Agricultural News
WheatWatch2012- Mulit Million Dollar Rain Arrives- Wheat Farmers Rejoice
Mon, 10 Oct 2011 06:00:35 CDT
Rainfall that has fallen over this past weekend is being called a multi-million dollar event by the Executive Director of Plains Grains, Inc, Mark Hodges. Hodges says that while rain was not substantial in parts of the Oklahoma Panhandle, much of the Oklahoma winter wheat belt got rains that will either germinate wheat seed that was planted into dry soil before the rains came- or will allow wheat farmers to plant into moisture once the fields dry out enough for tractors and those grain drills to get back into those fields.
The map here is as of 5:00 AM Monday morning- some rains do continue in eastern Oklahoma as we post this to our website- but this map will be accurate in showing the rainfall received in the major Oklahoma wheat producing counties. To see a larger version of this map, click here.
Click on the LISTEN BAR below to listen to our conversation with Mark Hodges on Sunday evening about the rainfall and its impact on getting the 2012 winter wheat crop in the ground.
Before the system arrived, the best chances for the heaviest rain was expected to be in the western counties of the state- the band of heaviest rainfall actually turned out to be further east- right along I-35 from Kansas through Oklahoma City to the Texas state line. Totals exceeding four inches were reported at multiple locations in that band. West of there, rainfall totals of one to two inches were the norm- and that rain came gently, allowing it to soak into the parched soils that have experienced exceptional drought over much of 2011.
The latest Drought Index- click here to take a look at that map from last week- showed almost 70% of the state in exceptional drought- with the exception of the Panhandle and also far southeastern Oklahoma- these rains covered those counties with this designation almost exactly.
We will be watching and reporting on the 2012 winter wheat crop over the next nine months- our WheatWatch reports are a service in part of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission, click here to learn more about how they are putting your wheat checkoff funds to work for wheat producers.
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