Wheat Harvest Rolls Into The Area

With the Kansas Wheat harvest about 60% complete, a clearer picture of the crop quality and production throughout the state is starting to develop.

Ken Jameson, vice president of the grain division of Garden City Co-op says yields are poor in his trade area, with yields ranging from 5 to 40 bushels per acre and averaging about 20. Test weight has averaged 60 pounds per bushel and protein ranges from 12 to 14. The area’s dryland wheat farmers were hit first by drought, then by freeze; irrigated wheat production will be far less than normal due to freeze damage this spring and late-season heat. The cooperative has 18 locations in southwest Kansas and will take in about 30% of a normal wheat crop, Jameson says.

Jerald Kemmerer, general manager of Pride Ag Resources in Dodge City, says harvest in the area is about three-quarters finished, but this is the third year in a row that yields have been disappointing. Yields range from singe digits to 30 bushels per acre, averaging 25 bushels per acre. Test weight averages 58.5 pounds per bushel, and protein ranges from 10-13, with more wheat in the upper end of that spectrum.

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