Progress was slightly behind normal during the first part of the month due primarily to below normal temperatures, but was ahead of normal by the end of the month. Harvest was underway in the southern-most portions of the growing area. In Colorado, scattered hail has caused some damage but the beneficial moisture surrounding these storms has been positive. Ohio's crop progress was well ahead of the usual pace, and the majority of the acreage is in fair to good condition. Forecasted head...

However, there will likely be plaques at the offices noting, for instance, that the wall-panel boards are made of wheat straw, a farming byproduct that has typically been burned after harvest. It stems from an environmental protection strategy, announced in October that includes a commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10 percent from 2005 levels by 2010. Financial services firm Wachovia Corporation will go for another kind of green in November, when it begins opening new...

AP 2007-06-18 02:25:01 - ZHENGXIN, China (AP) - Half a century after Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward brought irrigation to the arid grasslands in this remote corner of northwest China, the government is giving up on its attempt to make a breadbasket out of what has increasingly become a stretch of scrub and sand dunes. AP 2007-06-18 02:25:01 - ZHENGXIN, China (AP) - Half a century after Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward brought irrigation to the arid grasslands in this remote corner of...

Overall, five percent of the nation's wheat was harvested as of Sunday, compared to 17% at the same date a year ago and 10% for the previous five-year average. Corn conditions changed little over the past week, as 77% of the nation's crop is rated in good to excellent shape, compared to 78% a week ago. Likewise, sorghum plantings jumped in the past seven days, reaching the average progress pace of 73%, just under last year's progress at this point in the year. Seventy percent of the...

Yields out of Oklahoma are lower than previously anticipated, and harvest delays due to substantial rainfall in the Great Plains continue to bring quantity and quality concerns for this year's crop. By staff and wire reports. Prices also are nearing $6 a bushel at local elevators. July wheat closed at $6 a bushel on the Kansas City Board of Trade, said Shelia Summers, the board of trade's vice president of marketing. At Irsik and Doll Elevator in Hutchinson on Thursday, the wheat price was...