Exerpts From:
A Weekly Update From Your Friends at the Red River Farm Network
Monday, December 3, 2007...
KS Wheat Crop Waiting to Germinate -- The central and southern plains remain dry. Ron O'Hanlon leads Crop Quest Agronomic Services in Dodge City, Kansas. O'Hanlon says the wheat crop is waiting for some moisture to germinate. "There's a few plants that did hit some moisture and they did germinate, but even those plants are very weak because they haven't had sufficient surface moisture to even start emerging the secondary roots; a lot of these tender young plants are just surviving on that radical root that initially comes from the seed."
Too Dry -- Continued dry weather in the US Plains has supported wheat prices. World Weather Incorporated meteorologist Drew Lerner says the wheat in some parts of the southern Plains is not well established. "There are some counties in the Oklahoma Panhandle that have not seen, but a half inch of moisture since the start of the planting season." US winter wheat conditions are the worst they've been in six years. Topsoil moisture supplies in the Texas-Oklahoma Panhandle and southwest Kansas are 90 to 100 percent short to very short.
Monopoly Should End -- Canadian maltsters want their federal government to immediately introduce legislation to end the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly on barley sales by August 2008. Phil de Kemp, president of the Malting Industry Association of Canada, says farmers need to know whether the monopoly will end before they make spring planting decisions and maltsters want to secure supplies to make sales for the 2008/09 crop year.
Aussie Vote Impacts Export Market -- With the election of a new leader in Australia, there are plans to open the country's wheat export market to competition from private growers. There would still be a single wheat pool, but no requirement to export through a single desk. According to Steve Mercer of US Wheat Associates, this will result in more sales for US producers and better prices for Australian growers. "Based on what we've seen from Labor's plan, this looks like it's going to lead to genuine competition; I think few of the Australian farmers are going to miss that monopoly once they experience marketing freedom."
A Weekly Update From Your Friends at the Red River Farm Network
Monday, December 3, 2007...
KS Wheat Crop Waiting to Germinate -- The central and southern plains remain dry. Ron O'Hanlon leads Crop Quest Agronomic Services in Dodge City, Kansas. O'Hanlon says the wheat crop is waiting for some moisture to germinate. "There's a few plants that did hit some moisture and they did germinate, but even those plants are very weak because they haven't had sufficient surface moisture to even start emerging the secondary roots; a lot of these tender young plants are just surviving on that radical root that initially comes from the seed."
Too Dry -- Continued dry weather in the US Plains has supported wheat prices. World Weather Incorporated meteorologist Drew Lerner says the wheat in some parts of the southern Plains is not well established. "There are some counties in the Oklahoma Panhandle that have not seen, but a half inch of moisture since the start of the planting season." US winter wheat conditions are the worst they've been in six years. Topsoil moisture supplies in the Texas-Oklahoma Panhandle and southwest Kansas are 90 to 100 percent short to very short.
Monopoly Should End -- Canadian maltsters want their federal government to immediately introduce legislation to end the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly on barley sales by August 2008. Phil de Kemp, president of the Malting Industry Association of Canada, says farmers need to know whether the monopoly will end before they make spring planting decisions and maltsters want to secure supplies to make sales for the 2008/09 crop year.
Aussie Vote Impacts Export Market -- With the election of a new leader in Australia, there are plans to open the country's wheat export market to competition from private growers. There would still be a single wheat pool, but no requirement to export through a single desk. According to Steve Mercer of US Wheat Associates, this will result in more sales for US producers and better prices for Australian growers. "Based on what we've seen from Labor's plan, this looks like it's going to lead to genuine competition; I think few of the Australian farmers are going to miss that monopoly once they experience marketing freedom."