Parts of Kansas, the biggest winter-wheat grower, may get as much as 9 inches (23 centimeters) of snow today, the National Weather Service said. Areas of the state were in “severe” drought as of March 1, University of Nebraska-Lincoln data show.
“They’re calling for moisture in the western Plains,” said Louise Gartner, the owner of Spectrum Commodities in Beavercreek, Ohio. “It didn’t look like they got much yesterday, but they’re looking for heavy snow in a lot of that region today.”
Wheat futures for May delivery fell 21 cents, or 2.6 percent, to settle at $7.7975 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Earlier, the price touched $7.7825, the lowest since Feb. 24.
The most-active contract has gained 58 percent in the past year as drought slashed output in Russia and floods hurt crops in Canada and Australia.
A quarter of the Kansas crop was in good or excellent condition last week, unchanged from a week earlier, while conditions in Oklahoma improved, the government said yesterday.
Winter wheat is planted in the U.S. Midwest and central and southern Plains from September to early November, goes dormant until about March, and is harvested from June to August.
Wheat was the fourth-biggest U.S. crop in 2010, valued at $13 billion, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show.
To contact the reporter on this story: Whitney McFerron in Chicago
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