Governor Appoints Ned Moon to Idaho Wheat Commission

Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter recently appointed Ned Moon of Heyburn, to the Idaho Wheat Commission (IWC). Moon will represent wheat growers in District III, which includes Canyon, Owyhee, Ada, Elmore, Camas, Gooding, Twin Falls, Blaine, Lincoln, Jerome, Minidoka and Cassia counties.

Ned, who grew up on a farm in Heyburn, is the marketing manager for Jentzsch-Kearl Farms, a 16,000 acre partnership growing potatoes, sugar beets, wheat, hay, and seed beans. He also is responsible for chemical and fertilizer inputs, handles all land leases, audits and government programs.

Moon earned a bachelor’s degree in Communications from BYU, and then entered the Air Force where he flew jets for over 10 years. In 1993 Captain Moon left the Air Force and returned to the Burley/Twin Falls area and started his own retail business. He also spent several years as the manufacturing manager for an agricultural chemical company prior to working for Jentzsch-Kearl Farms.

“Ned brings a wealth of marketing and business experience to the Idaho Wheat Commission,” said Gordon Gallup, Chairman Idaho Wheat Commission. “The commission and staff look forward to working with Ned and gleaning from his years of agricultural and business experiences. We are confident that Ned’s marketing knowledge will be a benefit to Idaho’s wheat producers.”

The new commissioner is looking forward to serving as well. “It’s both a privilege and an honor to be selected by the Governor to represent District III wheat growers,” said Moon. “Check-off dollars are grower dollars. My goal is to see that those dollars continue to be managed and invested in programs that will help improve profit margins for our wheat growers.”

Ned and his wife Mary have three grown children. He enjoys golfing, playing the piano and wood working.

Idaho Crop Progress Update

USDA’s July 5, 2011 Crop Progress & Condition reports weather conditions improved significantly during the week ending July 3. Warmer weather advanced winter wheat headed to 76% which was a 26 percentage point improvement from last week. Spring wheat and barley headed improved to 27 and 23 percentage points, respectively. Most cereal grains are in good to excellent condition.

Winter wheat conditions continue to be favorable with 74% Good to Excellent, 14% Fair, 10% Poor and only 2% reporting Very Poor. Spring wheat conditions also look favorable with 85% Good to Excellent, 14% Fair and 1% Poor.
To view the entire USDA report click on this link: http//www.nass.usda.gov/id/


U.S. Crop Progress Update
USDA’s July 5, 2011 Crop Progress and Condition reported winter wheat conditions 36%Good to Excellent, 23% Fair, 19% Poor and 22% rated 22% Very Poor. Spring wheat conditions are favorable with 69% Good to Excellent, 27% Fair, 3% Poor and 1% Very Poor.
The spring wheat crop, however, is behind the 2010 crop in progress with 89 percent of the crop emerged, compared to 100 percent emergence in 2010 by this week of the year.
The five-year average for the crop is also 100 percent emergence by June 26.
To view the entire USDA report click link: http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/CropProg/CropProg-07-05-2011.pdf

Idaho All Wheat Acreage Up 3 Percent

Planted acres for all wheat in Idaho are estimated at 1.45 million acres, up 3 percent from 2010, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Acres to be harvested for all wheat are expected at 1.38 million acres, up from 1.35 million acres the previous year. Idaho’s spring wheat seedings, at 620,000 acres, are down 2 percent from the 630,000 acres planted in 2010. Harvested acreage is set at 600,000 acres, a decrease of 15,000 acres from last year. Winter wheat seedings of 820,000 acres increased 9 percent from the previous year. Harvested acres are expected to total 770,000 acres, up 60,000 acres from 2010. Area planted to durum wheat is down 60 percent from last year at 8,000 acres, with 8,000 acres also expected to be harvested for grain.

Idaho's June 1 all wheat stocks in all positions totaled 18.0 million bushels, down 7percent from the 19.3 million bushels in storage June 1, 2010.

Nationally, all wheat stored in all positions on June 1, 2011 totaled 861 million bushels, down 12 percent from a year ago. The March – May 2011 indicated disappearance is 565 million bushels, up 48 percent from the same period a year earlier. Barley stocks in all positions on June 1, 2011 totaled 89.4 million bushels, down 23 percent from June 1, 2010. The March – May 2011 indicated disappearance is 48.8 million bushels, 17 percent above the same period a year earlier. Oats stored in all positions on June 1, 2011 totaled 67.6 million bushels, 16 percent below the stocks on hand June 1, 2010. The March – May 2011 indicated disappearance totaled 18.7 million bushels, compared with 17.7 million bushels during the same period a year ago. Corn stocks in all positions on June 1, 2011 totaled 3.67 billion bushels, down 15 percent from June 1, 2010. The March – May 2011 indicated disappearance is 2.85 billion bushels, compared with 3.38 billion bushels during the same period last year.

Schedule of Idaho Crop Tours/Field Days

The University of Idaho will be conducting Field Days in numerous locations during June and July. Field Days provide an opportunity to learn about new wheat and barley varieties while providing growers a forum to ask UI Extension staff questions.

June 27 – Rimrock: UI Crop Tour, Winter/spring wheat, starts at 8:00 a.m. in Genesee. Contact: Lydia Clayton, (208) 799-3096 Iclayton@uidaho.edu

June 28 – Craigmont: Prairie Area Crop & Conservation Tour. Contact: Ken Hart, (208) 937-2311 khart@uidaho.edu. Hosted breakfast 7:00 a.m. Craigmont City Hall. Transportation provided, pesticide recertification and CCA credits available.

July 7 – Burley: UI Cereals Extension Field day, Contacts: Joel Packham (208) 430-7238 jpackham@uidaho.edu, Juliet Marshall, Juliet.marshall@uidaho.edu. Starts at 10:00 a.m. at winter cereal trials (150 N on Meridian Rd, N of Rupert), lunch provided.

