High-protein grain used in bread reaches highest in four years Egypt said to buy cargoes from Russia, Romania, shunning U.S. Spring wheat prices posted wide swings after reaching a four-year high as traders weighed prospects for an intensifying drought in the High Plains against signs that U.S. supplies aren’t competitive in world export markets.
On the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, spring wheat for September delivery fell 1.7 percent to $8.0225 a bushel at 11:56 a.m. local time.
The commodity then slumped as much as 5.1 percent, pushing 60-day volatility to the highest since August 2015.
Much of Montana and the Dakotas were in moderate to extreme droughts as of June 27, and the area for all varieties of wheat planted for 2017 is the smallest on record since data starts in 1919, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
wheat is pricing itself out of the world market,” Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at INTL FCStone in Kansas City, Missouri, said in a telephone interview.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, soft red winter wheat futures for September delivery fell 1.3 percent to $5.4775 a bushel after earlier reaching $5.745, the highest since July 14, 2015.
Aggregate trading for this time more than doubled compared with the 100-day average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In Chicago, hard red winter wheat futures for September delivery fell 1.1 percent to $5.535 a bushel after reaching $5.7725, the highest since July 10, 2015.
The U.S. is the world’s top wheat exporter.
The soft red winter grade is used to make flour for cookies and cakes, and the hard red winter variety is also used to make bread.

Deadline near to apply for drought relief.
The deadline for filing for federal economic injury disaster loans in Campbell, Claiborne and Scott counties is July 24, the U.S. Small Business Administration said in a news release.
The loans were made available as a result of the 2016 drought in Kentucky.
“These counties are eligible because they are contiguous to one or more primary counties in Kentucky.
Under the declaration, the SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to eligible farm-related and non-farm-related entities that suffered financial losses as a direct result of the drought.
The loans are for working capital and can be up to $2 million with interest rates of 3.125 percent for eligible small businesses and 2.5 percent for nonprofit organizations, and terms up to 30 years.
Disaster loan information and application forms may also be obtained by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard of hearing) or by e-mailing to disastercustomerservice @sab.gov.
Completed loan applications must be returned to SBA no later than July 24.
Farmers have eight months from the date of the declaration to apply for emergency loans.
A total of 68 counties in Kentucky were declared disaster areas because of the drought at various dates and 1,670 counties were declared nationally.

Capital Journal editorial: Allow for federal fund drought relief.
The Hughes County Commission declared a natural disaster drought emergency Monday, hoping to generate federal and state money to help farmers who have lost crops due to the ongoing drought.
Brian Stewart, director of the Farm Service Agency, reported that 300 farmers in the county have been impacted by the dry conditions, which were created by the area receiving just 61 percent of normal precipitation this year.
Pierre has received 1.86 inches of rain this month, which is .57 inches below the 30 year norm for the first 19 days of June, and just 6.31 inches of moisture since Jan. 1, down 33 percent from normal.
Stewart calculated wheat farmers in the county have lost at least $16 million in lost crops (3.32 million bushels of winter wheat) since March 1 because of the drought and a late frost.
He predicted that even with additional rainfall, many of the remaining crops are too far gone to be saved.
The drought disaster declaration by the commission claims the drought is a natural disaster beyond the capabilities of the county and state, asking for federal assistance, hoping to make emergency loans available.
It’s no secret that farmers and ranchers have been having a tough time lately.
Low prices and extreme weather conditions have made their profession even more perilous than usual.
Our hope is that Congress will take swift action, providing farmers relief in the way of low interest loans to help them recover from this natural disaster.

1 / 2 FARGO — Much of eastern North Dakota has endured abnormally dry weather but has escaped drought conditions.
Over the past 90 days, Fargo has received 52 percent of normal rainfall, according to the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network.
Lawns that are just starting to parch could quickly turn brown if the forecast, which calls for highs in the 90s later this week and little chance of rain, holds.
The WDAY forecast indicates temperatures could creep above 90 degrees starting today, July 5, cool slightly for a day or two, then possibly return above 90 Saturday and Sunday, with the possibility of 90-degree temperatures continuing into next week, she said.
Hotter air can hold more water, drawing moisture from soils and plants, said Adnan Akyuz, North Dakota’s state climatologist.
He added: "The plants are going to lose water fast," assuming temperatures linger in the upper 80s and low 90s as predicted.
Almost the entire state — 99.98 percent — is at least abnormally dry, and two-thirds of the state is in at least moderate drought, while 46.9 percent is in extreme drought.
Ross, west of Minot, has received only 26 percent of normal rainfall — 1.93 inches — over the past three months, according to NDAWN figures.
At the other end of the scale, areas of the northern Red River Valley have received above-normal rainfall.
Grand Forks, where 8.58 inches of rain has fallen in the past three months, is at 117 percent of normal precipitation.

“This is a potential new source of water for California,” said former Assemblyman Rich Gordon.
“We need to find water where we can.” In a sense, the water we drink today has been recycling since the beginning of time, thanks to the natural water cycle.
“In fact, it’s the water our astronauts drink at the space station.” Water recycling is more the norm in countries like Singapore, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Australia, which have long had water shortages.
Israel reclaims about 80 percent of its wastewater, while Singapore reclaims almost 100 percent.
Why not?” Right now, as much as 5 percent of Santa Clara County’s water supply comes from recycled water, all of which is currently designated for non-potable uses such as irrigation for landscaping and golf courses.
“But we are aggressively pursuing plans to produce purified water for potable use.” The agency has two more advanced water purification projects being planned — one a new plant in Sunnyvale, close to the Donald Summers Water Pollution Control Plant, as well as an expansion of the existing Zanker Road plant.
The Santa Clara Valley Water District calls it “purified water.” A brewery in Half Moon Bay has a more creative approach: It periodically makes beer out of recycled wastewater.
“The idea behind it was for people to get used to the concept that we can actually purify water to drinking standards,” Gordon said.
What the tours don’t do, however, is have people taste the water for themselves.
But regardless, Hsueh said, the tours are useful to convince people of the high quality of the recycled water.

