June 24, 2016
CapitalPress.com
9
Berry production in California
gaining ground after slow start
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
Capital Press ile
Soft white wheat from last year’s crop with excess protein is bring-
ing lower prices at some elevators.
Elevators dock for too
much protein in wheat
By MATTHEW WEAVER
Capital Press
Farmers in the Paciic
Northwest could receive a
lower price for their wheat if
it has too much protein.
Connell, Wash., wheat
farmer Chris Herron said he
recently saw an unusual sight
at local grain elevators. They
are discounting 5 cents per
bushel for white wheat that
has more than 10.5 to 11 per-
cent protein.
“Anything over 10.5 to
11 percent, you lose a nick-
el,” Herron said. “Eleven to
11.5 percent, you lose anoth-
er nickel. First time I’ve ever
seen it in 50 years.”
“It’s not typical, but we’ve
had so much high-protein
wheat the last couple of
years,” said Glen Squires,
CEO of the Washington Grain
Commission. “Very untypi-
cal.”
Many overseas buyers
have a 10.5 percent protein
maximum speciication.
It’s unknown how high
protein levels are in the this
year’s wheat crop, as harvest
has not yet begun, Squires
said.
“We’ve had better mois-
ture this year, which would
lend itself to a reduction
in protein levels,” he said.
“There could be some areas
that have a higher protein.”
Some farmers could begin
harvesting in the drier areas
of Washington the week of
June 20. Squires believes
many will begin the week of
June 27, a week earlier than
usual.
Farmers could store their
wheat until the discount is
removed or the market allows
higher protein levels. A farm-
er can store grain for “quite
a while,” Squires said. Many
still have most of last year’s
crop on hand, he said.
Squires said he has no idea
how long the discount could
last.
“In the past, there has al-
ways been enough low-pro-
tein generated we could
always blend off or the ex-
porters could make the high-
er-protein stuff work, they
could make the specifica-
tions the customer wanted,”
said Dan Steiner, Morrow
County Grain Growers grain
merchant. “But with the
drought the last few years,
it’s been tougher and tough-
er to find low-protein premi-
ums.”
Steiner’s company is not
discounting for higher pro-
tein wheat or imposing other
discounts. It is only purchas-
ing 11 percent protein wheat
from commercial compa-
nies, he said.
A company’s cash bid
might include a lower protein
requirement, which won’t be
apparent until later on, Stein-
er said. He advises farmers to
pay attention beyond the cash
bid.
“This is not a normal thing,
it is not a regular occurrence
for soft white wheat,” Stein-
er said. “They could ind out
they inadvertently sold to the
wrong elevator or got a differ-
ent price than they intended.”
The discount affects a
farmer’s plans for marketing
his wheat, Herron said. A
farmer can’t do anything to
change protein levels in his
wheat.
“I can’t go spray some-
thing or pull something to
make it go away,” Herron
said. “It just is what it is.”
DAVIS, Calif. — Fa-
vorable spring weather has
helped berry production in
California gain ground after
winter storms led to a slow start
for the crops in 2016.
Strawberry farms have pro-
duced nearly 91.5 million lats
statewide as of June 14, still off
last year’s pace of 111.6 mil-
lion trays in the same period,
according to the National Berry
Report.
But production has been
nearly equal to or higher than
last year since April 30, when
just 42.3 million crates had
been picked compared to 61.5
million in the irst four months
of 2015, the California Straw-
berry Commission reports.
“The volume has deinitely
picked up,” said commission
spokeswoman Carolyn O’Don-
nell, noting that she sees berries
being moved into coolers even
in the early evening hours in the
Monterey Bay region.
“The weather has been
beautiful here” in the past
month, O’Donnell said. “We’ve
had good warm days and cool
nights for strawberries and this
is the peak season, so they’re
pretty much doing what we
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
Toni Ensz and Terri Mason sell blueberries for Caruthers, Ca-
lif.-based Triple Delight Blueberries at a farmers’ market in Davis,
Calif. The farm is having a “bumper crop” this year, Ensz said,
although blueberry production statewide is lagging behind last
year’s pace.
would expect them to do this
time of year.”
The Santa Maria area has
nearly caught up to last year’s
production, having turned out
31.5 million lats as of June 14
compared to 35.8 million to
date in 2016.
Other berries have made
similar gains. According to the
National Berry Report:
• Raspberry growers have
produced nearly 9.9 million
lats so far this year, below the
11.3 million picked as of this
point last year. In mid-April,
growers had only picked a lit-
tle more than half the 4 million
cartons produced at that point
in 2015.
• Blackberries in California
are ahead of last year’s pace.
Producers have put out 501,219
lats as of June 14, compared
to 497,447 at the same point a
year ago.
• Blueberry production is
still lagging behind, as 4.7 mil-
lion lats were picked as of June
14 compared to 7.6 million by
mid-June of 2015. But some
farms, including Triple Delight
Blueberries in Caruthers, Calif.,
are having a good year.
“It’s been a bumper crop,”
said Toni Ensz, who was sell-
ing blueberries from the farm
recently at a farmers’ market in
Davis, Calif. “I think the weath-
er has just been right for it in the
Central Valley.”
O’Donnell has said the in-
dustry will have a better idea
by October whether the season
will be on par with previous
years. Growers are trying to
get by with fewer acres — an
estimated 32,515 acres in 2016,
down from the 37,438 estimat-
ed acres last year and continu-
ing a trend of annual declines
from the 40,816 acres planted
in 2013.
“It’s always about the
weather, and last year we got a
really early start because we
didn’t have any rain,” O’Don-
nell said.
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