Quality of Idaho's 2018 wheat crop is excellent

By Sean Ellis

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation

POCATELLO – Idaho wheat farmers and industry representatives say the quality of the state’s wheat crop, which enjoys a reputation for being superb year in and year out, is particularly good this year.

“This year’s wheat crop is superb,” said Idaho Wheat Commission Executive Director Blaine Jacobson. “Growers are happy and grain elevators are satisfied with the crop.”

Jacobson and several farmers contacted for this story said yields were above average, test weights and protein levels were good, the crop faced no major disease issues and there were no significant low falling number problems this year. Falling number tests measure wheat quality and growers get less money for test results below 300.

Due to more harvested acres and increased yields, total wheat production in Idaho in 2018 increased 11.5 percent compared with 2017.

To top it off, prices this year have been higher than they were last year.

It was an above-average year as far as overall quality, protein levels and yields, said Ririe Grain and Seed Coop Manager Lee Andersen.

Wheat farmers had some good opportunities earlier this spring to lock in some good prices and a lot of them took advantage of that, he said.

“This year has been a good year for wheat, growers have a good portion of their crop marketed and hopefully there will be some good opportunities to get the rest of it marketed,” Andersen said.

While farmers wish prices were even higher, “I think wheat producers are optimistic about this year’s crop,” said Richard Durrant, who owns a country elevator in Meridian. “Production is up, I think most everybody feels pretty good about yields, we didn’t have any real quality issues and prices are definitely better than they were a year ago.”

Farmers and industry representatives said the quality of this year’s crop is noteworthy.

In North Idaho, “The quality is nearly off the scale,” said IWC Chairman Bill Flory, a North Idaho grower. “This has been a great production year.”

While yields in some areas in North Idaho that received too much water were a little below average, “the quality of the wheat is excellent,” he added. “Crop quality is outstanding and it’s quite exciting.”

In some dryland areas in Southeastern Idaho, lack of moisture in June and July caused yields to be down a little, said Soda Springs farmer Jerry Brown. But like in North Idaho, “The quality is really good,” he added. “The quality of wheat is good in those areas, but we were a little bit skinny on yields in my area.”

According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Idaho farmers produced a total of 99.1 million bushels of winter and spring wheat in 2018, up from 88.9 million bushels in 2017.

According to NASS, winter wheat yields in Idaho averaged 87 bushels per acre, up from 80 in 2017, and spring wheat yields averaged 88 bushels an acre this year, up from 86 last year.

Idaho farmers harvested 720,000 acres of winter wheat this year, up from 670,000 last year, and 415,000 acres of spring wheat, up from 410,000 in 2017.

The entire Pacific Northwest had an excellent wheat crop this year, said Janice Cooper, managing director of the Wheat Marketing Center, which is based in Portland, Ore.

“In general, it’s been a good crop year for all classes of wheat grown in the Pacific Northwest,” she said.

The stellar quality of the 2018 Idaho wheat crop comes on the heels of an almost equally stellar crop in 2017, Jacobson said.

“We’ve had a two-year run of excellent crops,” he said.

Jacobson said the state’s wheat industry is in a good position.

“Idaho’s wheat industry is very healthy,” he said. “We continue to have very loyal customers that come to Idaho specifically for our wheat because we continue to grow an excellent crop.”

While soft white wheat is still the largest class of wheat in Idaho, the state’s hard white wheat production increased substantially this year, Jacobson said.

Soft white wheat is generally used for products with a mild bite, such as cookies, crackers and pancakes, while hard white wheat is used in products such as breads and noodles.