Agricultural News
Half of the Acres of the 2011 Hard Red Winter Wheat Crop in Bad Shape Due to Drought
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 3:38:12 CST
Fifty percent of the acres in our hard red winter wheat belt are vulnerable this growing season because of very dry conditions. Mark Hodges, Executive Director of Plains Grains, Inc, says the area he is very worried about is west of a line from southwest of Amarillo on a line up to Hooker, Oklahoma and Liberal, Kansas- then over to Dodge City and due north from there into Nebraska. Wheat fields west of that line have reached the status of being in dire condition. Some fields never germinated before winter set in, with many other fields just barely emerged. Most of those fields barely emerged up to the two or three leaf stage were then exposed to bitterly cold conditions with little or no snow cover for protection. Hodges says the problem is that even with rain at this point- if it comes- will mean the plants will start growing and will concentrate on developing a root system and not putting out tillers, which greatly reduces yield potential.
Hodges says that many farmers, if they get rain, may opt out of wheat and might elect to plant grain sorghum, hoping for a better chance of cash flow in that direction. Overall, he says in those western areas of the hard red winter wheat belt, the prospects are for a well below average wheat crop in 2011.
East of the line described by Mark Hodges, conditions are better, but still point to only an average crop, if timely rains arrive. On many of those fields, farmers who have traditionally grazed out wheat and have had some pasture, have elected to graze those fields out because of strong cattle prices, saying it's a better economic decision for them rather than face uncertain dockage charges at the grain elevator if they would be able to make a crop this coming June.
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear our full conversation with Mark Hodges of Plains Grains about current wheat crop condiotions across the entire hard red winter wheat belt. And- you can watch Mark Hodges and Ron Hays on Saturday morning on Ron's In the Field feature on KWTV News9 in Oklahoma City. In the Field airs at approximately 6:40 AM during the Satuday morning news block for News9.
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