Agricultural News
Wheat Watch 2012: Excellent Conditions for Wheat Demand More Vigilance of Producers
Sun, 25 Mar 2012 13:25:56 CDT
The recent rains and mild temperatures all across the state appear to be having a tremendous affect on this year's wheat crop. Mike Schulte, CEO of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission says in this week's edition of the 2012 Wheat Watch, reports coming in from all over reflect excellent growing conditions. Schulte says along with the good news, producers are also remaining somewhat cautious-with good reason.
"Moisture levels have really been helped out by these recent rains. We've come through the 13th wettest January through March period on record as far as moisture received throughout the state. They finally got some moisture in the Panhandle this last week. And up there where it's extremely dry and the wheat is far behind, we're hoping this might the thing that can help them come in with a crop if they could continue maybe and get one or two more rains before harvest time. Overall, driving through the state, things look to be very good right now. We're just hoping that we don't have any late freeze situations that are going to pop up since this crop is two or three weeks ahead of normal with the growing conditions we've had for the last couple of months," Schulte says.
He says indications are, if the weather pattern remains the same, that harvest could come very early this year.
"I do think if we continue with the warmer weather patterns that we have seen this past February and March, that we maybe in southwest Oklahoma maybe get into that second to last week of May where we start harvest where a lot of times we start the first week of June."
With good moisture and the wheat progressing ahead of schedule, Schulte says a lot of producers are waiting for the other shoe to drop and are keeping an eye on the condition of their crops. The favorable crop conditions are also favorable for insects and disease. Schulte says he's received reports across the state noting some issues on a scattered basis so far.
"In the northwest part of the state leaf rust has not really been noted. There's been some sparse pustules recorded in southwest Oklahoma so we think that might possibly have the potential to be a problem in the future as we go along from here on out.
"With the high humidity levels and warmer temperatures there is some concern that powdery mildew is forming in places in southwest Oklahoma and it's been seen in parts of central Oklahoma."
Insect pressures, too, are a growing concern, he says.
"And the disease pressure from the aphids-they are out there. Recordings of bird cherry oat aphids have been reported in southwest and central Oklahoma. I've heard that in Lahoma, they've seen them, too. The presence is there. Also, in one of the test plots up at OSU they had green bugs. Producers are going to have to weigh out on those options as to if they are going to put insecticide applications down and what percentage of their crop would be impacted by making those decisions."
Weeds have also benefited from ideal growing conditions, in some areas Schulte says.
"You know last year we didn't have to fight it as much because of the severe drought and the weeds weren't a problem like the year before. It seems like whenever we have a good wheat crop year that the weed presence is always higher or there are more problems to contend with."
Another concern to producers that is not so readily visible, Schulte says, is elevated protein levels.
"There might be a little concern on protein levels that were extremely high last year and part of that, we think, was because of the drought. So we're hoping that producers put their nitrogen applications on to help with that. And I think when driving through the state and you look at the stands that are out there that producers made that decision to go ahead and do that because we had received some of that moisture in January and they are really betting on this crop.
And while it really is too early to predict yields, Schulte says with the conditions we've seen, early indications are we should be in the ballpark of the state's five year average of 120 million bushels.
He says another thing that will affect this year's yield is the amount of acreage planted. He says a lot of producers in Kansas, western Texas and Oklahoma planted a lot of acres to wheat as a cover crop last fall and that may affect their harvests this spring.
"And now once they've realized that we have had some moisture they're going into this crop season thinking, 'Well, since we've got it up and it's there, we're going to try to do the things we need to do to get it out of the field.'"
Another factor that can't quite be predicted is just how much graze out actually cut into wheat acres this year. For some producers hit hard by the drought, the only pasture they had was their wheat acres. Strong cattle prices also figured into the decision making process about what to graze out and what to harvest.
"That's going to be the million-dollar question," Schulte says. "What are producers going to choose to do? Those decisions have already been made. I have seen more cattle out on wheat this spring, more than normal. I know cattle prices are extremely high and that is something we'll have to contend with and that will have some impact on how many bushels we have to take in."
You can catch Mike Schulte's full interview with Ron Hays by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
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