Wheat Forecast More Optimistic

Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service has released a more optimistic forecast for the size of the state’s winter wheat crop.

The agency said Tuesday that Kansas is now expected to produce 273 million bushels of winter wheat, up 4 percent from last month’s forecast.

Still, that’s about 24 percent fewer bushels than last year’s crop and would be the state’s lowest wheat production since 2002.

About 7.8 million acres of wheat are being harvested in Kansas, the smallest harvested wheat acreage since 1957.

The agency raised its estimate of wheat yields by one bushel from the June forecast to an average of 35 bushels per acre.

The forecast is based on crop conditions as of July 1.