While attending the U.S. Wheat Summer Business Meeting in Oklahoma City, Farm Director KC Sheperd asked U.S. Wheat Associates President Vince Peterson about what U.S. Wheat has been doing.
Because U.S. Wheat has been representing wheat farmers in the United States since the 1950s, and during that time, the markets have changed widely and will continue to do so long into the future, he said, “We took a look at how we are doing meeting today’s challenges with our resources and the mission that is ahead of us. I think it is a good story for the industry, for U.S. Wheat, and for the farmers that support us.”
About the falling wheat prices, Peterson said, “There are a lot of reasons for that. There is still a lot of competition out there in the marketplace, but overall, I think we are starting to turn the corner a little bit. We are having a much healthier start to the export business, this year, and I think the second half of the year is going to be a better one for us.”
Peterson feels that future opportunities lie in growing the U.S.’s production long term. Acres of wheat has been reduced due to reasons like competition with other crops, but he insisted that the opportunity for growth in foreign markets is tremendous, even close by in Latin America.
“There is probably ten to fifteen million tons of export growth that is going to be in the next 25 years. The market is there for us, we just have to meet it with the direction to do it,” he said.
About U.S. Wheat’s ongoing wheat research, Peterson said, “We can always use more funding and more resources into that effort. We are behind the eight-ball on that a little bit because we missed the transgenic technology. U.S. Wheat was not ready to adopt that, but there is still so many other things out there, whether it is gene-editing, hybrid wheat, or other things, the technology is great. We really need the technology badly, because our yields have been dragging behind the increases in the other crops.”
Peterson said that export competition is the biggest challenge that U.S. Wheat is currently facing. They are also keeping an eye on geopolitical dynamics, especially with Russia and China. “China is one of the biggest importers of wheat right now and Russia is one of the biggest exporters, so there are some dynamics that go together with that. The potential impact in the Asian Pacific in terms of transportation and market access is a concern.”
While he admitted that those issues were outside the reach of U.S. Wheat as a farmer’s organization, they are still watching to be prepared to deal with them as they come up.
