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US Wheat Summer Board Meeting
Keven Bradley, Lori Wickett and I attended the US Wheat summer board meeting held in Oklahoma City. Lori and I started off the week by joining peers for a collaborative meeting with administrators from other wheat producing states. We also attended budget, long-range planning, transportation, food aid, communications and wheat quality committee meetings.
I’m proud to report that our Montana Spring Wheat Varieties guide was spotlighted and received very favorable reviews during the wheat quality committee meeting. The agenda for the board of directors meeting included reports from the officer team and we heard from President Vince Peterson who announced he will be retiring next year after many years of dedicated service to US Wheat. We also received presentations discussing the European Union’s “farm to fork” policies and the 2024 export outlook. A wide-ranging policy discussion with a panel composed of representatives from Senator Lankford; Congressmen Tom Cole and Frank Lucas; and Commissioner of Oklahoma Agriculture Blayne Aurthur was informative and reminded the audience that many of the issues we face in our individual states are common across the country. A visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial was particularly poignant and left a lasting impression.
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Discussion of rail issues with BNSF, transportation meeting | |
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Field Days
MWBC staff and directors attended a plethora of public and private industry field days across the state during July. The ongoing research projects at Montana Agricultural Experiment Stations (MAES) represent a significant portion of our budget and are an extremely valuable and critical component of our mission. We enjoyed our visits to the Conrad and Bozeman research stations and remain excited and optimistic regarding the wheat and barley varieties being developed at MSU. The off-station research plots managed by MAES are also important to collect real-world data present at actual farm locations in the surrounding counties. Lori and I enjoyed our visits to Lumsden Farms in Phillips County, Kammerzell Farms in Liberty County and Cederberg Farms in Blaine County. Max Cederberg, District 2 director, was an excellent host and has volunteered land for MAES research plots for many years. We were also able to show our support for Montana’s malt barley industry by attending an Anheuser-Busch customer appreciation event as well as participating in Barley Days hosted by Malteurop. The MWBC malt plant display is always a hit at these types of events and we’re happy to set it up when requested. The display is a great conversation piece and helps foster insightful discussion with the malt barley community.
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Peggy Lamb addressing growers about MSU test plots at Kammerzell's, Chester | |
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Trade Team Season
It’s summer and that translates to trade team visits! MWBC hosted trade teams representing Nippn (Pasta Montana), Mitsui (United Grain Corporation) and Constellation Brands. Constellation has exclusive marketing rights in the US to sell brands such as Corona and Modelo. The Constellation team was very interested in meeting malt barley growers and learning about how their farming practices are sustainable. Our agenda started with visits to MSU where we toured the malt and brewing labs, greenhouses and the research plots at the Post Farm. The team was also invited to meet with representatives from Montana Craft Malt and tour the malting facilities in Silver Bow. The following day was jam-packed with farm visits in the areas surrounding Sunburst and Sweetgrass. The group was able to meet a handful of existing customers, tour their farms and inspect fields of Constellation-contracted malt barley. This was a perfect opportunity for the growers to articulate and demonstrate how their cropping practices are sustainable as it relates to inputs, soil health and preservation, and water conservation. We wrapped up their visit with a final stop at Growing Green Farms, Cut Bank, where Keven Bradley, MWBC District 3 director, and his family showcased their farm including bin sites, shop facilities and farm equipment. We stopped by a malt barley field where Keven described in detail the processes his family has taken to revitalize a neglected field that was previously plagued by weeds and extremely limited organic matter. Despite the lack of rainfall and unseasonably hot temperatures, the crop was still hanging on thanks to drought resistant varieties and the implementation of sustainable farming practices such as no-till and crop rotations. Be sure to note the Constellation photo gallery below.
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During August we’ll host two teams from Japan. Be safe and best of luck with harvest and overcoming all the challenges of the 2024 growing season.
Kent Kupfner
Executive Director, MWBC
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Harvest reports incoming from Hardin-area up to the Great Falls region are showing a large crop but with slightly lower protein counts. Winter wheat is about one-third cut and it has been a fast harvest with an average bushel per acre of around 50. That's close to our record yield of 51, which we tied in 2023.
We have pockets of protein areas that are coming in at 12-plus, but most are in the lower ends of 11 so far. Montana is rarely a homogeneous crop so variable protein levels are typical. The real issue appears to be protein scales in the cash market. Most posted protein scales are -15 cents each. a half percent down from 11.5 percent. It looks like producers will have to choose whether to bin on farm or haul to the elevator.
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Photo Credit: Leonard Schock | |
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The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its farm production expenditures report for 2023, comparing total US farm expenses to the previous year of 2022. The reported increases are staggering.
“The 2023 total farm production expenditures are up 6.5 percent compared with 2022 total farm production expenditures.” (NASS release 7-26-24) At first glance, no one would be surprised by such an increase, considering our inflation rates over the last several years. You might assume those numbers run par to what the average consumer is feeling in their pocketbooks. But the catch with statistics is to study all sides of a number.
We want to dive into production agriculture specifically – those farms and ranches producing the great majority of our food. Here is where we find a more somber scenario. The cost of doing business for farms selling between $1 million and $5 million rose a whopping 15.6 percent in 2023. Similarly, the above-$5 million classification realized an increase, to the tune of 9.4 percent. Farm services and labor top the list of production expenses, followed by fertilizer and rent in that order.
This graph covers the last ten years of farm production in the US. Expenses stabilized from 2016 – 2020, followed by a sharp increase in subsequent years. Stable costs are a critical factor for long term budgeting. Producers need some of their budget to be at least reasonably honest, to account for other wild swings such as hail losses or a sudden drop in wheat prices. Risk mitigation is so important, which is why expenses like seed or implements can make all the difference with margins.
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In review of this expenditures chart, you’ll note the 2023 US total per-farm expenditure average was $255,047. If you’re thinking, “Wow, those numbers don’t represent what we see on our place,” remember that ANY entity selling a minimum of $1,000 in ag products in a single year will be included in these totals. Those entities represent 79 percent of what is classified as a farm by the USDA. Our goal is to study the other 21 percent.
It is much more difficult to pull Montana data, because it is combined with the entire Rocky Mountain region. The 2022 Census of Agriculture lists about 3,700 Montana farms operating in the $500,000+ sales class. Julie Schmidt, NASS Mountain Regional Field Office, shared that this particular dataset is actually more targeted to production ag than perhaps other facts gathered by NASS. With that in mind, we can assume that these percentages do align with Montana production costs. And no one is arguing that those costs have skyrocketed, adding further stress to farm profitability. It’s an expensive farm.
Lori Wickett
Research & Communications Director, MWBC
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Photo Gallery: Constellation Brands Visit | Enjoy these photos of the Constellation Brands visit last week. From MSU to Montana Craft Malt, and connecting with growers in the beautiful Sweet Grass hills, we enjoyed sharing all things barley with this team. MWBC board members Keven Bradley and Lee Dahlman along with NBGA Vice President Mitch Konen attended parts of the event. | |
Montana Winter Wheat Growers Have Many Choices for Varieties | |
The Prairie Star -- For WestBred wheat growers in Montana, their winter wheat is flourishing as it turns golden. Because of nice moisture this year in many locations in Montana, Erik Fevold from WestBred is sure there is a lot of yield potential for farmers out in their winter wheat fields.
“Most of the wheat is looking pretty good. The winter wheat has had some pretty timely rains on it, so I’d say it’s looking fairly strong,” he said.
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Harvest is rolling so here are some easy on-the-go recipes:
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