Rising grain prices tempt farmers

Basin growers eye wheat, barley

By DD BIXBY
H&N Staff Writer

March 13, 2008

   Wheat prices are skyrocketing to never-before- seen highs even in the early months of 2008. 

   At the joint Klamath Basin Small Grain seminar March 4, Raleigh Curtis, manager of Mid-Columbia Producers in Moro, Ore., said the prices averaged $12.20 over the last 12 months and were the highest in history — and current monthly prices were going even higher. 

   The high prices over the last two years, he said, have been driven by weather that dried up or froze out crops in places like the Midwest and central United States , reducing world harvest reserves. 

   Ron Greenbank, manager at the Newell Grain Growers Association, echoed Curtis, saying the prices are the highest he’s seen in 31 years. 

   For the last seven years, the world has eaten more wheat than was produced, Greenbank said. 

   Greenbank thinks another factor that may be driving the reduction in world wheat reserves is the shift to corn production for ethanol. 

   Although the current prices are chart toppers and only seem to get bigger, Curtis warned the more than 30 seminar participants not to try and top the market. 

   “The goal (of marketing the crop) should be a specific, stable rate of return,” he said. 

   No local increase yet 

   About 80 percent — 30 growers — at the Newell co-op are growing wheat. Although Greenbank hasn’t seen an increase yet in local wheat production, he’s hoping to see more growing once farmers get closer to planting season around April. 

   Lynn Long, a local wheat farmer at the Merrill grain seminar, was glad to hear a recognized expert in the market like Curtis speak. 

   Marketing needed 

   “What wheat growers most desperately need in the Klamath Basin is expertise in marketing the crop,” he said. 

   At the seminar and in a phone interview, Long talked about bringing in marketing advisers, a common practice in the Midwest and one that’s always on his list of options.
   Farmers get what’s left over after the middle men at the elevators, transportation and storing levels get their share, Long said. An adviser could help ensure that the farmers don’t get nickeled and dimed into allowing “the middle man to collectively take a bigger share of the crop.” 

   A Texas A&M Agricultural Communications study reported that from a loaf of bread, the wheat farmers’ share is about 7 percent or 11 cents. 

   Curtis offered a broad, global perspective on the wheat market, which Dan Golden, a local farmer at the seminar, said was refreshing, as growers sometimes hone in too completely on issues in the Basin. 

   The seminar, overall, was excellent and offered local growers some important information, Golden said. 

   Pleased with outcome 

   Rich Roseburg, a Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center agronomist, said the seminar in Merrill was the first to focus on one specific crop, and he was pleased with the outcome and the interaction from those attending. 

   The Klamath Small Grain Seminar is an annual event co-hosted by the Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center and the Intermountain Research and Extension Center .

Side Bar

Grains 3 percent of local ag sales

   In 2007, small grains, which include wheat and barley, made up 3 percent of all agricultural sales in the Basin at $7.5 million. 

   Klamath Basin Research and Extension Center agronomist Rich Roseburg estimated that wheat made up the majority, — between two-thirds and three-fourths — of small grain production in the Basin. 

   Almost all wheat is grown on Klamath Project lands, Roseburg said. 

   On the Oregon side, between 6,000 and 10,000 acres of wheat are grown; the California side grows about 16,000 acres of wheat. Predominant types are spring and hard red wheat varieties. 

   About 14,000 acres of barley are grown in the Basin and, while it brings a lower price, barley is a much hardier plant, Roseburg said. 

   Although winter varieties can work well in the Basin, they are much more susceptible to frost damage in the early spring. 

   OSU Cereal Extension Specialist Mike Flowers presented Klamath Basin trial results last week at the Klamath Basin Small Grain seminar. 

   While maximum yields of winter wheat were a couple bushels per acre more than spring wheat, the minimum yield differences were more than 10 bushels per acre less for winter than spring wheat. 

   The mean averaged winter wheat at 68.3 bushels per acre and spring at 77.5 in Klamath Falls . At the Tulelake location, winter wheat was 115.7 and 108.5 for spring.

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