Idaho wheat growers seeded slightly fewer acres of winter wheat for the 2024 crop, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported this week. There are 740,000 acres of seeded winter wheat in Idaho, down 1% from the year before and 4% less than the 2022 crop, according to the federal agency. Washington winter wheat growers seeded about 1.8 million acres of winter wheat for harvest this year. That is unchanged from 2023 but a 3% decrease from 2022.

The 2024 Direct Seed Workshop will be held Friday, March 8th in Idaho Falls at the Hilton Garden Inn. More details and information about registration coming soon.

‍Lance Pekus is not your ordinary Idaho rancher. He has competed for 12 seasons on American Ninja Warrior, the reality TV show where contestants run, leap, and swing their way through a slew of challenging physical obstacles. Even Pekus, a natural athlete who played football, baseball, and wrestled, had to train for months before feeling prepared to battle it out on American Ninja Warrior. He says he became “a connoisseur of overcoming hurdles,” drawn to staying physically fit and navigating the physical and mental challenges required to succeed. There are many parallels between the physical and mental fortitude required to succeed in ranching and farming and a physical feat like American Ninja Warrior, Pekus said.

Cibus, Inc. said it has successfully regenerated plants from single cells in a wheat cultivar, a breakthrough the agricultural technology company intends to use to develop a family of traits to address the most pressing challenges faced by wheat farmers globally, focusing initially on disease resistance and nitrogen use efficiency. Cibus, based in San Diego, California, US, said its breakthrough is believed to represent the world’s first successful regeneration of a wheat plant from single cells. It provides another single-cell regeneration system to make its proprietary high-throughput breeding process, called the Trait Machine, operational for a key cereal crop integral to food security globally.

Utah Flour Milling, LLC has officially broken ground for its new flour mill and custom mix facility in Richmond, Utah, with operations expected to begin before the end of the year. Utah Flour Milling is a partnership of Denver-based PHM Brands’ Panhandle Milling and NIPPN Corp., one of Japan’s largest flour milling businesses. Construction of the facility will be led by Bratney Companies of Des Moines, Iowa.

Inflation has Americans saying a dollar just doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. Similarly, when looking at the exchange rate and price of U.S. commodities, China is saying the yuan just doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. Relative to other currencies, the U.S. dollar has been strong the past couple of years, and experts say it is one factor hampering commodity exports. Tanner Ehmke, CoBank’s lead economist for grains and oilseeds, explains higher interest rates, which the U.S. Federal Reserve has implemented in an attempt to fight inflation, has encouraged investment in the U.S. dollar and helped drive up its value, making exchange rates challenging for other countries.

Prices for corn, soybeans and wheat have continued to go lower over the last few days. There are fundamental reasons that have pushed prices down, but there is also the fear of surprises in the coming U.S. Department of Agriculture reports. It is a fact that weather forecasts have improved in South America. Brazil and Argentina, the primary nations for grain production, have seen rain salvage their crops at a critical time, so analysts are now moderating their very negative views for grain production there.