GRAIN DRAIN

Low prices prompt Oklahoma farmers to plant less wheat

ENID — Oklahoma wheat farmers are shying away from attempting another record year for wheat, planting 10 percent less acreage than last year.

State wheat producers planted 4.5 million acres in wheat this year, the smallest amount in several years. Last year some 5 million acres were planted into wheat, while 2015 saw 5.3 million acres in wheat across Oklahoma.

“2016 was a record year for wheat yields, but low wheat prices created a significant challenge for farmers,” said Betty Thompson, Oklahoma Department of Agriculture deputy commissioner.

Thompson noted that the state reflects a national trend that also has seen a 10 percent decrease in planting over 2016.

“Many farmers opted to wait and plant spring crops such as corn, soybean and milo, or to not plant at all and wait for better wheat prices,” Thompson said.

Farmers have planted some 100,000 acres in canola seed, a 25 percent increase over the 80,000 acres last year. About 140,000 acres were planted in canola in 2015.

“We cannot produce wheat for the market that is not willing to pay for it,” says Rick Nelson, Oklahoma extension service agriculture

educator for Garfield County. “Canola is just the opposite. There’s a greater chance of a positive return for the crop than wheat.”

Nelson pointed out that Enid has several grain elevators willing to store canola for local farmers before being transported to processing mills. That was not true only a few years ago.

Nationally, farmers planted 32.4 million acres in winter wheat, down from 36.1 million acres for the 2016 crop year and 39.7 million acres for the 2015 crop year, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics.

This is reflected in wheat stocks on hand. As of Dec. 1, 2016, Oklahoma held 138 million bushel stocks of wheat, while wheat stocks nationally are just above 2 billion bushels.

The next quarterly report will be released March 31.

Oklahoma’s 4.5 million acres in wheat equals the amount in wheat Texas farmers have planted this year. Texas also saw a 10 percent decrease in wheat planting from last year.

Kansas, the nation’s largest wheat producer, planted 7.4 million acres in wheat, down from 8.5 million acres last year.

Last year’s wheat crop in Oklahoma consisted of 136.5 million bushels, up from 98.8 million bushels in 2015.

The trend is apparent in the eight-county region of north central Oklahoma, the largest wheat producing section of the state. The region consisting of Garfield, Grant, Major, Alfalfa, Woods, Woodward, Kay and Noble counties saw some 50.6 million bushels harvested last year, twice as much as other sections of the state.

This year north central farmers have planted 1.31 million acres in wheat, down from 1.47 million acres planted in 2016 and 1.5 million acres planted in 2015.

The southwest Oklahoma region is the state’s second-largest wheat producing section.

[PHOTO BY SARAH PHIPPS, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES] Oklahoma farmers are planting more canola, seen in this field near Hennessey last spring.

[PHOTO BY STEVE SISNEY, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES] Last year’s Oklahoma wheat harvest produced a bumper crop, but abundant national and global supplies have stunted prices. This photo shows a wheat field near Goldsby in June 2015.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

[PHOTO BY SARAH PHIPPS, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVES] Oklahoma farmers are planting less wheat due to low prices. Some are opting to grow canola, seen here in a field near Hennessey last spring.