Contract growers will cut back on their acreage in the Pacific Northwest but not enough, an eastern Idaho industry observer said today.
Without desiring to be identified, he said that because there will not be enough acreage cutbacks, there will be more open acreage, especially in Idaho. This will put a strain on the open market next year, unless the processors step in to buy the opens.
A good prediction of the acreage drop will be about 5 percent in Idaho. It should be down 10 percent to compensate for lost processor contracts just to hold current price averages.
Seed acreage is also predicted to go down, but only by half as much as it should. Some seed will not be sold. This will either go through the fresh-pack or to the flake plants.
The prediction is some seed growers will come out of this marketing year in bad shape. Some waited too long to sell. A prediction on how much seed acreage will be down in Idaho is about 5 percent.