Idaho produced a lot of wheat in 2025

By Sean Ellis

Idaho Farm Bureau Federation

POCATELLO – Idaho’s 2025 wheat crop was a big one but not necessarily one that paid many bills.

Growing conditions for Idaho wheat farmers were great last year and total wheat production in the state was up 5.5 percent compared with 2024.

However, farm-level wheat prices remain depressed and many of the state and nation’s grain farmers are struggling financially.

“Production-wise, it was a good year for a lot of people,” said Burley wheat farmer Wayne Hurst.

In the irrigated areas of southern Idaho, weather conditions were favorable in 2025 for growing wheat and the crop received adequate irrigation water at the right time, he said.

“That allowed the wheat to fill and grow well,” Hurst said. “We saw some very good yields down south in irrigated areas.”

North Idaho and dryland wheat growers also had good yields, he said, and the overall quality of the 2025 Idaho crop was excellent.

2025 was a great growing season for most Idaho crops, not just wheat, said Rupert grain farmer Mike Wilkins.

“Wheat, barley, hay; we had a great year,” he said. “Our yields were good this year. We were record yields this year on everything.”

Farm-level wheat prices are another story and are well below what they were a few years ago.

At the same time, farm production costs remain near record levels. That leaves many Idaho and U.S. wheat farmers struggling financially.

And it’s not just wheat farmers. All crop farmers are struggling right now, said Hamer farmer Justin Place.

While crop prices have declined, “all the input costs needed for growing a crop just continue to rise,” he said.

“The prices are down considerably from what they have been,” Place said. Meanwhile, “Everything’s getting more expensive. It’s really a struggle for a lot of growers. Nobody likes to lose money.”

The problem for wheat farmers right now is that there is an abundant global supply of wheat, said Hurst, former president of the National Association of Wheat Growers.

That’s not good news for farm-level wheat prices and it’s going to take some time for that abundant supply to clear out, he said.

The good news, he added, is that “long-term, the world is going to need wheat and the U.S. can grow the highest quality and most consistent supply in the world and Idaho is a big part of that.”

Wheat is grown in 42 of Idaho’s 44 counties and according to USDA, there are about 2,600 wheat farms in the state.  

Wheat is Idaho’s No. 2 crop in terms of total farm-gate revenue and the state is known for producing a consistent supply of quality wheat almost every year due to the fact much of the wheat produced here is grown under irrigation. 

According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Idaho farmers produced an estimated 106.6 million bushels of wheat in 2025, up 5.5 percent compared with 2024.

That ranks Idaho as the No. 5 state for total wheat production in 2025.

Idaho farmers planted 1.22 million acres of wheat in 2025, according to USDA.

The average wheat yield in Idaho last year, for irrigated and dryland wheat combined, was estimated by USDA at 93.5 bushels per acre, up 4.5 bushels from 2024 and a little below the record of 96.6 bushels per acre set in 2020.

Total U.S. wheat production in 2025 is estimated by USDA at 1.98 billion bushels, up less than 1 percent from 2024. The average wheat yield in the U.S. for 2025 is estimated at 53.3 bushels per acre.

Idaho, with an average wheat yield of 93.5 bushels per acre, had the highest average wheat yield in the nation among the main wheat-growing states.

Arizona’s yield was 117 bushels per acre, but that state produced 5.7 million bushels of wheat compared with Idaho’s 106.6 million bushels.

California, with an average yield of 90.4 bushels an acre, produced 11.2 million bushels of wheat last year, and Michigan produced 44 million bushels with an average yield of 90 bushels per acre.