One item is that the 2007 world wheat crop is in development with the winter wheat crop nearing harvest and spring wheat nearing the completion of planting. This is typically a time of year when wheat prices trend lower because of the pending winter wheat harvest, which will begin filling the pipelines. However, bullish USDA reports, the uncertainty of damage to the winter wheat crop, and better than expected export sales have combined to keep prices better. Peterson said a lot depends on...

While this is good news for growers, it does not alleviate one of the biggest challenges in the farming sector today are skyrocketing production costs, Tallman said. He also joined a number of other witnesses in encouraging Senators to take cost of production, rather than just commodity price, into serious consideration. Wheat producers have received no loan deficiency or counter cyclical payments over the term of the 2002 Farm Bill because many growers have been repeatedly hit by natural...

Seeding of wheat acres began the first week of September and progressed slightly behind average through September. Dry weather the first week of October provided farmers with 6.7 days suitable for field work which pushed wheat seedings to 75 percent complete, three percent ahead of the five-year average. Expected winter wheat production up 24 percent. Wheat jointing has been ahead of normal this spring with 92 percent of the wheat jointed on April 29. Wheat condition also dropped from 77...

Farmers and custom cutters will have to run their machines slow and low to get all the wheat this harvest. But it was early enough in development that the wheat had straighten up. Overly held up pretty well but it did pickup some wheat rust and got dinged a little more by the freeze then other varieties but looks like it will still do well. Area wheat has been hit with a hard freeze, a heavy snow and a number of wheat diseases. Slower means more time in the field and more fuel burned per...

While some wheat has already been harvested in southern Oklahoma, Hodges said the normal northward progression of harvest has been delayed by damp, overcast and rainy weather. Hodges said it will still be about 10 days before Woodward area wheat producers can begin harvesting. He said wheat producers have dealt with everything from disease and army worms to weather problems such as a freeze during a critical time in the growing season and now rain delays during harvest time. He said he...