Community Chat

[gardenman]

Wheat prices may not rise too much. It's still not planting season in most of the US and farmers choose what to plant about now. Locally, farmers tend to rotate soybeans and corn as soybeans are nitrogen-fixing and leave nitrogen nodules in the soil that they can then let the corn use the next season when the corn is planted where the soybeans were the previous season. That limits the amount of fertilizer needed by the corn. If farmers expect wheat prices to be high in the fall, they'll plant more wheat in the spring. Fields they may have been planning to use for corn, soybeans, etc. may now get converted over to wheat fields. Which could lead to higher corn/soybeans prices in the fall.

Farming is a bit of a gamble, and you plant the crops that you hope will give you the biggest return at the lowest cost at harvest. With everyone talking about wheat hitting record highs in the fall, a lot of farmers will be tempted to plant it in the spring.

[Luvsmyfam]

@drizzellla 4.89 for a loaf of bread?holy moly!and I thought 2.99 for wheat sara lee was bad.may I ask what state do you live in?I'm in illinios

[Luvsmyfam]

@Jordan2 I feel the same!good one!

[teganslaw]

That's expensive: $4.89 for a loaf of bread. It has to be a designer brand, not the generic one. Average prices aren't THAT high. 

[Cakers3]

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@gardenman wrote:

Wheat prices may not rise too much. It's still not planting season in most of the US and farmers choose what to plant about now. Locally, farmers tend to rotate soybeans and corn as soybeans are nitrogen-fixing and leave nitrogen nodules in the soil that they can then let the corn use the next season when the corn is planted where the soybeans were the previous season. That limits the amount of fertilizer needed by the corn. If farmers expect wheat prices to be high in the fall, they'll plant more wheat in the spring. Fields they may have been planning to use for corn, soybeans, etc. may now get converted over to wheat fields. Which could lead to higher corn/soybeans prices in the fall.

Farming is a bit of a gamble, and you plant the crops that you hope will give you the biggest return at the lowest cost at harvest. With everyone talking about wheat hitting record highs in the fall, a lot of farmers will be tempted to plant it in the spring.

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@gardenman   While corn/soybeans are the top 2 crops, the change to planting more wheat is not that simple.

According to the 3/22 USDA report including market watch, there is only a projected 2% increase in wheat production in the US this year.

Also the main 3 types of wheat are not planted at the same time of year; winter wheat, spring wheat, and durum.

Since the 1996 Farm Act reduced the requirement for farmers to maintain a base crop, wheat production declined significantly.

What the US can produce now is not going to decrease the cost to the consumer today.

Also consider the areas such as Africa, SE Asia, and parts of the sub-Saharan where wheat production is limited but population and demand increases steadily.

So far the increase in prices for bread, e.g., have not diminished conumer purchases.

[drizzellla]

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@Luvsmyfam wrote:

@drizzellla 4.89 for a loaf of bread?holy moly!and I thought 2.99 for wheat sara lee was bad.may I ask what state do you live in?I'm in illinios

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I live in Pennsylvania. It is run of the mill bread made by Arnold bread. Certainly not gourmet

[Duckncover]

I hope we don't start seeing the same hoarding behavior that took place when the pandemic began...no reason for it. It seems there is no shortage of product...but some feel if you buy lots of everything now, it is cheaper since prices will be so much higher when you buy it later. I think they will be putting limits on things again if that happens. 
Recently, have you seen any limits on groceries or other things where you live? 

[TW]

Everything is getting insanely expensive.  Companies are using the 'COVID excuse' to charge insane prices while making Billions.

[Kitty Galore]

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@Isobel Archer wrote:

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@Snowpuppy wrote:

The US and Canada import 0 wheat.

We are self sufficient but shortages on the world market mean there is a huge financial incentive to export more than usual.

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The problem is fertilizer - which is made from natural gas - which we are trying to eliminate here.

So no we are not self sufficient - although we could be.

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And we almost were 😉   thats the sad part.

[Kitty Galore]

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@Jordan2 wrote:

What's not going up in price? Is breathing and walking still free?

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@Jordan2 😂Better do it while you can !