Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service

Gene Danekas, Director

For Immediate Release: July 12, 2005

Missouri Winter Wheat Production Down 33 Percent From 2004

(COLUMBIA, MO) - "Despite a better overall yield, the Missouri winter wheat crop
is expected to be smaller than last year, mainly due to reduced acreage," said
Gene Danekas, Director, Missouri Agricultural Statistics. "Although harvested
acreage will be the lowest Missouri has seen in almost twenty years and the
wheat stands were relatively thinner than normal, field observations indicated
that the crop had a near record weight per head, which boosted the yield above
earlier expectations."

The State production of winter wheat is forecast at 32.49 million bushels, based
on conditions as of July 1, 2005, down 33 percent from the 2004 crop and 39
percent less than 2 years ago. Yields in the State, forecast as the second
highest on record, are expected to average 57 bushels per acre, 5 bushels more
than last year. Of the revised 650,000 planted acres, 570,000 were expected to
be harvested for grain, down 39 percent from the 2004 acreage level.

U.S. Winter Wheat Production Up 2 Percent From 2004

United States winter wheat production is forecast at 1.53 billion bushels, down
1 percent from the June 1 forecast but 2 percent above 2004. Based on July 1
conditions, the U.S. yield is forecast at 44.5 bushels per acre, up 0.4 bushel
from the previous forecast. Grain area totals 34.3 million acres, unchanged from
the Acreage report released on June 30, but down 2 percent from the June 1
forecast. Hard Red production is down 4 percent from a month ago to 924 million
bushels. Soft Red is up 5 percent from last month and now totals 315 million
bushels. White production totals 287 million bushels, up 1 percent from last
month.

Wheat yield forecasts in states adjacent to Missouri are as follows: Arkansas
55; Illinois 64; Kansas 39; Kentucky 70; Nebraska 41; Oklahoma 33 and Tennessee
60.

            MISSOURI WHEAT PRODUCTION AND YIELD BY DISTRICT

        ACRES PLANTED   ACRES HARVESTED     YIELD          PRODUCTION
AREA     2004  2005*     2004    2005*   2004   2005*    2004     2005*
        -thousands-      -thousands-     -bu./acre-      -thousand bu.-

NW        68     37       63      33       53    51     3,339     1,680
NC        88     45       82      43       50    50     4,100     2,150
NE       114     55      108      51       57    57     6,156     2,910
WC       162     67      153      64       49    53     7,497     3,400
C        115     62      101      53       48    57     4,848     3,030
EC        71     53       63      45       47    51     2,961     2,300
SW       117    100       99      84       47    58     4,653     4,870
SC        12      9        8       5       48    46       384       230
SE       303    222      253     192       57    62    14,422    11,920

STATE  1,050    650      930     570       52    57    48,360    32,490

*July 1 Forecast