Wheat harvest happening in challenging conditions

RITZVILLE — A good illustration of the challenge facing farmers is the 2024 Washington wheat crop. 

Casey Chumrau, chief executive officer for the Washington Grain Commission, said the winter wheat harvest was about halfway completed by Aug. 9, with about 20% of the spring wheat crop harvested. Dryland wheat is, of course, very dependent on Mother Nature, and she’s been kind in some places, but not so nice in others.

“There have been some areas that are tough,” Chumrau said, citing dryland areas around Yakima as well as Franklin, Adams and Grant counties. 

Typically those areas get less rainfall, but it’s been a little worse in 2024, she said. 

Paul Katovich, chief executive officer for Highline Grain Growers, Waterville, said poor spring weather affected a promising crop. Highline Grain Growers serves wheat growers from throughout the region, from Wenatchee to Brewster, Odessa to Spokane, along Highway 2.  

“Generally dry spring conditions combined with hard freezes in June — June 16 in particular — took exceptional early spring wheat stands and turned it into the average crop we’re harvesting now,” Katovich said via email. “This is a generalization, as we have many variables across the region’s microclimates.” 

On the other hand, there’s been adequate rainfall in the Palouse.

“(Whitman County) is looking really good,” Chumrau said. 

It’s going to be a big crop in areas that received adequate moisture.

“Very good yields – close to record yields,” she said.

About 85% of Washington’s crop is the soft white wheat variety, which is used in foods like pastries and desserts.

“Anything you want very crumbly,” Chumrau said

About 90% of the state’s crop is exported, especially to markets in Asia, she added.

“Asians are very particular about their pastries and desserts,” Chumrau said, and the color and texture produced by Washing wheat has a lot of appeal in those markets. 

For soft white wheat the ideal protein range is 9 to 11% and the 2024 crop is at the low end of that range, Chumrau said.

“Quality is good, marked this year by slightly lower proteins than average,” Katovich wrote.

Wheat quality and quantity are only part of the equation; once harvested, it must be sold. And the market has some difficulties.

“That’s the challenge we’re seeing right now. The price for growers is very low,” she said.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 caused a rise in prices. But they’ve trended down since then, she said, and the current price is at about 2008 levels. The cost of production, though, is not at 2008 levels. 

The export market is affected by the relative value of the dollar against other currencies, and the dollar is currently strong against other currencies. That makes Washington wheat more expensive. 

But the strong dollar is putting pressure on markets. Washington growers do have “loyal, consistent” customers who are less sensitive to price, but growers want to be able to provide those customers with an affordable product, she said. 

“That is going to be one of the challenges,” Chumrau said.

Katovich said prices may have gone as low as they’re going to go.

“We’ve suffered steadily decreasing prices for the past few years,” he wrote. “I don’t think prices will drop much further, if at all, from here but they may stay in this range for a while due to the very large crop of (soft white wheat) in the Palouse and Columbia/Snake River region.”