- This week has seen a number of questions asked about the role of the Kansas Wheat Quality Council annual crop tour and the selloff in Kansas City wheat futures.
- Following close behind are the queries having to do with the latest Black Sea Grain Agreement and the breakdown of the Chicago wheat market.
- Weather isn't left out of the conversant, with many wanting to know if US Northern Plains spring wheat growers will be able to get the 2023 crop planted due to continued wet field conditions.
As many of you know, I was born in a wheat field a number of decades ago. Not literally, though I did spend my early years growing up in Kansas, a time that included driving 100-bushel trucks of wheat to the local co-op during the heat of summer harvest. As I looked for something other than farming to do for a career, I went to work for that same co-op (and others in the area) dumping trucks, becoming a grain merchandiser, and eventually a commodity broker. The one constant, at least until I moved to Omaha nearly 20 years ago, was wheat. For many years, whenever I appeared on the Iowa Public Television’s Market to Market program, and other media outlets, because of my background the conversation almost always began with a discussion on wheat. I’ve been thinking a lot about those days of late as three big questions about the wheat sector have popped up, each one having to do with a different market.
