Wildfires and severe drought have killed at least 20 percent of wheat crops in Russia, suddenly improving what was projected to be a low income year for Oregon and other U.S. wheat farmers.

   “Prior to harvest we predicted we’d have plenty of grain in our inventory available for purchase,” which would lower the price per bushel, said Tammy Dennee, executive director of the Oregon Wheat Growers League. “This situation with Russia lets us know we are truly an elastic, expanding and contracting market, affected daily by the global market.”

   On June 21, the price for a bushel of wheat in Oregon was $4.55 A bushel is about 60   pounds of grain, which would fill a five-gallon bucket.

   At the end of June, the Russian drought struck, withering crops and spreading wildfires.

   Spike in U.S. prices

   A month later, wheat prices in the U.S. spiked.

   In Oregon, prices have jumped $2 and are currently $6.55 a bushel. Projections show   that prices will be $6.75 a bushel in October and $6.85 in November.

   “Two dollars is a lot, a nickel is a lot when you’re on a very tight margin like farmers   operate on today,” Dennee said.

   Many Klamath County grain producers didn’t plant wheat this year. Noonan Farms, an organic farm, planted some, a manager said. Umatilla County in northern Oregon is the largest wheat-producing county in Oregon.

   Russia is one of the top wheat exporters in the world, along with China, India and the United States. With nearly a quarter of its wheat crops killed, the world supply has been depressed about 1.6 percent, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, causing prices for the other major wheat exporters to increase.  

   Increase nationwide

   The U.S. Department of Agriculture projects U.S. growers will produce 2.3 billion bushels of wheat this year. Last year, when prices were $4.85 a bushel, producers harvested about 2.2 billion bushels, and in 2008, when prices were $6.78 a bushel, growers harvested about 2.5 billion bushels.

   On Wednesday, the Russian government extended a grain export ban that started mid-August in an effort to stabilize its domestic market. Now the ban will be in place into next year, and possibly into the next planting season.

   “Our farmers in the United States are subject to a global marketplace,” Dennee said . “When there’s a catastrophe like the Russia drought situation, it really draws attention to the sensitivity of the overall agricultural supply and demand.

   “The overseas buyers who were looking to Russia to fill some of their need are now forced to look at some other crop.”