May 29, 2007

Growing Less Wheat

Weekly Market Bulletin

Wheat in 1981 was planted on 30 percent more U.S acreage than soybeans, but soybean production tops wheat by close to 40 percent. Wheat production is slowly declining because other crops are more profitable and because modern production technologies haven’t been able to boost wheat yields the way they have for other crops.

Also, Americans are consuming less wheat – about 182 pounds per person, down 10 percent just since 2000. Global production of wheat is also lagging, so as the world population grows supplies are expected to tighten.