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Economist says price slump altered farmer planting decisions for wheat, sorghum

An ag economist says the recent USDA Prospective Plantings report highlights profitability challenges for some crops.  

Dan O’Brien with Kansas State University says he’s not surprised that wheat acres could be the lowest in more than 100 years. “There was a long decline in prices starting in March of last year and then (went) lower until there was a little blip in June and then more lows. No doubt, that impacted farmer expectations.”

But, he tells Brownfield, “With the prices we’ve had since that time, we’ve jumped up higher. Those decisions, if made now, at prices from the $6 to $6.50 range in the last couple of months, I bet we would have made a different decision.”

Planted area for all types of wheat is expected to be the lowest since 1919, with winter wheat 2% lower than last year. In Kansas, USDA predicts a 7 percent decline.

O’Brien says the issues facing sorghum farmers are a little different. “When you look at the run to the higher side for sorghum exports, that’s certainly been a positive thing. However, we haven’t seen tremendous prices for any feed grains right now.”

 He says recent poor demand could be weighing on farmers. “There’s a fair amount of worry about whether the piles of sorghum – that we’ve had over the last couple of years because of slow exports – the ability to move that sorghum out and make space for another crop.”

USDA says planted area for sorghum could decline by 8 percent across the U.S. and 10 percent in Kansas.