WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Concerns about the quantity and quality of the U.S. winter wheat crop and an El Nino weather pattern blamed for dry conditions in other wheat producing nations have sparked a recent run up in wheat prices.

Normally, the flood of grain coming in at harvest time drives down crop prices. That is a sobering prospect given that wheat prices were already low when wheat harvest got under way in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. But instead of going down further, wheat prices this year have been running higher now than they were in the middle of June.

Dan O'Brien, an Extension Specialist in grain markets at Kansas State University, says what prices are up 60 to 80 cents compared to what they were in mid-June.

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