Rail Merger Proposals Should Improve Competition, Hold Down Wheat Shipping Rates
On March 21, 2021, Canadian Pacific (CP) Railways announced a $25 billion plan to merge with Kansas City Southern (KCS), calling it a “transformative” remake of the freight-rail industry. The proposed new railroad would be the first U.S.-Mexico-Canada-linked rail line. Not to be outdone, Canadian National Railway (CN) began talks with KCS in late April, […]
Global Growth Forecast Likely to Support Higher Ocean Freight Rates
As the world’s economies begin picking up pace, the increasing demand for raw materials is pushing up ocean freight rates worldwide. A less volatile freight market is possible but there are factors that suggest rates will remain higher for some time. Aristides Pittas, CEO of EuroDry, noted recently that dry bulk rates in January were […]
U.S. Hard Red Winter Wheat Farmers Looking for Rain
The 2021/22 U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat crop is developing under a range of conditions. However, rain makes grain, so anxious farmers are looking for clouds on the horizon. Based on the USDA’s Crop Progress reports, issued each week on Mondays, the HRW crop seems to be starting on average footing compared to condition […]
Russian Wheat Export Controls: They Are at It Again
By Michael Anderson, USW Assistant Director, West Coast Office On Nov. 13, 1991, the Chicago Tribune ran this headline: “Soviet Bread Prices Skyrocket By 600%.” Bread was already in short supply and if you bought it that morning, you would have paid 60 kopeks, by that afternoon it was 3.60 rubles. Apparently, the memory of […]
Federal Agency Helps Keep the Wheat Moving
By Michael Anderson, USW Assistant Director, West Coast Office The uncertain nature of COVID-19 and the unprecedented changes it brought to how we live our lives has made every industry stop and consider how it can meet customer demands while protecting the health of its employees. While the novelty of the virus may have worn […]
Deadly Wildfires, Smoky Air Has Not Interrupted U.S. Wheat Exports
By Michael Anderson, USW Assistant Director, West Coast Office For the past several days, many wildfires across the western United States have left devastating damage and loss of life. Across the Pacific Northwest. Unusually high winds on Sept. 7 dramatically expanded the fires in Washington state and Oregon. While many of the fires have been […]
U.S. Wheat Supply Chain System: Exporters, Inspectors and USW Overseas Offices
By Michael Anderson, USW Assistant Director, USW West Coast Office At the core of the U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) mission is a strong commitment to enhance the value of U.S. wheat for farmers and their customers. A large part U.S. wheat’s value-added differential advantage is the U.S. wheat supply chain system. It is system that […]
U.S. Wheat Supply Chain System: Grain Handlers
By Michael Anderson, USW Assistant Director, USW West Coast Office Each day during harvest season in the Pacific Northwest, the road to mid-Columbia Grain Company in The Dalles, Ore., is backed up by large grain trucks loaded with recently harvested wheat. A sample is taken from each load, then graded and tested for protein before […]
U.S. Wheat Supply Chain System: Farmers and State Wheat Commissions
By Michael Anderson, USW Assistant Director, USW West Coast Office “Everywhere the grain stood ripe and the hot afternoon was full of the smell of the ripe wheat, like the smell of bread baking in an oven. The breath of the wheat and the sweet clover passed him like a pleasant thing in a dream.” […]
U.S. Wheat Supply Chain System: Research and Plant Breeding
By Michael Anderson, USW Assistant Director, West Coast Office Professional millers and bakers know that the appearance and taste of every product depends on the specific characteristics imparted by its flour ingredient. And those characteristics are deeply rooted in the ancient craft of plant breeding. [Plant breeding is an ancient craft.] As far back as […]