An ag meteorologist says this week’s extreme cold snap could cause irreversible damage to the nation’s winter wheat crop. Matt Makens with CattleFax tells Brownfield wheat in parts of the Central and Western Plains don’t have a protective layer of snow to defend against sub-zero temperatures. “You’re allowing whatever wheat has come up already to be exposed to the dangerous cold. This is not temporary. This is not a three-hour flash freeze. This is a multi-day hard freeze that is going to last all the way into Christmas weekend.”

Global seed maker Syngenta will release a new type of wheat developed with complex cross-breeding techniques in the United States next year, beating out rival companies that are also trying to develop higher yielding wheat at a time of diminishing global grain supplies. The hybrid wheat, which combines positive traits from two parent plants, arrives after severe weather slashed grain harvests and the Ukraine war disrupted shipments to hungry importers, sending prices to record highs this spring.

The global pandemic has deepened an epidemic of loneliness in America. According to research conducted by Harvard University, statistics showed that 36% of all Americans feel "serious loneliness". Loneliness has appeared to have increased substantially since the outbreak of the global pandemic.

Some of 2022’s volatility is gone, but low carryover of wheat stocks and uncertainties are expected to keep prices relatively high as farmers enter the new year.

USDA released its December World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report Dec. 9, 2022, that included no substantial changes for global and domestic wheat markets.

As the holiday season and the end of year approaches and markets tend to slow, spring wheat prices have also slowed slightly.

The Ukrainian port of Odesa was not operating on Sunday after the latest Russian attack on the region's energy system, Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said, but added that grains traders were not expected to suspend exports. Two other ports - Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi - authorised to export grains from Ukraine under a deal between Russia and Ukraine were partially operating, he said. "Chornomorsk port is now operating at about 80% of capacity," Solsky told Reuters in a phone call.