JULY CALENDAR EVENTS: California extreme precipitation symposium; Building Bay Area resilience; Measuring groundwater pumping for SGMA compliance; Delta Landscapes workshop.
Goals of the Symposium are to improve flood risk management planning and increase warning time for large floods.
It revealed good preparation by local water agencies but also tensions between the state and local utilities brought on by state-mandated conservation.
Join a panel of regional leaders for a discussion about building cooperative solutions to improve drought resilience in the Bay Area.
Measuring Groundwater Pumping for SGMA Compliance July 19, Fresno Learn about the options and costs of metering, measuring and data recording technology available to provide groundwater use information to comply with SGMA reporting requirements for pumping and groundwater level measurement.
Registration is $75.
Delta Landscapes Workshop July 25, West Sacramento The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy is pleased to announce the Delta Landscape Workshop co-hosted by the Delta Conservancy, the Delta Stewardship Council’s Delta Science Program, the San Francisco Estuary Institute, and the Water Education Foundation.
Please click here to register for the event.
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Drought conditions continue for thousands of rural residents in the San Joaquin valley who rely on groundwater.
The state is trying not to abandon people with dry wells.
Starting July 1, an additional year of free water will be delivered to massive tanks that were placed at many dwellings with dry wells, including the Rios’ home.
One year won’t be enough time to fix all the problems out there.
“And what will happen should any new homes run out of water during the next year?” asks Jenny Rempel, director of education and engagement for the nonprofit advocacy group Community Water Center.
“That’s not a good solution if you’ve been waiting for years already.” Herrera works with Tulare County residents, including those in Monson, where about 200 residents have never had access to a central water system – just private wells.
But Monson has been waiting since 2008 when contamination was found in private wells.
About 800 homes will be hooked up to water soon in East Porterville, where more than 7,000 people went dry a few years ago, Coyne says.
Even as millions of dollars are invested and the water comes back to many homes, residents know wells could go dry again if groundwater pumping ramps up.
A Sacramento Bee investigation found a record 2,500 wells were drilled in San Joaquin Valley in 2015 during the height of the drought.

Water experts: Climate change intensifying effects of persistent drought.
Pelligrino said the average temperature was up 8 degrees during March in Colorado, home of the snowcap that feeds the Colorado River and, in turn, Lake Mead.
Data recently published on the issue said the drought was caused by temperature changes.
A temperature curve created for the 11,000 years of data shows that temperatures peaked about 8,000 years ago and dropped thereafter, but recently the temperature is beginning to rise again, which Lachniet said is the effect of global warming.
Lachniet said that humans can play a role in how hot it gets and, in turn, how much water is lost, by reducing greenhouse gases to keep the temperature from rising too dramatically.
“The Colorado River is really the hallmark of cooperation for river basins working together,” Pelligrino said.
The latest project being tested is a water-smart meter used by some of Nevada’s largest water users.
The data can then be used to address any issues relating to water conservation to be as efficient as possible.
“By the end of 2020 we’ll be able to pump from a level in Lake Mead that provides better water quality than we have now,” she said.
“We’re already starting to access that portion of a project — the ability to pump water from the Colorado River, even if there’s not enough water in Lake Mead to deliver it downstream.” The project’s $1.4 billion cost was financed without any state or federal funding.

Drought reveals why SJ County will flood again.
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(w=f.cc,E=f.cm,y=parseInt(f.cx),C=parseInt(f.cp),D=parseInt(f.cu),q=v(),G(q)):u&&G(q)})()})(); Take a walk along the San Joaquin River levees between the confluence with the Stanislaus River and the Mossdale Crossing.
It included money to conduct a study to determine if dredging was an effective and less expensive way to improve flood protection between Mossdale and Vernalis.
The silt build-up is still there.
Why not just dredge the silt build-up now since the water is low?
The silt build-up they wanted to remove was in the Los Angeles River.
The same goes for floods.
It is clear that building most dams, such as the one at Auburn, won’t have any major impact on water supplies during droughts or other times.
That’s why a growing number of our flood and droughts in California are policy driven.

Denver Homer Bailey went six solid innings for his first win since Aug. 12, Billy Hamilton had a two-out, two-run single after missing a game with a bothersome back and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Colorado Rockies 8-1 on Tuesday night.
The injury-plagued Bailey (1-2) scattered eight hits in the longest of his three starts this season.
Kyle Freeland (8-7) struggled early before settling down.
Cleveland manager Terry Francona missed the game after he was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic for tests.
Kluber (7-3) allowed one run and struck out 10 in eight innings — setting a franchise mark with five consecutive double-digit strikeout games.
Tigers 5, Giants 3: Victor Martinez homered, Michael Fulmer pitched eight innings and Detroit snapped San Francisco’s six-game win streak, although Miguel Cabrera left after six innings due to left hip tightness.
Marlins 5, Cardinals 2: Christian Yelich hit a three-run homer and Jose Urena struck out seven in five solid innings for Miami.
Rays 6, Cubs 5: Tim Beckham homered, and the Rays won their reunion with Joe Maddon.
The Rays won their first meeting against Maddon since he left to manage Chicago following the 2014 season.
The right-hander is 3-1 in five starts since returning from surgery for testicular cancer.