Agricultural News
Head of Oklahoma Wheat Commission Reviews 2015 Wheat Crop, Anticipates Planting Decisions
Fri, 07 Aug 2015 17:13:15 CDT
The 2015 Oklahoma wheat crop fell short of expectations, but it was clearly much bigger than last year's drought stressed crop. Oklahoma Wheat Commission Executive Director Mike Schulte said the U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated the state's crop at 96.2 million bushels. This was about double the size of last year's crop that came in at 47.6 million bushels. Overall, the crop was a mixed bag in terms of yield and quality. Schulte said there were areas of good test weights in parts of central, northwest and the Panhandle region of the state, while areas in southwest, south central and northeast regions of the state had extremely low test weights and low yields. Schulte said overall protein levels were higher than expectations, but lower than last year. In the analysis from Plains Grains, he said the region is looking at a protein average of 12 to 12.5 percent. That compares with an average of 13.3 percent last year. Overall, kernel size turned out smaller than ideal. Schulte said the wheat industry will be working with millers to work through these issues. As wheat harvest has moved further north into Montana and the Dakotas, Schulte said test weights have gotten heavier. This is great news for millers, who will be able to blend the crop for the ideal composition.
The start of planting the 2016 wheat crop is coming quickly. In making those variety decisions, Schulte recommends farmers check out the variety trial data from this year as well as previous years from Oklahoma State University. That information is available online at wheat.okstate.edu. The Oklahoma Wheat Commission is excited to see OSU has announced the release of a variety called Bentley. Schulte said Bentley follows Duster, Gallagher, Iba and Doublestop CL Plus as the latest variety to come from the OSU Wheat Improvement Team. He said 8 - thousand bushels of foundation seed will be available to current members of Oklahoma Genetics Incorporated, so in a couple of years they hope to have that variety available to all producers in the state. Schulte looks for Bentley to have a competitive yield precedence while being drought tolerant.
The 2015 Oklahoma Wheat Review and the 2015 Oklahoma Wheat Growers Annual Meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 18 in El Reno at Redlands Community College. Speakers will include National Wheat Growers Secretary Jimmie Musick of Sentinel, Oklahoma, Tim O'Connor, President of the US Wheat Foods Council, Gary McManus, State Climatologist, Mark Hodges, Plains Grains, Dr. Jeff Edwards, Dr. Brett Carver and Dr. Bob Hunger of the OSU Wheat Improvement Team. For information, contact Chris Kirby of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission at 405-608-4350.
Radio Oklahoma Network Farm Director Ron Hays caught up with Schulte. Click or tap on the LISTENBAR below to listen to the full interview.
This weekend- we are excited to have Mike Schulte joining us for our In the Field segment that will be seen on KWTV, News9 on Saturday morning around 6:40 AM.
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