Port Issues Continue & Wheat Planting Down

Port Issues Continue & Wheat Planting Down. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

There has been little if any movement on the continuing port issues even though there has been a mediator assigned. The continued hold up is causing major headaches for the ag industry and others as well since not only can farmers like Bob Ekenberg not export hay but companies like Gamestop can't get their products imported.

ECKENBERG: It's really tough. You work on 35% of your budget and try every avenue to make your customers happy because they're finding new sources to supply them, other nations, and that makes it difficult. They have people to feed and economies to keep moving and they're going to other nations instead of the U.S. and unfortunately the U.S. has a strong enough economy to allow the revenue to go away.

U.S. farmers have planted about 40.5 million acres of winter wheat for harvest in 2015, down 5 percent from a year earlier, states USDA. About 29.5 million acres of red winter wheat were sown, down 3 percent the previous year. Some 7.5 million acres of the soft red winter variety were planted, down 12 percent. White winter wheat seeded area totaled 3.48 million acres, up 2 percent. Seeding began in August and by the end of September was well ahead of the five-year average; fieldwork was mostly complete by the middle of November.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.