Agricultural News
Wheat Crop Conditions Remain Far More Favorable in 2010 Than Year Ago- Mike Schulte of the OWC
Mon, 05 Apr 2010 6:31:45 CDT
It's too early to start talking production estimates for the 2010 Oklahoma hard red winter wheat crop, but conditions are far more favorable here in 2010 compared to 2009- and that is encouraging to Mike Schulte, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission.
Schulte says the biggest concern for the 2010 crop are the late planted acres that will need favorable weather between now and harvest as most of those plants simply have not tillered as much as a farmer would like to see.
Schulte also talked with us about the meeting that the Oklahoma wheat industry had with Monsanto a week ago- and he says that the jury is still out on whether Monsanto, or any other company that wants to bring biotech wheat to the market, can really offer enough value for them to be able to charge enough to pay for their investment.
Schulte told us a couple of times in the interview that they emphasized to Monsanto that farmers have it in their DNA the right to save their wheat seed and use it the next year- and that the current system accommodates that practice. Schulte believes that Monsanto will have to figure out a way to work within that framework- or the price they will likely need to charge for a bag of wheat seed may doom biotech efforts in wheat. The other big challenge that faces Monsanto or any other company working within the biotech field on wheat traits will be those who decide to graze their wheat,, with that decision often not coming until around the first of March in a given year. A lot of factors go into making that decision to either graze or grain(harvest for grain)- and again the price of seed will need to reflect that potential use of the plants that seed produces.
We have our full conversation with Mike below- click on the Listen Bar and catch up on crop conditions and these discussions with Monsanto.
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