Wheat production down

Something might happen this fall in North Dakota agriculture that has never before happened in the state s history Corn production might outpace spring wheat production The Agriculture Department is forecasting North Dakota corn production to total 279 million bushels Earlier USDA pegged this year s spring wheat crop at 238 million bushels Spring wheat acres still dwarf corn by nearly a three-to-one ratio And Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson points out that a bushel of corn weighs 4 pounds less than a bushel of wheat But Johnson says the skyrocketing corn production is a trend It s being driven mainly by the demand from the ethanol fuel industry