SASKATOON (Staff) – Higher prices have bought a few more acres of spring wheat and durum into the northern United States.
The United States Department of Agriculture forecasts overall wheat acreage will increase by about six percent to 73.1 million acres, including 52 million acres of winter wheat.
USDA predicts spring wheat acreage will increase by three percent to 17.487 million acres, while durum acreage is predicted to climb by five percent to 3.615 million.
Two percent more
In North Dakota, which accounts for half of the American dark northern spring wheat crop and 80 percent of the durum crop, farmers intend to plant two percent more of each crop, said USDA.
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“I’m not sure I buy that,” says Neal Fisher, deputy administrator of the North Dakota Wheat Commission in the state capital of Bismarck. “I thought it would be higher.”
With a late spring shaping up, Fisher said farmers in his state will have plenty of time to ponder the report.
“They could plant into or react to the report,” he said.
He said some farmers in the eastern part of the state could be wary of fusarium head blight or orange blossom wheat midge, and opt to plant competing crops.
USDA predicted barley acreage will climb by eight percent to 7.4 million acres.
