Oats and Wheat prices up on Drought

In a follow-up to my post in April regarding drought conditions and potential impact on crop prices, many agricultural prices have surged this year. This post highlights oats and hard red spring wheat. Both are grown in the northern plains, areas where the drought has been severe.

Oat prices increased 87% since March 31 while hard red spring wheat is up 59%. Significant percentages of U.S. production of both crops are grown in the Dakotas and surrounding states. My post from April highlighted the drought in that area.

Oat production has been estimated at 39.8 million bushels this year, down 39% from last year. Hard red spring wheat, used in breads, bagels, pizza doughs, likely saw production drop 44% to 297 million bushels. This would be the smallest crop in over 20 years.