09/20/06 Club wheat premium attracts acres

09/20/06 Club wheat premium attracts acres

Farm and Ranch September 20, 2006 A premium for club wheat that has been as high as 50 cents a bushel since harvest has enticed growers to plant more of this sub class of soft white wheat this fall. That was the report at last week's meeting of the Washington Wheat Commission for the state that grows most of the club in the Pacific Northwest. For example, Keith Bailey, manager of Odessa Union Warehouse and Reardon Grain Growers, says club plantings are up in his area. Bailey: "We've probably seen a 20% to 30% increase over last year's planting." Bailey says club took some acres away from hard red winter wheat. Bailey: "We had quite a bit of an increase in hard red winter this fall however, a lot of the gentlemen who planned on planting hard red winter have gone to club just simply because the premium is there and the risk is not as great." Commissioner Dana Herron reports similar decisions made at seeding time in the central Washington area he represents. Herron: "And at the last moment the club wheat premium spiked up to about 40 cents and some of the intentions in my area changed from hard red winter to club wheat. So I do expect hard red winter wheat acres to be up substantially but also club wheat will be up substantially. And of course the immediate impact on soft white acres in my area will probably be less acres planted to soft white." The Washington Wheat Commission is expecting club demand about the same as this past year with ending stocks being drawn down at the end of the current marketing year next May. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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