By DOUG SCHMITZ

Iowa Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Low prices, extreme weather, and trade disruptions have contributed to current wheat and straw shortages in the United States, according to small-grains experts.

“The two overarching reasons that wheat plantings are down are low prices and extreme weather,” said Caitlin Eannello, director of communications for the National Assoc. of Wheat Growers (NAWG) in Washington, D.C. “I would also say that trade disruptions are impacting planting.”

According to the USDA annual Acreage report released June 28, U.S. wheat plantings are estimated at 45.6 million acres, down 5 percent from last year and the lowest all wheat planted area on record since records began in 1919. Eannello noted the USDA March 29 annual Prospective Plantings report stated farmers in 2019 intended to plant 4 percent fewer acres.

According to the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) June 11 report, 2019/20 wheat supplies are down, with lower beginning stocks partly offset by slightly higher production. Beginning stocks are down 25 million bushels on increased 2018/19 exports.

The USDA said Ohio winter wheat growers planted 470,000 acres of wheat, 20,000 acres under last year. Area harvested and to be harvested totaled 420,000 acres, down 7 percent from last year. In the USDA July Ohio Small Grains Forecast, released July 11, the state’s 2019 winter wheat production is forecast at 26.9 million bushels.

The report said Ohio winter wheat yield is forecast at 64 bushels per acre, down 11 from last year. As of June 30, 7 percent of the crop was harvested. The crop condition was rated 27 percent good to excellent, compared with 79 percent at the same time last year.

Brad Reynolds, director of communications for the Ohio Corn & Wheat Assoc., in Delaware, said wheat acres are down in the state this year. “Ohio had an unusually wet fall last year that delayed crop harvest,” he explained. “This delay caused our soft red winter wheat to not get planted, in many cases.

“Those farmers who were able to got it planted, then experienced a wet winter with less snowfall than normal. This also hurt the wheat. The wheat that emerged was then met by more and more rain.”

Reynolds said based on farmers’ reported intentions, the USDA estimated Ohio was going to plant 500,000 acres of wheat.

“Estimates show that Ohio farmers planted around 460,000 acres, many of which will not make it to harvest because of winterkill or quality issues and decreased yield,” he said. “The areas of the state less affected by the oversaturation of rain are reporting that yields are in the normal range.”

However, Illinois winter wheat harvested area in 2019 is forecast at 590,000 acres, up 30,000 from the previous year, the state’s July 11 crop production report said: “The winter wheat yield is forecast at 63 bushels per acre, down 3 bushels from 2018. Production is forecast at 37.2 million bushels, up 1 percent from last year.”

Danny Rubin, president of the Illinois Wheat Assoc., told Farm World part of the downtrend in overall wheat acreage is not only the low prices, but all the extra work and time required for wheat, followed by double-crop soybeans.

“Also, the fall of 2018 was very wet in many areas of Illinois and was difficult to get the land in very good condition for seeding wheat, which, as everything turned, stayed wet from fall all the way through wheat harvest,” he said. “All in all, wheat yields were decent, considering all the wet weather, but below average in most cases.”

According to the USDA Tennessee Small Grains Forecast, also released July 11, the state’s winter wheat production forecast continues to show a decline. “Tennessee farmers expect to produce 14.9 million bushels of winter wheat from 225,000 acres for harvest this season. At this level, production would be down 20 percent from 2018 and down 1 percent from the June forecast.

“Based upon crop conditions as of July 1, growers expect a yield of 66 bushels per acre, up 1 bushel from 2018 and down 1 bushel from last month’s forecast,” the report added.

Like Eannello, Tyson Raper – University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture assistant professor of cotton and small grain production – said there were two reasons the Tennessee winter wheat acreage is down: “First, market prices were not ideal during the planting window. But more importantly, we had an extremely wet fall during 2018.

“Many struggled to harvest crops and by the time they finished, there was little to no time to plant wheat,” he said. “I suspect, with current market conditions, more winter wheat will likely be planted during the fall of 2019. Still, that will require a more favorable harvest season.”

Rubin said straw shortages may be due to the lack of wheat acres and the wet weather at harvest. “There seems to be more and more of a trend of guys baling cornstalks, which I’m sure will continue this year and works pretty well as a replacement.”

Reynolds said Ohio is seeing an increased demand for straw at a time when there are not as many fields to bale, with many farmers filling their contracts but not expecting much carryover.

“Farmers who are facing a shortage of straw are already planning different avenues to overcome a shortage,” he explained. “They are baling what they can for bedding and to ensure that livestock will have ample forage moving forward.

“The agriculture community is working together, farmer helping farmer, to overcome the many challenges of this year.”