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Industry Summer Meetings and Trade Teams
MWBC was invited to attend the MGGA board meeting where I got the opportunity address the group and discuss the status of Montana’s winter wheat crop. This was an excellent warm up for an upcoming presentation to be delivered during a trip to Japan. I enjoy visiting with MGGA members and learning about their operations and crop situations. MGGA’s Calcutta and golf tournament are always a good time and a great fund raiser as well. MWBC directors Charlie Bumgarner and Keven Bradley participated in the tournament but didn’t set any course records! Attending Montana Pulse Crop Committee board meetings are always a priority and MWBC staff joined the groups meeting in Havre. Directors Lee Dahlman and Charlie Bumgarner represented Big Sky barley growers at the National Barley Growers Association (NBGA) meetings in Minneapolis. They each gave Montana crop updates, discussed farm bill negotiations, and toured Syngenta and Rahr Malting. Finally, MWBC was able to host another visitor from Nippn/Pasta Montana. We’re always eager and jump at any opportunity to highlight Montana’s high-quality durum and discuss crop conditions and production outlook with customers.
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Field Day Season
Field day season has kicked off! Approximately half of the annual MWBC budget is allocated to research projects at MSU and the Montana Agricultural Experiment Stations. Lori Wickett and I attended field days at Havre (NARC) and Moccasin (CARC). The opportunity to receive updates from MSU wheat and barley breeders is an important part of the field day program. Most of the plots in Havre and Moccasin looked promising even though much of the Moccasin station received damaging hail several days prior.
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Japan Crop Update
I was invited by US Wheat Associates to travel to Japan to meet customers and discuss the outlook for Montana wheat production. Japan is an extremely consistent and reliable customer and is the fourth largest overall buyer of US wheat. Japanese business is extremely important for the Montana wheat industry. Approximately 90 percent of Japan’s hard red winter wheat imports originate in Montana and Japan annually purchases between one third and one half of Montana’s crop. Highlights of the trip included a presentation about Montana’s 2024 production outlook for 130-plus flour milling industry representatives followed by a meet and greet luncheon. We also met with the Japanese Flour Miller’s Association which offered the opportunity to thank them for their business. We were fortunate to have individual meetings with each of the top four flour milling companies: Nisshin, Nippn, Nito Fuji and Showa Sangyo. Their cumulative business represents 80 percent of the entire Japanese demand.
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MWBC Summer Board Meeting
Our summer board meeting was held in Red Lodge and included a jam-packed agenda. Vince Peterson, President of US Wheat Associates, attended and discussed global wheat markets and efforts to promote and market US wheat across the globe. We also received updates from the Montana Department of Agriculture, MGGA, and National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Industry representative, Jake McFarlin, gave a cash market update and discussed the outlook for exports, transportation, and production. Each director discussed crop conditions in their respective districts and reported on their industry-related trips and activities. Directors Terry Angvick and Brett Dailey reported on Governor Gianforte’s visit to their farms in Plentywood and Jordan, respectively. Following the board meeting, a banquet was held to celebrate director Denise Conover’s nine years of dedicated service to MWBC. An evening of camaraderie and old stories was enjoyed by a special group of peers, friends, and neighbors.
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July will be a busy month with several trade teams coming to Montana, a handful of MSU and private industry field days and the US Wheat summer meeting in Oklahoma City. Hopefully Mother Nature treats you well and best of luck this summer. I’ll look forward to seeing many of you soon.
Kent Kupfner
Executive Director, MWBC
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Conover Retires from Montana Wheat & Barley Committee | |
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Finishing three terms, Denise Conover of Broadview, MT is hanging up her work boots with the Montana Wheat & Barley Committee (MWBC). The summer MWBC board meeting June 24 included a special event honoring Conover’s commitment to Montana producers and her work over the past nine years. US Wheat Associates (USW) President Vince Peterson flew in to attend this special event.
“Montana has been fortunate to benefit from so many top agricultural leaders,” said Kent Kupfner, MWBC executive director. “Denise has contributed enormously to sharing the Montana producer’s story with buyers around the world, and she is passionate about educating the public about where their food comes from. We are throwing her a party to thank her for her dedication.”
Like all MWBC board members, Conover was appointed by Montana’s governor – in 2015, that was Governor Steve Bullock. “I was surprised to receive the invitation,” Conover said while reminiscing. “I didn’t know much about what was to come: the connections I’d soon develop helping my fellow Montanans or the friends I would make which will last a lifetime. I really had no idea how important Montana is to the global wheat picture. It has been a great honor to serve our farmers.”
Conover’s farm is in southcentral Montana, seven miles east of Broadview where she runs the operation with her two sons: Chad, Craig and their families. She and her late husband, Bret also have two daughters, Brooke (Gierke) of Miles City and Kendra (Eaton); both girls have heartstrings tied to the farm and help when needed. Bret’s father started the farm after returning home as a prisoner of World War II in 1944. Denise and Bret took over management upon his retirement in 1978 when they began farming and raising a family.
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With a few stories under her belt, Conover is most fond of her time hosting trade teams, where it is “great to get to know our customers one-on-one and bring them to the farm.” She said that the size and capacity of farm equipment fascinates teams. “It always amazes me the things we take for granted in Montana like big open fields of grain,” she added. “At the end of the day, we both [producers and buyers] have one goal and that is to feed the world.”
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Denise Conover receiving a gift from MWBC. | |
Terry Angvick, chairman of the MWBC board, said that Conover has been instrumental in her leadership with the committee. “She handed me the gavel last October and those are big shoes to fill,” he said, as Conover was previously chairwoman. “The efforts of this committee are a critical function of Montana’s farm economy. Denise always has such a keen sense for what Montana producers need and she drew upon that sense in her role here.” Angvick said that while they will miss Conover, he hopes that many will come celebrate her tenure. “And I’m sure we’ll find another duty for her down the road!” he joked.
The evening concluded with a round of stories "roasting" Denise on everything from timing to traveling abroad. Keven Bradley, in this photo, helped share in the memory-fest. MWBC thanks Denise for her tenure committed to Montana wheat and barley growers.
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Vegetative Health Index Map | |
We find this NOAA satellite image, dated June 30, interesting especially when compared to June 30, 2023 -- shown just below it. This map is described as "a proxy characterizing vegetation health or a combined estimation of moisture and thermal conditions." The greater greens and blues indicate higher moisture levels while moving toward pink would show dryer conditions. According to NOAA, any reading lower than a 40 indicates vegetation stress, to include potential loss expectations to crops or pasture.
This might explain, in part, why NASS crop condition reports have been so favorable. The Montana Drought Outlook Report goes into more depth on this subject.
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CoBank: Smaller Russian Wheat Crop to Fuel Market Volatility
World-Grain.com
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A smaller Russian wheat harvest and lower export capacity is expected to alert the world wheat market to the extreme global tightness that has been building in recent years, according to a new report from CoBank.
Russia’s wheat crop is forecast to 9.3% smaller year-over-year than last year’s harvest of 83 million tonnes, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture. That is a higher estimate than private Russian industry estimates such as IKAR at 81.5 million tonnes, SovEcon at 80.7 million tonnes and Rusgrain Union at 79.5 million tonnes.
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Here are the top 4th of July recipes we have discovered. Have a safe, family-filled Fourth everyone!
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