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Excerpt from The Wheat Situation: May 1973 Record demand in 1972/ 73 and the elimination of required set-aside have encouraged farmers to grow more wheat. Early indications point to a record 1973 crop of million bushels, up 12% from last year. A larger harvested acreage and the second highest yield on record will likely result in an estimated record 1973 winter wheat crop of million bushels, up 8% from a year ago. Favorable moisture improved prospects in the Great Plains and the Hard Red Winter (hrw) wheat crop may total a record 920 million bushels. Other classes won't do so well. Above normal rainfall continued to plague wheat in most States east of the Mississippi. The Soft Red Winter (sbw) crop may be down 20-25% from last year' s 227 million bushels. Winterkill hit the White Wheat crop in the Pacific Northwest, especially Washington, and despite reseeding, the crop is likely to slip slightly to around 200 million bushels. Dry weather and an early spring put seeding of spring wheat well ahead of schedule. The indicated 21% increase in acreage and favorable growing conditions would result in crops of around 350 million bushels of Hard Red Spring (hrs) and 90 million bushels of Durum. Wheat disappearance in 1972/ 73, buoyed by record exports, is estimated to reach an all-time high of million bushels. This exceeds the 1972 crop of million bushels, reducing wheat stocks to around 435 million bushels by summer, the smallest since 1967. CCC stocks are virtually all committed and loans on all wheat are maturing, so most of this summer's wheat stocks will be in private hands. Wheat supplies will be down a tenth in 1973/ 74, to billion bushels, because of sharply reduced stocks. Demand for Wheat also will likely be smaller next season. Higher prices will limit early season feeding and total domestic use. A bigger world wheat crop will probably slow our export pace. The small carryover in prospect is making farm wheat prices extremely sensitive to trade