North Dakota durum growers say they're not benefiting much from soaring prices for high-quality durum. They also say companies that buy and process durum have themselves to blame for the current short supplies.
"There's not much (high-quality durum) out there to sell," says Keith Deutsch, a Plaza, N.D., farmer and a past president of the U.S. Durum Growers Association.
This year's wheat harvest was the biggest ever, but the durum crop was the smallest in 13 years. The higher durum prices are likely to be passed on to consumers.
Durum is used to make pasta. North Dakota accounts for more than half of the durum grown in the U.S.
Widespread problems with crop disease followed by heavy rains during harvest hurt durum's quality, leading to heavy discounts, or reductions, in the price farmers receive for most of their grain.
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"The discounts are pretty bad," Deutsch says.
Some heavily damaged and discounted durum, which will be fed to livestock, is fetching as little as $3 per bushel, farmers and others say. Some durum is so damaged that farmers won't be able to sell it at any price.
Much of the durum sold by North Dakota farmers will bring about $7 to $8 per bushel, estimates Ryan Davidson, a Tioga, N.D., farmer.
Deutsch and Davidson say they've heard of farmers receiving as much as $17 per bushel for top-grade durum, but they aren't sure how widespread that price was or how long it lasted.
Ray (N.D.) Farmers Union Elevator Co. offered $17 per bushel for the highest-quality durum, before dropping to $16 per bushel for it, says manager Daryn Edwards.
"We're seeing some (top-grade durum). Not a lot," he says.
Bruce Burnett, crop specialist at Winnipeg-based grain marketer CWB, says less than a quarter of Western Canadian durum was likely to rate in the top two quality grades, close to an all-time low. Canada is the world's top durum exporter.
High-quality durum recently fetched $13 to $17 per bushel, with an average price of $14.80 per bushel, at area grain elevators surveyed weekly by Agweek.
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In August, before harvest began, top-grade durum brought $7.60 to $9 per bushel, with an average price of $8.57 per bushel, at those elevators.
Some farmers still are storing unsold top-grade durum from the 2013 harvest, but it's uncertain how much remains. Many producers who had such grain earlier this year sold all or much of it this summer to clear bin space for what was shaping up to be a big-yielding crop, Davidson says.
Lack of premium an issue
Durum is more susceptible to crop disease than spring wheat, which is used to make bread. North Dakota also is the nation's leading producer of spring wheat.
Farmers say the greater risk should give durum a premium to, or higher price than, spring wheat. That hasn't been the case in recent years, reducing farmers' willingness to grow durum, Deutsch says.
He and other durum growers have criticized for years what they say is the persistent unwillingness of companies that buy and process durum to pay a sufficient premium.
"That's caught up with them this year," he says.
North Dakota farmers planted 4.4 million acres of durum in 1980. Acreage has fallen steadily, to 3.25 million in 2000, 1.8 million in 2010 and 840,000 this year. For every five acres planted in 1980, only one acre was planted this spring.
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Other crops, including canola and soybeans, now are grown on many fields where durum once was raised, Deutsch says.
He says he's reduced the amount of durum he raises, growing soybeans instead.
A 2012 Agweek cover story looked at the long decline in U.S. durum acreage and growers' frustration with what they say is inadequate prices. The story is available online at www.ag week.com/event/article/id/19640.
