High commodity prices and especially the high cost of fertilizer prompted local farmers to shift their focus to wheat this year.
That’s a trend likely to continue, with the war in Ukraine expected to deplete worldwide wheat supplies, said Chad Guthrie, crop production and forage management agent for the Southwind Extension District.
“Most of the wheat planted around here is planted in the fall, before the war in Ukraine,” Guthrie said. “But that is definitely affecting the price, which is making people keep their wheat.”
Most area farmers plant wheat in the fall, and harvest it between late May and June.
That allows them to double-crop, and plant soybeans in those fields after wheat is harvested.
This year, that appears to be a more profitable option than planting corn in those same fields, Guthrie said.
That’s mostly because of high fertilizer prices, and corn requires more fertilizer, he said.
Fertilizer costs skyrocketed last year, an increase attributed to supply chain issues and natural disasters that shut down some plants, according to reports from Harvest Public Media and other news sources.
And that was before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Russia is the world’s largest exporter of nitrogen, the U.S. Farm Bureau reports. Economic sanctions are limiting Russia’s ability to export fertilizer and its raw ingredients.
World markets dictate much of the availability and cost of commodities, including fertilizer. The U.S. doesn’t buy much of its fertilizer from Russia, but other countries do, and that impacts the availability worldwide.
Further, natural gas is needed to convert raw material into usable fertilizer. Winter storms in 2021 diverted supplies. The COVID-19 pandemic also caused plants to cut back on production, leading to supply issues.
“There have been a ton of compounding factors, and now the war between Russia and Ukraine has amplified it even more,” Guthrie said.
WHEAT planting tends to vary quite a bit in Allen County, said Kyle Lucas, Allen and Neosho County executive director for the USDA Farm Service Agency.
For 2022, producers reported planting 12,935 acres. That figure doesn’t represent the total acres planted, only insured acres reported to the USDA.
