US wheat crop hurt by dry winter and spring’s heavy rain

Some farmers in North Dakota are unable to plant as much wheat crop as they normally would because of heavy rain burdening farmers across the state.

Government data shows that the state is expected to plant wheat over the smallest recorded share of its farmland.

Crop scouts survey drought-stressed spring wheat near Grandin, North Dakota, U.S. July 29, 2021. Picture taken 29, 2021. (REUTERS/Karl Plume/File Photo / Reuters Photos)

The U.S. is the fourth-largest wheat exporter in the world. Given the global food crisis and Russia’s war on Ukraine that curbed wheat exports from both countries, the world cannot afford to lose additional supply of the grain.

Benchmark Chicago Board of Trade wheat prices saw an uptick of 50% to more than $13.60 a bushel after Russia launched its invasion on its neighbor in late February, which stopped shipments of nearly a third of the world’s wheat exports.

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The United Nations has said that the war’s impact on grains, oils, fuel and fertilizer could result in severe hunger for millions of people.

The U.S. has asked its farmers to plant more winter wheat this fall. It also said that it would allow planting on some environmentally sensitive land starting in the fall, although grain analysts have warned that the drought and costly farm inputs could put a strain on production gains.

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FILE – Farm employees spread fertilizer on a farm in Gerdau, North West province, South Africa, Nov. 19, 2018. Families across Africa are paying about 45% more for wheat flour as Russia’s war in Ukraine blocks exports from the Black Sea. Some countri (AP Newsroom)

In the U.S., spring wheat is planted in the spring and winter wheat is planted in the autumn, the latter of which will be harvested soon.

The issues arising for the spring wheat seeding come after drought hit the winter wheat crop in Kansas, which is the top growing state.

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FILE PHOTO: A French farmer harvests his field of wheat during sunset in Thun-L’Eveque, northern France, July 22, 2021.  (REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo / Reuters)

The U.S. winter wheat harvest potential in Kansas has dipped by more than 25% because of severe drought, and farmers in the state may leave thousands of acres of wheat in fields this year instead of paying to harvest the grain hit by the dry winter.

But North Dakota has the opposite problem, as the area has received too much downpour. A historic April blizzard left some of the state’s pothole-dotted fields under more than 3 feet of snow, causing floods as it melted.

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Reuters contributed to this report.