07/19/06 Leading wheat varieties

07/19/06 Leading wheat varieties

Farm and Ranch July 19, 2006 What do Stephens, Eltan and Westbred 936 have in common? They are the leading planted wheat varieties for the 2006 crop in a Pacific Northwest state; Stephens, a soft white winter in Oregon, Eltan, a soft white winter in Washington, and Westbred 936, a hard red spring wheat in Idaho. That's a new leader for Idaho where Westbred 936 moved from third in 2005 to 1st this year where its followed by Brundage, Madsen, Jefferson and Stephens. In Oregon, Stephens has been the leading variety since 1979 and accounted for nearly 35 percent of the state's planted wheat acres this year, followed by Tubbs, Oregon Clearfield 101, Madsen and Alpowa, a soft white spring. Washington reports its leading varieties by class and common soft white winter wheat dominates with 83 percent of planted acreage where Eltan is followed by Madsen, Oregon's Clearfield 101 and Tubbs. Winter Clubs are led by Bruehl, then Chukar, Edwin and Rely. The top soft white springs were Alpowa and Nick. Hard red spring wheat acreage actually topped soft white in Washington with Hank, Westbred 926 and Pronto the leaders. The top hard red winters were Finley, Buchanan, Declo and Residence. Hard red wheat acres were up throughout the region, most notably in Washington, where Wheat Commission CEO Tom Mick expects that to continue given current market prices. Mick: "I understand that quite a bit of seed has already been asked for planting this fall on the hard red. So, that is a new trend here. How long it will last I am not sure, but it is not unexpected." I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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