Weekly Update for
March 19

On March 19, NAWG joined a broad coalition of agricultural organizations in a letter led by the American Farm Bureau Federation to the President—also shared with congressional leadership—highlighting the worsening economic conditions facing America’s farmers and ranchers. The letter underscores mounting financial pressures driven by persistently low commodity prices, rising input costs, high interest rates, and global market uncertainty, all of which are tightening margins and straining farm viability. The groups urge both the Administration and Congress to take swift action to strengthen the farm safety net and provide meaningful relief as policymakers consider next steps on the farm bill and potential supplemental assistance.

This week, the NAWG hosted the National Wheat Improvement Committee’s (NWIC) annual fly-in to Washington D.C. NWIC is composed of growers, scientists, and industry experts who work together to advocate for wheat research and innovation for producers and stakeholders across the industry. Over the course of two days on Capitol Hill, NWIC members met with congressional appropriators, USDA, and the White House to stress the importance of investing in wheat research. These discussions focused on several key priorities, including the need to hire critical positions within the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, as well as addressing the ongoing challenges posed by pests and diseases impacting wheat yields. The group also highlighted the importance of continued investment in initiatives that support growers and advance research, including the Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, Wheat Resiliency Initiative, and Small Grains Genomic Initiative. NAWG extends its sincere thanks to all participants for their time,  and dedicated advocacy to advancing our shared mission of strengthening the future of wheat research.

The war in Iran has caused fuel to rise with vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The rising cost of fuel has been felt across the agricultural transportation chain, according to ag industry leaders and experts. The conflict has caused a standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, with only nine ships transiting on Tuesday, March 17th. According to the Energy Information Administration, an average of 20 million barrels per day passes through the strait in 2024, which equates to about 20% of global petroleum. The EIA claims an average U.S. highway fuel costs $5.07 per gallon on Tuesday, March 17th. This is a 4.5% increase from last week, and a 30% increase from the average two weeks ago. However, gasoline prices average $3.72 nationwide on Tuesday, which is a 6% increase from last week, and a 23.5% increase from two weeks ago. The grain transportation cost indicator index claims trucking costs rose to 183 for a 7-day span, up from 147 the week prior. The Pacific freight rates rose from 148 to 157 during that period, while the reading for Gulf freight rates increased from 139 to 147. The reading for rail grew slightly, going from 119 to 120 during that span. Mike Seyfert, president and CEO of the National Grain and Feed Association said there’s an exception that some of these additional rail costs will appear in May “due to the way contracts are set up”. Exports out of the Persian Gulf went from $1 million to $1.5 million for ocean vessels. When it comes to trucking, Seyfert suggests shippers could see an extra two cents per bushel in costs, he said the varying additional costs between modes of transportation could stack.

Corn farmers warn other producers that growers are heading into planting season without input prices locked in, which can expose them to much higher costs. With global fuel and fertilizer prices facing a shock to the system, farmers have experienced rising costs for nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers. Commodity farmers are in their fourth year of negative margins. Vice President of National Corn Growers Association and Michigan farmers Matt Fostic says that farmers and producers may have been waiting for their Farm Bridge Assistance payments. Frostic said that fertilizer dealers were only giving farmers short windows to prepay for products, and a lot of producers were unwilling to make those spot purchases. “So, there are going to be a lot of producers out there who have not locked in that price… we’re going to be victim to the high cost of fertilizer based on just that. So, nitrogen could be as high as another $90 an area,” said Frostic. Dealers are raising costs because they will need to index the inventory they have in stock to higher costs, they will pay to replace those products. The White House tried to mitigate with a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act, which requires goods be shipped between U.S. ports to be carried on U.S. built and owned vessels. The Fertilizer Institute said the suspension of the Jones Act would make it more efficient to move fertilizer around the nation and reduce the costs associated with shipping.

