Staff writer
There are always a number of unknown factors that could change any farm finance picture in an instant, but Cooperative Grain and Supply grain coordinator Dick Tippin is confident in saying this could be a good year for wheat.
“There are still a lot of things that could happen,” Tippin said. “It might freeze out yet, or we could get hail, but we could be cutting by the end of May. That’s what the farmers are saying.”
Wheat heading out in April is almost unheard of, but the combination of early warmth and adequate rain has Tippin, and area farmers, looking ahead to marketing options for an early harvest.
As a grain coordinator, Tippin oversees elevator activity in Hillsboro and offers marketing contracts to participating farmers. He takes note of market fluctuations and works with farmers covering all aspects of selling their grain.
“We have some options to offer,” he said. “Those might include minimum price contracts, deferred income payments, or future first prices.”
While Tippin said he was not a farm adviser, he certainly was there to answer any marketing questions someone might have about selling their grain. He said groups such as Kansas State University offered farm outreach programs to cover growing and expense concerns for farmers looking to make their operations more profitable overall.
However, if it was a question about forward pricing or marketing, he worked with Team Marketing Alliance to provide answers.
“It definitely looks like we have the potential to have a very good wheat crop this year, with good prices to go along with it,” he said. “China continues to import a lot of grain, and there might be more demand because South American harvests were down.”
A good 2012 wheat crop could translate into more soybean acres being double-cropped into wheat ground. Barring natural disasters, the farm finance picture could be a lot better than last year, he said.
According to World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates approved by the World Agricultural Outlook Board, prices received by producers for the 2011/12 marketing year are projected at $7.15 to $7.45 per bushel for wheat, unchanged from last month.
Wheat ranks third among U.S. field crops in both planted acreage and gross farm receipts, behind corn and soybeans.