For the first time, the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) is welcoming a president from the Mitten.
Dave Milligan of Cass City is now heading the organization after serving as vice president. Coming off a tough 2019, wheat growers across the country are struggling with a decline in prices, and the weather hasn’t helped. However, there have been some bright spots for the wheat industry.
“We’re feeling very blessed we got some of these trade agreements—it was certainly a big concern,” he said. “We worked hard along with other people to get these, especially USMCA. Mexico and Japan are [our top two] customers. We got that bilateral agreement with Japan, so that certainly is good news for wheat growers.”
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, there’s some down news for wheat, but with the bad, there’s also good that can come with it.
“The bad news is that acres are down, but when you have the acres down, production is down, the price will probably be up,” said Milligan.
Milligan says despite weather and low prices, wheat still has a positive story to tell to other farmers and consumers.
“Wheat’s been quite active in soil health and sustainability issues,” said Milligan. “A lot of our end users want to be able to say their products are produced sustainability, and wheat has a good story that way. It’s something growing on the ground most of the time that keeps the soil covered and helps cut down on wind erosion, water erosion and growing crop.”
