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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 29 augusT 2017
American Living:

An odd trend in wheat country: not much wheat

By DAVID PITT reached a U.S. record high
Associated Press 1.02 million acres (0.41 mil-
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) lion hectares) planted this
— An odd thing has hap- year.
pened in wheat country A farmer in southwest
— a lot of farmers aren’t North Dakota, for example,
planting wheat. could expect to earn $105
Thanks to a global grain an acre on small chick-
glut that has caused pric- peas and around $89 an
es and profits to plunge, acre planting lentils this
this year farmers planted year, according to data
the fewest acres of wheat compiled by North Dakota
since the U.S. Department State University. The same
of Agriculture began keep- farmer would lose $21
ing records nearly a centu- an acre on winter wheat
ry ago. and $4 an acre on spring
Instead of planting the wheat.
crop that gave the wheat Wheat profitability has fall-
belt its identity, many farm- en precipitously.
ers are opting this year for In Illinois, wheat fell from
crops that might be less more than $7.13 a bushel
iconic but are suddenly in in 2012 to $4.30 this year,
demand, such as chick- while for the same period
peas and lentils, used land costs rose 10 percent.
in hummus and healthy In this photo provided by the USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council, farmer Roy Kopf harvests chickpeas, Lentils are increasingly
snacks. east of Pullman, Wash. Changing consumer tastes for healthy high protein food are driving a used in cereals, energy
“People have gone crazy boom in the demand for crops like chickpeas and lentils and some farmers, faced with the lowest bars, chips and pasta as a
with chickpeas. It’s unbe- wheat prices in nearly a century, have chosen to plant less wheat and more of these higher profit way to boost protein and
crops driving them to record production levels this year.
lievable how many acres (USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council via AP) fiber content. q
there are,” said Kirk Han-
sen, who farms 350 acres “The world wants more pro-
(142 hectares) south of tein and wheat is not the
Spokane in eastern Wash- high-protein choice and
ington, where wheat’s so that’s where your use
reign as the king crop has of those other things come
been challenged. into play and are doing
American farmers still plant better,” Hultman said. “Up
wheat over a vast land- north around North Dakota
scape that stretches from you will see more alterna-
the southern Plains of Okla- tive things like sunflowers,
homa and Texas north lentils and chickpeas.”
through Kansas, Nebraska How long the new trend
and the Dakotas as well as will continue is unknown.
dry regions of Washington While some farmers will
and Oregon. However, this likely switch back to wheat
year’s crop of 45.7 million when profitability returns,
acres (18.49 million hect- others may keep planting
ares) is the smallest since the alternatives because
1919. demand is expected to re-
North Dakota harvested main strong, keeping pric-
wheat acres are down 15 es at attractive levels.
percent, Montana 11 per- According to the U.S. De-
cent and Nebraska 23 per- partment of Agriculture,
cent, to the state’s lowest acres planted in chick-
winter wheat acres on re- peas, also known as gar-
cord. banzo beans, are at
Fewer farmers planted 603,000 (244,030 hectares)
wheat after a 2016 crop this year, up nearly 86 per-
that was the least profit- cent from last year.
able in at least 30 years, North Dakota more than
said grain market analyst tripled chickpea acres
Todd Hultman, of Omaha, planted to 44,100 (17,847
Nebraska-based agricul- hectares) and Montana
ture market data provider increased acres 150 per-
DTN. cent to 247,000 (99,960 mil-
Many farmers took notice lion hectares). Nebraska
of a surging demand for increased chickpea acres
crops driven by consumer 79 percent to 5,200 acres
purchases of healthy high- (2,104 hectares).
protein food. The USDA says lentils