Graph: More Downside Possible in US Wheat Exports

Jan 25, 2023

There may still be additional downside in what is an already much smaller 2022-23 US wheat export forecast.

According to USDA export sales data, US wheat export sales total commitments - outstanding sales along with accumulated exports- amounted to 15.1 million tonnes as of Jan. 5, down 7% from the same time last year and representing 71% of the full marketing year estimate of 775 million bu, or 21.1 million tonnes. (See graph below).

That is lower than the percentage of the wheat export estimate met by total commitments at the same point in nine of the last 10 years, “suggesting that U.S. wheat may need a slightly stronger pace of sales in the coming months to meet the current projection,” the USDA said in its January Wheat Outlook.

If accurate, projected 2022-23 US wheat exports would be the lowest in 51 years, weighed down by tight domestic supplies and a huge crop in Russia that is being offered up to world markets at deeply discounted prices.

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Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.