North Dakota Wheat Setting New Records -- North Dakota, USA

Link here (regional links break early, break often).

Data points:

• North Dakota's 2010 wheat crop: $2.35 billion; new record
• Previous record: 2007, $2.34 billion
• 2010 sales were up 30% from 2009
• Of the $2.35 billion, $1.86 billion from spring wheat, also a record
• Durum: $390 million
• Winter wheat: $99 million

But this is the most surprising statistic:

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service data the projected return from North Dakota wheat per acre is $280 dollars, up $60 dollars from 2009 and also a new record. 

That represents a 27 percent increase from the previous year.

Drought in Russian and the Black Sea region, and floods and too much rain in Australia and Canada contributed to the 2010 record.

Interestingly enough, the same are that produces the most wheat, the western third of the state, is also where all the oil activity is. Williams County, the heart of the Bakken, is one of the leading wheat producing counties in North Dakota.