laureates. Dr. Lawrence Haddad and Dr. David Nabarro were recognized on June 25 as 2018 World Food Prize Laureates during a ceremony at USDA. Dr. Haddad and Dr. Nabarro were rewarded for their individual but complementary global leadership in elevating maternal and child undernutrition within the food security and development dialogue at national and international levels. Haddad’s and Nabarro’s work in mobilizing political will to make nutrition the focal point of development strategies came in response to a sudden, near doubling of wheat, maize and rice prices in 2007/08. Read more here.
Genome Editing. The Council on Agricultural Science and Technology has published a new paper on genome editing, a powerful new method that offers the opportunity to make rapid advances that can help overcome the challenges of population growth, resource shortages, climate change and pest prevalence to the global food supply. Read more about how the successful development of genome editing for crop and livestock improvement will benefit from science-informed, value-attentive regulation that promotes both innovation and transparency.
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates