MARION, Kan. (RFD News) — Wheat futures saw sharp movement this week as drought conditions continued taking a toll on much of the winter wheat crop across the Plains.
StoneX economist Mike Castle says repeated temperature swings, combined with dry conditions, have created difficult growing conditions for producers.
“These back and forth, you know, whip sawing temperatures where we’ve seen multiple rounds of below freezing temps, especially with this crop being dry, maturing ahead of schedule, makes that impact even worse. It is interesting to note, you know, that we are seeing the Kansas wheat tour here this week. So we’ll kind of get some more anecdotal evidence of that, seeing folks actually out in the field. What we’ve seen so far is pretty ugly. So it’s kind of reflective of that.”
Castle says U.S. wheat is also facing pressure from cheaper grain supplies on the global market.
“We just look considerably more expensive, especially when you look at somewhere like Russia, just eastern Europe in general, whether that’s Ukraine, even stuff from the EU, where they’ve had bigger crops, obviously, they’re, again, facing a growing season of their own. For right now, it looks like Russian production should be pretty big in the year ahead. And that means a lot of competition and a lot of very cheap competition.”
Those concerns come as scouts wrap up the annual Hard Red Winter Wheat Tour across Kansas this week.
Dr. Sean Finnie with the Wheat Quality Council joined us on Thursday’s Market Day Report with another update from the road.
In his interview with RFD News, Finnie says tour participants continued seeing drought damage and disease pressure in fields across Kansas. However, he says yields improved closer to Wichita.
Finnie also discussed the resilience of the wheat industry despite difficult growing conditions.
“Something that resonated with me was just the resiliency of the industry,” Finnie told RFD News. “If this happened 20 to 30 years ago, I don’t think the crop would be as strong as it actually is. I think all the investments that the industry has made in research and education really does pay off. This is a prime example of that.”
Looking ahead, Finnie says he is preparing for the spring wheat tour, scheduled to begin in North Dakota later this summer.
