Wheat growers sowed 31.2 million acres of winter wheat for harvest this spring, the lowest figure since 1909 for the dominant type of U.S. wheat, according to a survey of farmers by Farm Futures. It would be a declne of 4.5 percent from last year and reflect poor profit potential of the wheat compared to other crops.
The USDA is scheduled to release its estimate of winter wheat plantings, based on a survery of tens of thousands of farmers, on Friday. It has projected an overall decline in wheat area. Winter wheat, planted in the fall and harvested in the spring, usually accounts for three-fourths of U.S. wheat production and is used in making bread and baked goods. Wheat is one of the three major U.S. field crops.
“Wet conditions and slow harvest of fall crops delayed some seedings and those fields may never have been planted given poor profit margins from wheat,” said Bryce Knorr, senior grains analyst for Farm Futures. World wheat inventories are ample following a string of bumper crops.