For farmers in North Dakota surveying their wheat as harvest closes in, scorching heat is threatening yields just as crop prices rise to a three-year high.
A recent spate of 100-degree days is stressing fields in the key US wheat-growing state while escalating attacks between Russia and Ukraine put exports at risk in the Black Sea.
“I’m actually surprised they’re holding out as well as they are,” grower Jim Pellman said of his fields. Speaking during the Wheat Quality Council’s annual spring and durum wheat crop tour, he was more focused on his own farm than the ongoing turmoil in Eastern Europe.
“We’ve still got harvest season to go through, so it’s a matter of getting the bushels in the bin,” said Pellman, who farms in McClusky, near the center of North Dakota.
