UNITED States grain producers have dropped winter wheat from their rotations in their droves, with the US Department of Agriculture reporting winter wheat plantings are the lowest since 1909.
To put this in context, in 1909 Australia's total population was just 4.2 million, Alfred Deakin became Australia's Prime Minister for the third time and World War I was still five years away.
Claire Hutchins, US Wheat Associates (USW) analyst wrote a piece for her organisation saying the major reason for the drop in plantings was that the price for winter wheat was below or just at the cost of production.
Ms Hutchins said there had also been a very wet start to the planting season which meant that farmers dropped at least some proportion of winter wheat out of their rotation.
In double cropping regions the wet weather delayed soybean harvest which meant the window to plant winter wheat was missed.
Not all the drop in plantings, however, is due to excessive moisture.
Colorado, a major winter wheat producer, in contrast, was too dry.
This year's plant of 12.5 million hectares is down slightly on last year but is substantially, 7 per cent, down on the five year average.