Harvest Updates
Early Reports From Kansas Wheat Crop Tour- Good Yields and No Disease Problems
Tue, 05 May 2009 13:40:05 CDT
Reports are coming out of the first day of the Kansas Wheat Crop Tour that thigns look very good in central and northern Kansas and up into southern Nebraska. Ben Handcock, the longtime director of the tour, tells the Red River Farm Radio Network in North Dakota that he is "touring the northern most route in NE and KS and has seen no disease or damage with mid 40's yield potential."
Reuters has also had a report filed from the road near Concordia, Kansas:
Crop scouts surveying wheat fields in Kansas, the top U.S. wheat-producing state, on Tuesday were finding early signs of good yield potential with preliminary estimates ranging from 40 to 50 bushels per acre. There was little sign of damage or disease in fields scouted through northern and central parts of the U.S. Midwestern state, said wheat industry players participating in the three-day tour of hundreds of Kansas wheat fields.
"Plant health looks pretty good," said General Mills grain merchandiser Justin Gilpin, who was acting as a crop scout. "You can tell moisture has been decent." After a dry winter and early fears of crop damage following an early April freeze, crop conditions have improved in recent weeks amid beneficial weather.
Kansas State University agronomist Jim Shroyer, who was helping scout fields Tuesday, said the state's new hard red winter wheat crop appeared on track for at least an average-sized harvest this summer. "I think the crop is wonderfully boring," said Shroyer. "There are no real surprises at this point. There is good moisture and very little disease."
Crop scouts said they were finding some fields showing weed pressure and irregular stands, and some fields, particularly those double-cropped, showing nitrogen deficiency. But on average, scouts were reporting yield estimates between 40 and 50 bushels per acre, with some fields averaging as high as 63 bushels per acre.
A year ago, participants surveying northern and central fields in the state found an average estimated yield of 45.5 bushels per acre.
We will have more from the Kansas Wheat Crop Tour later today- and we will have a complete look at the 2009 Oklahoma Wheat Crop- based on the scouting reports that will be offered on Wednesday morning at the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association annual meeting.
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