Wednesday, January 31, 2007

The news from Spokane...

Man - what a great trip this is turning out to be! Wonderful people doing all kinds of interesting stuff we never would have thought of in the Midwest. Here are some items of interest:
  • I gotta try some Pink Lady apples. If you like Braeburn - which we do - the PL is maybe just a little more tart, but can sweeten with storage. I had never heard about them.
  • The sugar beet industry is pretty puzzled about what happens next. Opening the "sugar border" to Mexico will have consequences, but it is really hard to forecast with the turmoil caused by biofuels.
  • You can start a conversation with anybody in the Northwest by asking "You guys getting many Californians moving in?" I have not found anybody here who is not seeing incoming residents somewhere close.
  • Potato companies were caught uncovered when the rush for acres took over. Some didn't bother to contract, relying on farmers to overproduce as usual. Result: potato prices have nearly doubled for one producer.
  • You can't buy land cheap here either.
Finally, and most sobering: One wheat producer told me he has heard rumors of 46-cent N (as NH3).

Do the math.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

John, our wholesale NH3 went from 22.5c/#N to 28.6c/#N one day in Dec,when Nat Gas was in the mid $5 range. It may not be at the top yet, and imported Urea that we read about doesn't seem to be bringing that N source down yet.
We are 100 miles south of you now in the Palouse,
Joe