July 14 – Rexburg: BYU-Idaho Contacts: Greg Blaser (208) 496-4527 blaserg@byui.edu Renae Zollinger (208) 496-4521. 35th Small Grains and Forages Field Day, ISDA and CCA credits available, lunch provided.

July 19 – Blackfoot: General Mills, Contact: Brett Wilken, (208) 243-0008, brett.wilken@genmills.com

July 20 – Swan Valley: Direct Seed Field Day, Contacts: Gordon Gallup, (208) 251-9552 gogallup@hotmail.com; Pat Dailey, (208) 334-2353 pdailey@idahowheat.org, Juliet Marshall, Juliet.marshall@uidaho.edu. Starts at 10:00 a.m., Gordon Gallup’s Farm, lunch provided.

July 20 – Ririe: UI Cereals Extension Field day with Bonneville County Grain Growers. Contacts: Matt Gellings (208) 524-4946 mjgellings@msn.com, Juliet.marshall@uidaho.edu. Starts at 4:00 p.m. Extension trials in Ririe at LDS Church Farm.

July 21—Aberdeen: UI Extension Cereals & Wheat Breeding Field day, 3:00 p.m. Twilight Tour: 100th Anniversary of Research & Extension Center. Contacts: Steve Love (208) 397-4181 slove@uidaho.edu, Jianli Chen (208) 397-4181 jchen@uidaho.edu, Juliet Marshall (208) 529-8376 Juliet.marshall@uidaho.edu.

July 27 – Soda Springs: UI Cereals Extension Field day with Caribou County Grain Growers. Contacts: Steve Harrison (208) 547-3205, sharrison@uidaho.edu; Scott Brown, (801) 557-5123, Sam Reed (208) 547-7020. Starts at 4:00 p.m. at Cid Cellen’s farm, dinner provided.

July 28 – Ashton: UI Extension Field Day with Jefferson/Madison/Fremont County Grain Growers. Contacts: Lance Ellis (208) 624-3102 ellis@uidaho.edu or Juliet Marshall, Juliet.marshall@uidaho.edu. Starts at 10:00 a.m. lunch provided.

Peruvian Wheat Buyers Get First Hand Look at Idaho Wheat Industry

Executives directly involved in making wheat purchasing decisions for five flour milling and wheat food companies in Peru were in Idaho June 21 to 23. The team visited General Mills and Pendleton Flour Mills in Blackfoot. They also toured the U.I. Research Center in Aberdeen to learn about Idaho wheat varieties and their end use functionality.

Peru produces only a small amount of wheat and has imported an average of about 55.6 million bushels, or about 1.5 million metric tons, annually for the past five years. U.S. commercial sales to Peru have increased during each of the past three marketing years (June – May) and have grown from 20.8 million bushels in 2009/10 to about 36.8 million bushels in 2010/11.

The U.S. Wheat Associates is targeting Peru's artisan bread market, which has the highest level of consumption and more potential impact on U.S. wheat sales to Peru as a replacement mainly for Canadian spring wheat imports.

Idaho Winter Wheat Production Up 7 Percent

Idaho's 2011 winter wheat production is forecast at 62.4 million bushels, unchanged from last month’s forecast, and 7 percent above last year's crop. This report is based on conditions as of June 1. The yield is forecasted to be 79 bushels per acre, unchanged from last month. Acres to be harvested, at 790,000, represent an 80,000 acre increase from 2010.

Temperatures across the state last week ranged from two to eight degrees below normal. All weather stations reported precipitation for the week. Idaho's winter wheat condition is rated 3% very poor; 8% poor; 12% fair, 63% good and 14% excellent. Spring wheat is rated 1% very poor, 3% poor; 20% fair; 66% good and 14% excellent.

Nationally, winter wheat production is forecast at 1.45 billion bushels, up 2 percent from the May 1 forecast but 2 percent below 2010. Expected area for harvest as grain or seed totals 32.0 million acres, unchanged from May 1. Based on June 1 conditions, the United States yield is forecast at 45.3 bushels per acre, up 0.8 bushel from last month but 1.5 bushels less than last year. Hard Red production is up 2 percent from a month ago to 777 million bushels. Soft Red production is up 2 percent from last month and now totals 434 million bushels. White production totals 240 million bushels, up 2 percent from last month. Of the White production total, 11.6 million bushels are Hard White and 228 million bushels are Soft White.

Idaho Wheat Commission Elects Officers, Sets Budget

The Idaho Wheat Commission met May 31 and June 1 in Post Falls, Idaho to finalize the budget for FY 2012 and to elect officers. Gordon Gallup, Ririe, was elected as chairman. Bill Flory, Culdesac, was elected to serve as vice chainman.

Gallup grows wheat, barley, and alfalfa over 3,000 acres and has operated the family farm since 1975. He has been using direct seed tillage since 1985 and was instrumental in organizing and facilitating the IWC Direct Seed Workshops held for the past several years in Idaho Falls.

Flory manages a fourth generation, diversified grain farm raising wheat, barley, bluegrass, canola, and grass/alfalfa hay. He is a graduate of the University of Idaho. Flory has had extensive involvement with the Idaho Grain Producers Association and National Wheat Growers Associations, having served as president of both organizations.

FY2012 Budget

The IWC approved a budget of $2,207,379 million dollars for fiscal year 2011-2012, which covers programs in export and domestic marketing, research and information and education.

The commission increased its research budget this year due to continued reductions in funds from state and federal governments. The IWC continues to focus research dollars on variety development, which helps growers achieve the maximum yield and minimum input costs. Other priorities include research on new pests and diseases.