Miller Magazine Issue: 141 September 2021

68 INTERVIEW MILLER / september 2021 How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the wheat markets? What are the impacts of the pandemic on US wheat exports? I have to say that COVID-19 has not affected wheat markets much at all, except for the fact that the restric- tions have prevented me, other USW officers, board members, and USW staff from working face-to-face with customers. I miss that contact very much. This forced us to turn to Zoom and Teams and other online services to conduct our trade and technical support programs – but it has also allowed us to reach more customers or, more specifically, reach more members of our customers’ staff. In fact, we have made more than 13,000 customer con- tacts through online activities since restrictions started in March 2020. COMPETITION FOR EXPORT TRANSPORTATION CAPACITY What are the major challenges for the US wheat in- dustry? In one word, I would say competition. By that, I mean competition here in the United States for the planted area on farms and for export transportation capaci- ty with other crops, especially corn and soybeans. Those other crops in most years offer more profit per hectare than wheat. In Kansas, for example, there is more area planted to corn every year than wheat. Soybeans are now grown well into North Dakota. As a result, U.S. wheat planted area has been on a down- ward trend for many years. However, with input from farmers and even overseas customers, our public and private wheat breeders are doing great work to keep improving yields and quality. And I want to add that breeding is all done using conventional, not GMO, methods. In fact, there is a lot of progress in research on hybrid wheat – something that could help increase wheat’s profit potential on the farm. Across the U.S. agricultural system, most of the corn, soybeans, wheat and other grains are transported to the export market by rail. This system is very efficient, with incentives to move grains like wheat to export terminals as quickly as possible. But wheat has to compete for that limited rail car capacity. USW and other organizations are studying comparative rail rates for different agricultural products and working with the National Association of Wheat Growers to provide information that the group can use to help federal agencies and Congress see that increased rail competition is good for U.S. agriculture and our global customers. There are other challenges, of course. For example, up in the Pacific Northwest where my family farms, there is a potential threat to the locks and dams on the riv- er transportation system we rely on to move soft white wheat to export terminals. Nearly half of the United States is experiencing one of the driest years they have seen. How the U.S. wheat harvest is progressing? Could you also share prospects for the 2021/22 season with us? The drought across the northern tier of U.S. states, the Pacific Northwest, and into a large area of Canada’s western provinces definitely brought the 2021 crop to maturity ahead of normal. Winter wheat harvest will be complete in early August and spring wheat harvest could end before September starts. In its July report, USDA estimated all wheat production at 47.5 million metric tons (MMT), which is down from 49.7 MMT in 2020. Our hard red win- ter and soft red winter wheat production are both expected to be up, but the lower yields from the