Agricultural News
Kansas Wheat Tour Continues to See Much Better Crop Than a Year Ago- Yellow Route Travels Oklahoma
Thu, 05 May 2016 05:45:47 CDT
After day two of the Hard Winter Wheat Quality Tour 2016, scouts had visited 606 stops and calculated an average yield of 48.2 bushels per acre, up from the 34.4 bushel per acre estimate in 2015.
The twenty vehicles traveled on six routes between Colby and Wichita, Kansas, on Wednesday. While they ran into increased disease pressure as they moved south and east, the crop looked better than last year. Southwest portions of the state showed some signs of fall drought stress, but with recent rains, the prospects for the crop have increased. One of the routes on day two, the Yellow Route, also scouted several Oklahoma fields, finding the best crop potential seen since 2012.
Most years on this route of the tour, the groups see little sign of moisture in the fields, but topsoil moisture was adequate this year, and some areas even had some water standing in the field. Many fields have been sprayed for stripe rust, and that has definitely made an impact on the crop. Today, scouts reported seeing more viral disease than fungal diseases, and overall, stands are good.
Mark Hodges, from Plains Grains, Inc., reported that estimated yields for Oklahoma are 33.6 bushels per acre, with 3.82 million acres harvested resulting in production of 128.5 million bushels for the state, making it an above average crop. The numbers that Hodges shared were the informal survey of grain elevator managers and others present at the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association meeting report session on the 2016 Oklahoma Winter Wheat Crop Wednesday midday. The numbers gathered by crop scouts from across Oklahoma and that were reported on Wednesday in Oklahoma City showed an Oklahoma crop of 130.65 million bushels, based on a yield of 34.4 bushels per acre on 3.82 million harvested acres.
On Thursday, scouts will continue the tour with stops on the way between Wichita and Manhattan. A wrap-up meeting will be held in Manhattan, where overall yield and production estimates of the Kansas crop will be announced.
Chris Kirby with the Oklahoma Wheat Commission traveled on the Yellow Route Wednesday, which went due south from Colby and entered the Oklahoma Panhandle- then headed eastward across the northern tier of Oklahoma counties over to Grant County before turning north back across the state line and making a final field stop or two in Sumner County, traditionally the largest producing county for hard red winter wheat in Kansas. Kirby says the wheat they saw as they entered Oklahoma was the best seen in the state since 2012. "The first 2 fields in Beaver county near Turpin has excellent soil moisture and estimated yields in the 50 bu/acre range. As we headed east on Highway 64, we saw several fields that were being grazed out with cattle and a few cut for hay in Far East Beaver county and Harper County. As we passed Alva and into Cherokee we stopped at Kenneth Failes farm in Alfalfa County to show tour participants the wheat variety test plots he has on his farm. We also measured the OK State Gallagher variety surrounding the test plots estimating 68 bu/acre. As we moved into Grant county in the Medford Renfrow area there were a couple of fields estimated at high 40's. We did see stripe rust, a little wheat streak mosaic and some freeze damage. Our highest yield estimated for the day was in Sumner County, KS at 88 bu/ acre."
Farm Broadcaster Jesse Harding of Nebraska was along on the Yellow Route as well- and talked with Kenneth Failes about his crop and the wheat variety test plots on his farm. You can hear their conversation by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
Source- Kansas Wheat Website, Jesse Harding and Oklahoma Wheat Commission
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