MINOT, N.D. – Foul weather and sagging market prices for wheat may be why farmers in North Dakota planted a record amount of oilseeds this year, state agriculture officials say.
But the acreage reduction in wheat wasn’t as bad as officials predicted in March.
“Farmers are switching to alternative crops. People are trying to diversify,” said Ken Swanson, vice-president of the National Sunflower Association.
North Dakota farmers planted 11 percent fewer acres of all wheat this year compared to 1996, according to a report released recently by the North Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service.
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Farmers in the state planted 8.6 million acres of spring wheat this year, up from the 7.7 million acres projected in the March U.S. Department of Agriculture planting intentions report. However, it is 10 percent less than last year and the lowest level since 1991. Farmers planted about 2.7 million acres of durum, about 100,000 acres more than the March report estimated but again 10 percent less than in 1996.
Acres not planted with wheat were planted with oilseeds. About 500,000 acres went to canola, which is a 127 percent increase from last year and the highest level since estimates began in 1991. Oil sunflower acres jumped 28 percent to 1.15 million, and soybeans rose 53 percent to a record 1.3 million acres.
Flaxseed and alfalfa acres also increased. Other crops showing increases in acreage were oats, dry edible beans and sugar beets. Fewer acres went to barley, corn and hay.
The trend to less wheat and more soybeans was reflected across the U.S. Keith Collins, chief economist at USDA, attributed that in part to the farm law passed last year by Congress that removed many government requirements on what farmers can plant. Farmers now respond to the marketplace, rather than to government subsidies.
“I don’t think under the old farm bill we would have seen these numbers of soybeans,” Collins said. “If you have flexibility, the dominant factor is relative prices.”
Indeed, the June price for soybeans was $8.22 (U.S.) per bushel, compared to $7.41 this time last year and $5.68 two years ago.
The cash price Monday for spring wheat was $3.45 a bushel at Barthold Farmers Elevator Co. A year ago, when demand for wheat was higher and supply was low, the price was $5.50.
Higher yields wanted
Jim Peterson, marketing director for the North Dakota Wheat Commission, said he hopes farmers can get good yields this year so that the state can come close to last year’s wheat production despite fewer acres. But flooding, a devastating spring blizzard and recent weeks of hot, dry weather have left many farms around the state in disarray.
Kent Mckay, area agronomist at the North Central Research Extension Center south of Minot, said about 20 percent of the crops in the spring wheat region have lost yield because of a lack of rain.
“Normally, as we look at the end of June, the first of July, normally we’re very optimistic. But right now, we got a lot of crop that’s very short and it’s going to need a very forgiving July to give us that 25-bushel crop.”
Spring wheat acres expected to be harvested in the state are pegged at 8.5 million, an 11 percent decrease from last year. The durum harvest is estimated at 2.65 million acres, down 10 percent from 1996.
In its weekly report July 7 the state said 43 percent of the spring wheat crop was rated good or excellent, compared to 45 percent last week. Twenty-six percent of the durum crop was rated good or excellent, compared with 34 percent last week.
