Agricultural Economics, Department of
Cornhusker Economics
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The Importance of USDA Reports for Commodity Prices: The Case of Wheat Futures and the WASDE
Date of this Version
6-2026
Document Type
Newsletter Issue
Citation
Cornuhusker Economics, June 17, 2026
Agricultural Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract
What should the price of wheat be in 2026? Economics will say that the price should be the one that matches the quantity of wheat supplied by farmers to the quantity demanded by consumers, such that the market is in equilibrium. While this may seem conceptually simple, an answer to this question requires that we know the supply and demand for wheat in a given period.
In general, it is a very hard task for an individual to assess, alone, the total supply and demand for wheat in the US. For example, a farmer in Nebraska may observe how much wheat his neighbor expects to produce, but is unlikely to observe or project how much wheat the state of Montana will produce or how much wheat will be exported out of the US. Therefore, if we need this information to attempt to answer the question of what the equilibrium price of wheat should be, an individual alone is unlikely to get a precise answer. This is where public reports provided by the USDA play a critical role in supporting farmers and market agents.