Wheat steady: Bumper crop this year?

Meridian--Idaho Wheat is behind last year’s pace. Wet conditions and cold weather have slowed the crop.

So prices should be low, right? No! wheat has been one of the most dependable crops in terms of pricing this year, Meridian Broker and farmer Neil Durrant:

"Wheat is actually one of the few crops that's been kind of stable, soft white wheat. There's been a couple of other varieties that are lower, but soft white has been holding steady right now," said Durrant.

Soft white wheat in Portland is priced between 5.75 cents to 5.80 and has been steady all season. Planted acres are expected to be up this year and many farmers are looking to wheat to buffer losses from other planted crops:

"There was more wheat planted in the Valley this year. I think one of the biggest things was water, with the fall that we had and not enough water, we put wheat in to conserve a little bit of water but with the spring we have had the winter wheat crop is looking really good, which could come back and hurt us a bit if we do have a good yielding wheat crop this year and oversupply the market a bit and cause the market to drop," said Durrant.

A Good irrigation water supply, lots of rain, nearly 4 times the normal amount could push yields to near-record levels. But rust must be controlled, and Idaho needs sunshine. But so far, this crop has been a bright spot in what’s shaping up to be a challenging year.

Is there optimism?

"Famers are always looking to be optimistic, so they can say the price will be higher to justify what they are doing, In their mind." The justification that comes every harvest. For the Voice of Idaho Agriculture, I'