The USDA’s Farm Service Agency is hiring new employees for county officers to address staffing shortages caused partially by last year’s deferred resignation program that contributed to a loss of around 10% of the FSA workforce. USDA Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Richard Fordyce said that the department is taking a very strategic look at where staffing gaps exist in severely understaffed officers such as county offices. Undersecretary Fordyce said that he could not provide a number of how many employees might be hired; however, FSA has the capacity to bring on temporary hires. “We do have some county offices where DRP was probably utilized a little bit more than what would have been ideal… the state executive directors on the FSA side are managing that by sending some folks there one day a week, two days a week,” said Fordyce. The National Association of Farmer Elected Committees has expressed concerns for some time regarding the staffing shortfalls. In a statement put out by National Association of Farmer Elected Committees said, “FSA is still under a general hiring freeze for permanent employees… in some cases, temporary employees can be hired. However, spending six months training a temporary employee, only to lay them off, is a waste of time and financial resources.”

On March 13th, a panel of soft wheat millers and trades said during the closing session of the North American Millers Association that soft red winter wheat is down 7% from 2025. The group predicts that soft red winter wheat production in 2026 will be 325,897,000 bushels of wheat, compared to previous years. In 2025, soft red winter wheat production was at 351,974,000 bushes, which is down 5% from 2024. The projected production of soft red winter wheat would be the lowest for the class in six years since the 2020 output of 264,221,000 bushels and would be down 12% from the 2021-2025 average of 368,644,000 bushels. A supply chain merchandiser from Bay State Milling Co. Matt Schmiesing said, “soft wheat acres are staying the same… as you all know, Oklahoma climate isn’t really built for SRW crop, it’s not as hard as hard red winter and t really doesn’t have the market infrastructure.”

Thank you to these great partners for stepping up to help with the 2026 contest! BASF, Dyna-Gro, John Deere, WestBred, AgXplore, Corteva, Croplan, Limagrain Cereal Seed, The McGregor Companies, U.S. Wheat Associates, AgriGro, AgriMaxx, Anheuser Busch, Ardent Mills, BNSF, Eastman, Mennel Milling Company, Siemer Milling Company, UPL, Bushel, Climate FieldView, American Bankers Association, Great Plains Analytical Laboratory, Grain Craft, Nachurs, Miller Milling, Northern Crops Institute, Idaho Wheat, Kansas Wheat, Kentucky Small Grain Growers Association, Michigan Wheat, Montana Grain Growers Association, Nebraska Wheat, North Carolina Small Grain Grower Association, Ohio Corn & Wheat, Oklahoma Wheat, PlainsGold, Texas Wheat. The Official Publication of the contest is Progressive Farmer/DTN.

The Winner’s Reception at Commodity Classic in San Antonio wrapped up the 2025 National Wheat Yield Contest.  It was a great night celebrating with all the winners and their families their excellent achievements in the 2025 contest. Now, its time to get your entries in for the 2026 contest.  If you have not entered before, you will first need to create an account on the website.  Make sure your membership with your state wheat organization is up to date, then start putting in your entries. Our great contest partners have vouchers you can use to pay for your entries.  Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2025 contest and Good Luck in 2026!

For the past decade, the National Wheat Foundation has hosted the National Wheat Yield Contest to encourage farmers to strive for exceptional wheat yields, innovative management strategies that drive productivity and high-quality wheat. The NWF executive director, Anne Osborne, said the tenth edition of the contest had 11 first time winner, and from states that had not produced national winners, with four of those contestants earned the title of “bin buster”. The yield average for the 24 winners in the contest four traditional categories was 147.01 bushels per acre (bpa), nearly a 2-buishel increase from 2024. Since the first contest in 2016, the record high yield in the contest has increased from 192.85 to 231.37 bpa. Last year, NWF expanded to Digital Yield, to include dryland winter wheat farmers in six select states. The addition of this category allows digital agriculture technologies and data from calibrated grain cart scales to count yields.

Our yield contest partner, Nutrien (Dyna-Gro) hosts an excellent ag weather website with Eric Snodgrass. We really appreciate the specific agriculture weather information. Thank you to Nutrien and Dyna-Gro for continuing to support wheat growers with information and involvement.