Turkey Plans to Step Up Wheat Purchases Amid Markets Turmoil
Bloomberg – 8/17/2018
Rising prices and the collapse of the lira are prompting Turkey to tap international markets to secure wheat supplies and ward off food-price inflation as part of efforts to get the nation’s economy under control. The Turkish Grain Board is planning to issue international tenders to buy the grain, according to an official at the country’s state buyer. The purchases may be made immediately after next week’s Bayram national holiday, he said.
| Read More |
Russian Traders May Speed Up Grain Exports Amid Risks of Curbs
Successful Farming via Reuters – 8/20/2018
Russian exporters may step up grain shipments in the next few months in anticipation that the government could put curbs on exports sometime after December, traders said. Speculation about potential export limits in Russia, the world’s biggest wheat exporter, pushed global wheat prices sharply higher on Friday, adding to worries about tightening global supplies after drought has cut harvests from the Black Sea to Europe and Australia. Russia’s 2018 wheat crop is forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fall to 68 million tonnes from a record 85 million tonnes in 2017.
| Read More |
OSU’s Kim Anderson Suggests U.S. Poised to Recapture Lost Share in the Global Wheat Market
Oklahoma Farm Report – 8/20/2018
When you look at the five-year average world wheat production, Dr. Kim Anderson, emeritus grain marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University, says the United States and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) are moving in lockstep. “Since the Hard-Red Winter crop is essentially harvested, I think the strength of our price is coming from the export market,” Anderson said. “And, I think probably Russia is the major player in impacting that price.”
| Read More |
Scientists Finally Crack Wheat’s Absurdly Complex Genome
The Atlantic – 8/16/2018
Scientists decoded the genome of rice in 2002. They completed the soybean genome in 2008. They mapped the maize genome in 2009. But only now has the long-awaited wheat genome been fully sequenced. That delay says nothing about wheat’s importance. It is arguably the most critical crop in the world. It’s grown on more land than anything else. It provides humanity with a fifth of our calories. But it also has one of the most complex genomes known to science. For a start, wheat’s genome is monstrously big. While the genome of Arabidopsis—the first plant to be sequenced—contains 135 million DNA letters, and the human genome contains 3 billion, bread wheat has 16 billion. Just one of wheat’s chromosomes—3B—is bigger than the entire soybean genome.
| Read More |
Scientists Investigate Low-Allergy Wheat Breeds
Food Processing – 8/21/2018
Wheat allergy sufferers will welcome the news that researchers have made another step towards breeding low-allergy wheat varieties. An international team — including Dr Angéla Juhász and Professor Rudi Appels from Murdoch University, and Professor Odd-Arne Olsen from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences — examined proteins with a proven relationship to coeliac disease, occupational asthma (baker’s asthma) or wheat-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis (WDEIA). Wheat is the world’s most cultivated crop and accounts for almost 20% of the total calories and protein consumed by humans worldwide.
| Read More |
2018 Hard Red Winter Wheat Harvest Nearing Finish Line
DTN The Progressive Farmer – 8/20/2018
As of Friday, Aug. 17, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) noted in their weekly harvest update that other than a few acres in Wyoming, the 2018 HRW harvest progress is now limited to Montana (71% complete), Washington (74% complete) and Idaho (74% complete). USW said that Washington, Oregon and Idaho continue to report a very good crop with high test weights, but generally lower protein than other HRW wheat-producing areas. Kansas finished harvest in early July and saw lower yields due to drought, but reported good quality.
| Read More |
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates