Ukraine’s ability to keep exporting wheat, corn and other ag commodities under the threatened Black Sea Grain Initiative will be a major focus when world ag leaders meet later this week in Japan for a summit of G7 agriculture ministers, says USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, who will be attending. “I fully expect … that there will be an extended conversation about the Black Sea Grain Initiative and key support for (Odesa ports to) be open and to express deep concern for any effort on the part of Russia to interfere with the ability of Ukrainian grain to get to countries in Africa and elsewhere,” Vilsack told reporters Wednesday.

Spring wheat prices have been trying to find some traction recently, but they seem to still be locked in an upper $8 trading range on futures. “The three main factors impacting the market – or shifting direction from time to time – are still concerns about potential planting delays in the spring wheat region, the uncertain future of the Black Sea grain deal, and hard red winter wheat crop condition ratings,” said Jim Peterson, market director for the North Dakota Wheat Commission. “Those seem to be the three big factors that are impacting price trends.”

Wheat and corn exports out of the Black Sea region are at risk again. Ukrainian officials say Russia’s recent actions to block inspections of ships under the Black Sea grain initiative means the grain deal is facing a murky future. That’s as the area was still able to see record wheat exports over the past year, despite the war, largely thanks to the grain deal ensuring grain exports continued to flow out of the area.

Join NAWG’s advocacy campaign to engage with legislators on increasing Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) programs authorized in the Farm Bill. MAP’s authorized funding has not changed since 2006 and FMD funding has remained the same since 2002, so inflation and sequestration have significantly eroded the ability to compete with other countries who are steadily investing more in their agricultural export promotion efforts. Please visit NAWG’s website to participate in the grassroots efforts to make your voice heard.

UI Cookie was developed at the University of Idaho Research and Extension wheat breeding center in Aberdeen by Dr. Jianli Chen. UI Cookie has improved resistance to stripe rust, tolerance to Fusarium head blight and, while developed for irrigated production, has shown exceptional yields in both irrigated and dryland trials.

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Americans aren’t coming close to meeting the government’s recommendations for whole grains, according to a new USDA study. Under the federal dietary guidelines, a 2,000-calorie diet would include 6 ounces of grains, with at least half being whole grains. But whole grain consumption barely budged from 1998 to 2018, rising from an average of 0.4 ounces per 1,000 calories to 0.43 ounces over the two decades, the study says. One bright spot: School food has become the most whole-grain-dense food source.