Wheat Glut

2016 was a year for the record books because Idaho had the highest wheat yield in the nation according to Blaine Jacobson of the Idaho Wheat Commission. In fact, he told me:“Last year was incredible for wheat production. As an example, Idaho averaged 91 bushels per acre which was not only an all time record for Idaho, but Idaho led all of the wheat growing states. Idaho is number one in wheat production in the United States, in terms of the number of bushels per acre.” 

 

That's the good news. Here's the bad. Most of Idaho's bumper wheat crop never left the state. It's still in Idaho, in grain silos, in bins, under tarps… anywhere and any way that the wheat can be stored. Until demand and prices are above the breakeven mark Jacobson said: It’s good and bad. We had just a wonderful crop in Southern and Eastern Idaho, the yields were high and production was high. That said, not only did Idaho have a record yield. So did Oregon, Washington, Colorado,Nebraska, Texas, Kansas. Last year was a great year for all states but resulted in over abundant inventories of wheat. As Jacobson said, world wide we have a lot of wheat in the inventory. Furthermore Russia and Australia had a great year. Clark Johnston, a grain marketer with Agrisource/JC Management: “Is there a glut on the world Market? Yeah there is. 5,000,000 bushels in southeast Idaho alone.”