Idaho Wheat 2020: Record yields?

Meridian--At the Big D Ranch outside of Meridian, the grain trucks line up each day with the 2020 harvest.Idaho farmers were pessimistic about this year's crop due to a rough spring and hail damage. But broker Richard Durrant says the tide has changed:

“From the production standpoint, everybody’s got good yields, and so we just got a lot of wheat out there in the world,” said Durrant.

Good yields so far, with drylands harvests on the Palouse fetching up 120 bushels per acre… Irrigated acres in the Magic Valley could bring, even more, It's too early to tell, but according to the Wheat Commission 2020 could rank in Idaho’s a top 10 all-time yields.

"I think for our area, yields are average to above average. We are not seeing any excellent yields but as far as grain looking good, test weights, good," said Durrant.

With high yields comes another problem, where to put the mountains of wheat: "All areas of wheat production has been good. So everyone is going to be pushed for the storage of the market. We have to store the crop before we get it to market," added Durrant.

National Ag Stats says spring wheat production is forecast at 41.8 million bushels, up 7% because of a big increase in planted acres this year. USDA predicts Idaho will have the nation's highest yields for both fall and spring wheat.