Agricultural News
Disease and Drought Pressure Seen in Day Two of the Kansas Wheat Crop Tour- Still Much Bigger Crop Anticipated Versus 2011
Thu, 03 May 2012 05:35:56 CDT
The 2012 Wheat Quality Council wheat tour continues across mostly Kansas yesterday- and it appears the yield estimates are somewhat less than Day One- but are still well above the estimated yields of 2011. Deborah J. Bollman, Assistant Vice President of Marketing at the KCBT, is currently on the Wheat Quality Council's tour and provides this update from the second day of the three day tour that will conclude Thursday afternoon in Kansas City. In addition to Bollman's written summary- we have an audio report of what was seen by Debbie Wedel of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the bottom of the story to hear her comments as she traveled on what Bollman calls the "Yellow" tour group.
Six different areas were toured the second day, resulting in six major estimates of wheat yields:
The 55th Annual Hard Winter Wheat Evaluation Tour sponsored by the Wheat Quality Council departed on Wednesday, May 2 for the second day of observations of wheat production estimates in the state of Kansas and into the northern parts of Oklahoma.
The final estimate for day 2 of the tour was 43.7 bushels per acre, based off of 286 stops throughout the day. This compares to last year's day two estimate of 33.4 bushels per acre, based off of 264 stops. After two days of observations by tour participants, the average now stands at 48.5 bushels per acre, based on 566 total stops. This number is up 11.8 from last year’s 2-day estimate of 36.7.
Overall the Kansas wheat crop appears to be in good shape, with some participants on the tour expecting a higher-than-average wheat crop. Wheat in the western third of the state looks good from Colby, KS down to Garden City, KS, but starts looking dry and suffering from drought stress eastward from that area. After crossing through Hoisington, KS, Great Bend, KS, and Medicine Lodge, KS in the south, it appears the crop starts looking better east of those geographical markers after yesterday and today's observations, according to participants. It was also noted in yesterday and today's reports that farmers are using fungicide more this year in attempts to ward off disease such as stripe rust. Crop dusters were evident on day one and two of the tour.
Deb Bollman's car traveled on the blue route, or throughout the counties of Thomas, Logan, Scott, Finney, Haskell, Seward, Meade, Clark, Comanche, Barber, Harper, Sumner, and Sedgwick. Nice, clean fields were seen just south of Colby in Logan County, with one field starting to flower. Scott County had some high producing yields in the 80 bpa range, sprayed and with good moisture. South of Scott City and into Finney County is where problems began to emerge with freeze damage seen. South of Sublette in Seward County a field was very dry and in Meade County just east of Meade a field was in the milk stage and under drought stress with the flag leaf gone at this point in time. Commanche County fields showed some improvement, with kernels and the flag leaf formed. One field in Commanche County appeared to be turning in color in preparation for harvest. From Barber County and further east the fields became excellent in heads and free of disease. Cheat grass and mustard were present, and some disease problems were evident in a field in Sumner County, but the crop had the ability at some point to combat and bring out a strong production estimate. Larger heads were noticed in the east central area of the state on this route, and two fields in Harper County were estimated with a 3 kernel per spikelet calculation. Yesterday the tour was encouraged to use an average of 2.3 kernels per spikelet.
*Area 1 (Kansas) green
Counties: Thomas, Logan, Wichita, Kearney, Finney, Ford, Hodgeman, Pawnee, Stafford, Pratt, Reno, Kingman, Sedgwick
Yield estimates ranged from a low of 17.0 bushels per acre and a high of 78.0 bushels per acre, with the average being 39.9.9 bushels per acre. Last year the green route averaged 33.4 bushels per acre on the second day of the tour.
*Area 2 (Kansas) black
Counties: Thomas, Sheridan, Gove, Lane, Finney, Hodgeman, Ford, Edwards, Stafford, Pratt, Kingman, Sedgwick
Overall calculated yields averaged at 48.3 bushels per acre, compared to a 31.0 average last year.The range in estimates covered 19 bushels per acre to 94.0 bushels per acre.
*Area 3 (Kansas) purple
Counties: Thomas, Logan, Scott, Lane, Ness, Rush, Barton, Rice, Reno, Kingman, Sedgwick
An overall yield of 46.9 bushels per acre was reported, compared to 33.2 bushels per acre last year and the estimates ranged from 17 to 99 bushels per acre.
*Area 4 (Kansas) pink
Counties: Thomas, Sherman, Wallace, Greeley, Hamilton, Kearney, Finney, Gray, Ford, Kiowa, Pratt, Kingman, Sedgwick
The overall average on this route was 41.5 bushels per acre, with estimates ranging from 12 to 81 bushels per acre. Last year the average was 34.6 bushels per acre.
*Area 5 (Kansas) blue
Counties: Thomas, Logan, Scott, Finney, Haskell, Seward, Meade, Clark, Comanche, Barber, Harper, Sumner, Sedgwick
Ranges on this route averaged from 8.0 bushels per acre to 71.0, with an average of 43.8 bushels per acre, compared to 32.6 bushels per acre last year.
*Area 6 (Kansas and Oklahoma) yellow
Counties: Thomas, Gove, Lane, Finney, Gray, Meade, Clark, Beaver, Harper, Woods, Alfalfa, Grant, Sumner, Sedgwick
Calculated yields included a low of 15 bushels per acre and a high of 79.0 bushels per acre, with an average of 40.4 bushels per acre compared to 35.0 bushels per acre last year.
Oklahoma
Participants in the Oklahoma state crop tour joined the Kansas crop tour explanation in Wichita on Wednesday evening, announcing their final estimate for the state. Oklahoma announced a production estimate of 5.50 million acres planted and 4.18 million acres expected to be harvested, an estimated 39.6 bushels per acre for yiled with a total production of 164.9 bushels, based on reprots from the Crop reporting Districts of the state.
This is significantly higher than last year’s Oklahoma production of 70.4 million bushels that was the state's final production number. The average guess for the crop from the annual meeting on Wednesday of the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association stands at 156 million bushels. The 5-year average is 110 million bushels. 2010 produced a 120 million bushel crop.
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