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Heat tames wheat yieldsABERDEEN, S.D. (AP)--It was a so-so wheat crop in northern South Dakota this year after rain and cooler temperatures came too late to be of much benefit. "The spring wheat was good, but I think guys were expecting a touch more," said David Vander Vliet, Extension agent for Campbell County. "We had the moisture. It just got too hot for it towards the end." Early moisture and diseases also affected the wheat crop this year, said Gary Erickson, Extension agent for Brown County. "We were a little disappointed in the yields in some instances," he said. "We had that early moisture and, because of that, we lacked some root development. The diseases also played a part." Erickson said yields ranged from anywhere in the 30s to the 50s and lower 60s of bushels per acre. In Campbell County, they were mostly from 35 to 40 bushels per acre, Vander Vliet said. Last year, the average yield in South Dakota was 39 bushels per acre, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Nationally, it was 39.3, a jump from 33.2 bushels per acre in 2005. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the yield is forecast at 40.6 bushels per acre this year, up 1.9 bushels last year. "It's quite variable," Erickson said. "Everywhere you go around the county, the yields are going to be different." It's the same story with the corn crop, he said. Some places look good; some don't. "That rain we had early washed some fields out, so the population is poor," Erickson said. "We also had some pollination problems in some places, and several acres didn't get planted or were drowned out." Vander Vliet said he's noticed a lack of pollination as well. "There's some nice-looking corn, but it's got blank ears," he said. "There's nothing there." Date: 9/28/07
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