01/16/06 Winter wheat acres down in PNW

01/16/06 Winter wheat acres down in PNW

Farm and Ranch January 16, 2005 The USDA issued its first estimate late last week of the number of winter wheat acres U.S. farmers planted last fall. USDA chief economist Keith Collins says the estimate is 41.4 million acres. Collins: "That's up 2.3% from last year. What we see when we look at the pattern of plantings is that last year we had reduced plantings in the eastern half of the United States where soft red winter wheat is planted because of poor weather. This year we saw that acreage get back in the ground. As a result of that we are seeing a little bit higher acreage for winter wheat." That rebound Collins is talking about was for soft red winter wheat for which acreage is up 19 percent from last year. Hard red winter wheat acreage, which is primarily grown in the Plains states, saw a one percent drop from 2005 and drought conditions in the southern Plains could mean even less harvested acres. USDA sees white winter wheat acreage, which is mostly in the Pacific Northwest, down one percent from last year at 4.2 million acres. While Washington, the largest wheat producer in the region saw its total winter wheat acres hold steady at one-million 850 thousand, Idaho's acres dropped three percent to 750-thousand and Oregon's winter wheat acreage declined four percent to 800-thousand. So overall PNW winter wheat seedings are down one percent from 2005 but are up one percent from 2004. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network
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