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 HARVEST TIME--The hard red winter wheat harvest is underway in western Kansas. Sandy Riggs harvests wheat aboard her combine south of Hill City. She said the fields she cut so far had been affected by late drought, some freezing and insects. She said the field would yield somewhere in the high 20s to low 30s per bushel. (Journal photo by Larry Dreiling.) Rain continues to drench some, spare othersBy Andrea Stegman Finally in the last week of June, the rain had let up on wheat producers in the High Plains and they were allowed to get some wheat cut. However, there were some reports of damaged wheat due to high winds. In most other areas of the state, though, the rain continued to fall. The Texas Agricultural Statistics Service reported on June 29 that stocks of wheat in all positions June 1 totaled 23.1 million bushels. This is down 43 percent from last year's level of 40.5 million bushels. On-farm stocks totaled 300,000 bushels, unchanged from a year ago. Off-farm stocks totaled 22.8 million bushels, down 43 percent from June 1, 2006. The Texas Field Office also reported that as of July 1, 26 percent of the wheat crop was rated excellent, 37 percent good, 20 percent fair, 8 percent poor, and 9 percent very poor. Only 68 percent of the wheat crop is harvested, down from last year at 95 percent and also down from the five-year average of 89 percent. Oklahoma Unfortunately, some producers in Oklahoma are still waiting on the rain to let up so they can get in the fields and finish cutting their crop. The state averaged 3.60 inches of rain in the last week of June. The Oklahoma Agricultural Statistics Service reported that many wheat fields in need of harvesting were over mature and had begun sprouting. Weeds were another major problem, as they were reported growing prominently in many unharvested wheat fields. Fifty-nine percent had been harvested by July 1, way down from 99 percent harvested last year and 96 percent for the five-year average. Kansas The southeastern portion of the state continued with its bad luck. They received heavy amounts of rain that kept producers out of the fields. Eldon Thiessen, director of Kansas Agricultural Statistics said in late June that southeast Kansas will have the poorest yields. He went on to add that north central and the western portion of the state will have the highest yields. Western Kansas continues to show promise with yields in the 60s and 70s with test weights of 59 to 61 pounds per bushel. Matt Smull, a wheat producer from Saint Francis said on July 1, "The test weights on the earlier weights were around 55 to 59. The yields have been around 63 to 68. We were hoping for 40 bushel wheat and we beat that so we've been real pleased with the way things are going. We get what we get. Right now we're a little over half done." Smull said it was too dry to have rust. Hessian flies were his major concern this year. Many producers are wondering just how much the April freeze damaged wheat across the state. Jim Shroyer, K-State research and Extension crop production specialist said on July 3, "The effect of the freeze ranges from severe in the central and eastern sections of the state to very little or no damage in the western third. In south central and central Kansas, fields have been zeroed out or some insurance adjustments has been made. Fields that have been cut--yields are in the single digits to low 20s with poor test weights. In north central Kansas, yields are better, but there are wide ranges in yields. Most yields are in the 30 to 50 bushels per acre range with fairly good test weights. Yields in western Kansas have been rather good with pretty good test weights. "One thing the freeze and subsequent cool weather did was slow the crop development and when the foliar diseases, such as leaf rust came in, the crop was in a more vulnerable stage and more damage occurred than if the wheat had been further along. So, the freeze set the crop up for the diseases to come in later. Also, the wet conditions in the east promoted the diseases. The freeze may get more credit than it deserves, but in my opinion, it set the ball rolling," said Shroyer. The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported on July 2 that 99 percent of the wheat is ripe. Only 59 percent has been harvested, compared to 93 percent last year and 82 percent for the five-year average. It was also reported that 10 percent of the crop is rated excellent, 27 percent good, 26 percent fair, 20 percent poor, and 17 percent very poor. Nebraska The Nebraska Agricultural Statistics Service reported that the lack of rain had many farmers irrigating to help maintain crop conditions for the week ending July 1. The Nebraska Field House also reported that as of July 1, wheat harvest was rated 13 percent excellent, 47 percent good, 26 percent fair, 12 percent poor, and 2 percent very poor. Ten percent of the wheat crop was reported harvested. This is behind last year's 45 percent and the five-year average of 23 percent. 7/9/07
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