Agricultural News
State Wheat Specialist Dave Marburger Optimistic About Harvest Yields, But Worried Over Protein
Mon, 15 May 2017 16:31:13 CDT
In Oklahoma, the 2017 wheat harvest is extremely close to getting underway, and according to State Wheat Specialist Dave Marburger, it would not be a surprise if cutting began as early as this week. He told Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays during the Oklahoma State University Wheat Tour in Kildare, Okla. that overall, the crop condition in Oklahoma looks fairly good. You can listen to their full conversation from today's wheat tour, by clicking or tapping the LISTEN BAR below, at the bottom of this story.
"There's a lot of pretty good looking wheat out there," Marburger said. "We did have some diseases in some areas, but I'm looking forward to what the combines are going to start telling us."
Earlier this month, the Oklahoma Feed and Grain Association predicted the wheat crop in Oklahoma would produce a total of about 100 million bushels, roughly accounting for two-thirds of Oklahoma's crop harvested. The United States Department of Agriculture followed that estimate with its own prediction, suggesting production will be a bit lower than the OFGA's guess due to even less harvested acres, at 89 million bushels.
"Ninety to a hundred million bushels this year sounds about right, I think that's a pretty good estimate," Marburger said. "But, we'll see where we end up. I think we'll have above average yields overall. Where it's going to come back to is just the total harvested acres."
And while he feels confident in the numbers, one detail that worries Marburger, is whether or not this crop will have the necessary protein requirements to be competitive in the marketplace.
"There was a lot of acres that might have been under fertilized when it comes to Nitrogen," he said. "There could be a situation where we have a lot of low protein wheat overall in the state this year."
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