Cash prices for hard red winter wheat in southern U.S. Plains are surging as buyers scramble to lock up supplies of high protein wheat from what could be the second smallest crop in decades. Amid global shortage of high protein wheat, commercial grain handlers need the new-crop grain to blend into their stocks to salvage the lower quality wheat left in their bins from last year. The race to own new crop HRW wheat marks one of the few bright spots in U.S. farm sector at a time when uncertainty over domestic trade relations with China, Mexico, Canada and other top markets has threatened export business and roiled commodity futures.