Gleadell harvest 2008 wheat pool results announced

David Sheppard, managing director of Gleadell Agriculture, announced the results of the Gleadell Harvest 2008 Wheat Pool, which returned a base price of £130.15 and an average price of £133.15.

"The season 2008/9 wheat market, with the benefit of hindsight, has been a straightforward affair," commented Mr Sheppard, "even if the actual harvest itself was anything but straightforward. Forward prices have looked attractive for a long time, for up to a year, and we have been advising farmers to lock into these prices for all of this time.

The extent of the fall in the market has been exaggerated by the credit crunch and the ensuing global financial turmoil but, fundamentally, crops around the world have just got bigger and bigger to the extent that the latest USDA report puts the 2008 world wheat crop over 680 million tonnes - 70 million tonnes more than in 2007. The UK crop of around 17 million tonnes would surely have been over 18 million tonnes if the weather had been kinder in August. We acted on the information we were receiving and sold the harvest wheat pool earlier than we had ever done before. Indeed, all our wheat pool - for all periods - has been sold for some time too."

"We believe the prices below show the real benefit of pool marketing and of using the best world market information for the benefit of our pool members," added Mr Sheppard.

GLEADELL HARVEST 2008 WHEAT POOL RESULTS SUMMARY

Base feed wheat £130.15

Average feed wheat £133.25

Highest feed wheat £139.35

Bread making wheat £135.40 - £155.