Small Town News

Area farmers reap 80 bushels to the acre

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The stories are all true! There has been 80 and above per acre winter wheat reported in the Big Sandy area!

If only that were the end of the story. There is more.

Last week I sat down with Marvin Works, Larry Myers and Marlys Edmonds to find out just what crop conditions had been this season. I was curious about two things. First was the crop as good as reported elsewhere and second why are so many farmers selling their wheat now?

"There was some 80 acre winter wheat in the Golden Triangle, "Myers said. "And there were some 60's and 70's but there were just as many in the 30 's and 40's."

How could that be I wondered? I had heard this was the best crop ever for most everyone who planted wheat.

"Not true, "said Works. "There was a rain belt. Some were in it and some were not."

Apparently Box Elder, parts of the Hi-Line, close to the mountains and even down by the Missouri did well but places like the Kenilworth prairie and places west of that did not get all that much rain all summer long. That led to average crops at best.

Add to that hail that occurred in some places and it made for a good year to have crop insurance.

Farmers like Marvin Works who planted some spring wheat have not cut it all even yet.

"Some people find themselves planting winter wheat in the morning and cutting their spring wheat in the afternoon," said Myers, laughing.

"I have cut most of my spring wheat," said Works. "I just have some patches left. It has been hard to cut them because of rain and damp conditions."

What would cause people to plant spring wheat at all I wondered?

Edmonds said, "Sometimes it is a rotation or maybe it was too dry last fall in places to plant wheat at or there were fields with problems. And remember spring wheat is worth more too."

So what about the price of wheat? Having seen grain truck after grain truck after grain truck most all of August and continuing into September, heading to local elevators, I concluded that the price must be astronomical to say the least! Weren't there rumors of a Russian crop failure as well to make prices even better?

"There is a lot of wheat going to market, "said Works. "In fact I heard that some elevators aren't even taking December contracts at all. They have bought too much grain now. No room for any more."

Don't believe all that you read in grain reports either. The price of grain futures has little basis of what local farmers might get for their wheat. In fact "basis" is what it is all about. That is the figure that farmers get paid locally after transportation charges and many other variables.

So, even though Myers thinks the price now is around seven dollars a bushel, local farmers are lucky if they get five dollars a bushel.

All that makes for a typical breakeven point of around 35 bushels per acre although there again, farming is a business of variables. What are input costs, does the farmer own his or her land or have to make land payments makes a huge difference in break even costs.

This year there were some unheard of yields according to Myers and that is not only due to good rains in some parts of the country but better management plans as well. Just managing moisture can make a huge difference in yields.

"It used to be that every time you summer fallow you would lose almost four or five tenths of moisture," said Works. "Sometimes I would summer fallow six or seven times a season. That takes a lot of rain just to make up that loss."

These days people following chemical fallow procedures never once disturb sod.

Weeds were a nuisance this year as well. Farmers who sprayed saw that they were combining weeds anyway. Works said that anything that competes with grain for moisture drops yield.

"When I was cutting I noticed a green dust in the wheat. Did you see that too?" Works asked Myers.

"I did. I don't know what that was, "agreed Myers.

"Not only that but I was watching my combine monitor and sometimes I was cutting 50 bushels to the acre and all of a sudden I was down to 15. What's wrong here I was asking myself, "added Myers?

There were dry belts all summer. A few miles made a lot of difference.

"Farming is the biggest gamble in the world, "related Works.

"That is why you buy crop insurance, "said Myers, in a shameless commercial."

Having a marketing plan seems to have done some good in bottom line operations as well.

Myers summed up the season best of all. "Some farmers were extremely happy and others were extremely disappointed."



Copyright 2010 The Mountaineer, Big Sandy, Montana. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2011 The Mountaineer Big Sandy, Montana. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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