Walla Walla Valley sees above-average wheat harvest : USA
The wheat harvest in Walla Walla Valley is nearing completion, with 95% of the crop harvested by early September. The 2024 harvest is expected to finish by mid-month, slightly longer than usual due to high-quality yields and weather-related delays. Early yields were 5-20% better than average, comparable to 2022’s record. Despite high yields, grain prices remain low due to carryover from last year and storage challenges.
Wheat harvest season in the Walla Walla Valley is coming to a close. The larger-than-average harvest began with wheat arrivals at grain elevators in the last week of June.
Cory Christensen, the grain merchant for Northwest Grain Growers, said the 2024 wheat harvest is expected to wrap up by mid-September.
“That’s a little longer than the average, but we’re happy to have it over last year’s poor, drought-stricken crop,” Christensen said in an email.
In July, the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin reported that early yields from this year’s wheat harvest season were 5% to 20% better than average, and comparable to the record-breaking soft white wheat yields from 2022.
At that time, roughly 10% of the yield was reported to NWGG. As of Friday, the harvest sat at 95% complete.
Christensen pointed toward the high quality of this harvest’s soft white wheat as a reason why the harvest has gone on longer than expected. He also said that many farmers’ expectations were met or exceeded with this year’s yields.
Additionally, he said that high winds prevented many farmers from harvesting their crops over the past month due to the risk of wildfires in the region, causing the harvest to take longer.
High-quality soft white wheat typically has protein levels between 8.5% and 10.5%. In comparison to the winter wheat, a portion of spring wheat yields are being reported to NWGG with low yields and as off-quality.
Some of the spring-planted crops were damaged by the heat wave seen in late June and early July, as that heat wave came at a critical time during the crop’s growth cycle.
Christensen said in an email that “despite the setback in the spring grains, the overall crop production for the area looks to be just below that of 2022, and one of the best production years on record.”
Despite better-than-average yields, grain prices were still at low levels.
Christensen said last year’s soft white wheat was valued by regional markets at about $1.50 per bushel more than this year’s.
In August 2023, a bushel of wheat was valued at roughly $7 and this August at $5.65.
One reason wheat prices remain low is due to the large amount of carryover from last year.
“The [U.S. Department of Agriculture] keeps inching down their annual farm income projections due to the continued high prices of input and low selling prices, and local farmers are certainly feeling that,” Christensen said in an email.
Also, the large amount of past harvest yields being stored in the Walla Walla Valley is straining NWGG storage. NWGG serves as one of the few options for farmers looking to store their grain, as farmer-owned storage is uncommon in the Pacific Northwest.
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Source Link : https://www.seattletimes.com/business/walla-walla-valley-sees-above-average-wheat-harvest/
