Montana Grain Growers President Highlights Grandpa’s Wheat Prices

He's proud to be farming the same chunk of ground his grandfather farmed south of Shelby, Montana. He just wishes he wasn't getting the 1970's wheat prices his grandpa got.

We had a great conversation with Klayton Lohr, the President of the Montana Grain Growers Association, during the KATQ Radio Farm Expo in Plentywood.

Here's what else stood out to me after our chat from the trade show floor in Plentywood: two years ago, for the first time in our nation's history, we became a net IMPORTER of farm products.

We talked about how President Trump inherited a massive trade deficit, and how he's working to turn that around, and also about the importance of Montana Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) heading to China to talk trade and more.

Klayton Lohr: "We need those foreign markets. And we did become a net importer of agricultural products two years ago, for the first time in our nation's history. So that's not a good thing. And you know, a big part of our problem over the last 25 years has been the funding for MAP and FMD, which is Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development. That funding was set in 2000 and has never changed. And I tell people, what could you do with $10 in 2000 compared to today? And so we've been on a big push with the new farm bill to get that money doubled, and we've been told from both the House and Senate sides of the Ag committees that that's a priority. And so if we can get a little more money behind investing and finding new markets for our grain, I think that'll be a huge deal."

As for those 1970's wheat prices, Klayton Lohr shared some great words of wisdom his grandpa shared with him- especially since wheat prices the day we spoke were in the $5 range. His grandpa told him about selling all of his wheat at $5 a bushel after harvest back in 1975: 

Klayton Lohr: "So he went and bought a brand new combine, Massie combine with a 20 foot header, and it was $24,000. And my grandpa always said, you buy things in bushels, not dollars. So how many bushels does it take? And so that was 4,800 bushels. You'd need two of those combines today. So that'd be 9,600 bushels to buy two of them. And just a run of the mill, class seven combine today with a 40 foot header- not the biggest and best, you know, lower level- it would take around 154,000 bushels of wheat to buy that combine. And so when you look at that inflation, and you know, we're not getting 10 times- well, more than that- 20 times the bushels today than they were back then."

Full audio of our chat with MGGA President Klayton Lohr is below.

Thanks to Land of Erin Dell in Plentywood for giving us permission to use the above photos.