EU Heading for Large Wheat Crop Despite Early Summer Heatwave
Reuters – 07/19/2019
The European Union is set for a larger wheat harvest this summer as a heatwave in late June which wilted some crops had a less severe impact than initially feared, traders and industry officials said on Friday. “The heatwave caused a late crop loss of a couple of million tonnes but overall we are still facing a big crop and big export supplies in the leading producers France, Germany, Britain and Poland,” one German trader said. EU wheat was devastated by drought in summer 2018 but weather this year was better. In the EU’s largest producer France, farmers had harvested 33% of the soft wheat crop by July 15, up from 9% a week earlier although behind the 64% done a year ago. “In France, the harvest is looking better than expected. Yields are very good despite the heatwave,” one trader said. After production expectations were trimmed following the late-June heatwave with record temperatures, decent harvest yields were encouraging market participants to raise forecasts again to 38 million tonnes or higher, up from around 34 million last year. Wheat protein readings were generally at 11% or above, marking an improvement from early harvesting on the west coast that showed some protein content below the 11% minimum usually required for milling markets, traders said.
U.S. Senators Demand Grain Access to Canada
The Western Producer – 07/18/2019
Four American senators want Canada’s grain industry to “level the playing field” when it comes to the trade of wheat across the United States-Canadian border. Senators Tina Smith (Minnesota), John Hoeven (North Dakota), Kevin Cramer (North Dakota) and Steve Daines (Montana) signed a letter dated July 8, arguing that Canada needs to change its grain grading and variety registration system to allow the import of more wheat and durum from their states. “The ability for our growers to export wheat of domestic origin to Canada has been long sought as a measure to level the playing field for our producers,” the senators wrote in a letter to Gregg Doud, U.S. chief agricultural trade negotiator. “Access to Canada’s market will continue to be inhibited based on Canada’s requirement that strictly limits the varieties of wheat that can be included in its premium classes, such as Canadian Western Red Spring (CWRS) and Canadian Western Amber Durum (CWAD).”
U.S. – China Officials Discuss Trade: Mnuchin Eyes Possible In-Person Talks
Reuters – 07/19/2019
U.S. and Chinese officials spoke by telephone on Thursday as the world’s two largest economies seek to end a year-long trade war, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggesting in-person talks could follow. Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer spoke with their Chinese counterparts over the phone, Lighthizer’s office said on Thursday, following earlier comments by the Treasury secretary in an interview on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Chantilly, France. The United States and China have been embroiled in a tit-for-tat tariff battle since July 2018, as Washington presses Beijing to address what it sees as decades of unfair and illegal trading practices. China has countered that any deal needs to be fair and equitable, leaving the two sides apparently still far from an agreement to end the back-and-forth that has roiled global supply chains and upended financial markets. “Right now we’re having principal-level calls and to the extent that it makes sense for us to set up in-person meetings, I would anticipate that we would be doing that,” Mnuchin told Reuters.
Bob Dole Wheat Variety Proves Winner on Prairie
The Hutchinson News – 07/18/2019
Bob Dole is outstanding in the field. A new hard red winter wheat variety announced in early 2018 as being named for the former U.S. Senate majority leader from Kansas and 1996 presidential candidate performed well in this year’s harvest. “It is the No. 1 wheat in the state yield trials in Kansas and Oklahoma, both,” said Tom Clayman, an owner of Kauffman Seeds Inc. of Hutchinson.
“It was No. 1 in Reno County,” he said, and consistently in the top five in other locations. “It’s having a phenomenal year,” Clayman said. “We’ve had a lot of dryland production here,” Clayman said, and fields were producing 90 bushels per acre or more. “It’s a little taller, but it’s extremely good yielding.” “It’s just like the senator, it’s really, really good,” Clayman said Wednesday. “I am pleased to know that ‘my’ wheat is doing so well this harvest. Of course, I’ve got it easy — my name is on the wheat but the farmers are doing the real work,” Dole said in a response Wednesday to The News. The wheat variety for the Central Plains was developed by Kansas State University and the name was announced by Syngenta and the Kansas Wheat Commission last year. It is an AgriPro brand wheat variety.
Farmers Begin Wheat Harvest Despite This Years Floods
NTV-ABC – 07/18/2019
Severe weather and floods in Nebraska have caused a lot of delays for farmers across the state, but now that we’ve had some dry spells farmers are finally able to start harvesting their wheat. Despite battling everything from flooding to severe weather this season farmers are getting ready to harvest their wheat with an open mindset. “All winter long, it looked pretty tough,” said farmer Daren Niemeyer. “I was pretty nervous about it.” If you’d have asked farmers in southern Nebraska earlier this year on whether they’d have a good yield for their wheat crop this season, they likely would have shared the same answer. “You know I would have wondered if we were even going to cut any wheat,” said Niemeyer. However as harvest season approached and weather cooperated enough for Ag producers to get to into their fields, some were pleasantly surprised. “Hindsight’s twenty–twenty,” said Niemeyer. ” We should have went full bore on everything and the wheat, I think would have been a little better even what it is.” Farmer Daren Niemeyer began cutting wheat earlier this week and although there’s some good crop in his field, he said a late harvest is providing a number of challenges. “Acreage wise, we’re a little bit down from where we normally are,” said Niemeyer. “But, the yields are definitely better than they were last year,” he said.
Source: U.S. Wheat Associates