Agricultural News
Mike Schulte Talks 2020 Wheat Harvest with Ron Hays as Combines Move On to Kansas
Fri, 19 Jun 2020 05:36:23 CDT
The 2020 wheat harvest started with a small rain delay at the end of May- but once the combines were able to really start rolling- it was one of the quickest harvest seasons on record- so says Mike Schulte, the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. Schulte sat down on Thursday afternoon and talked with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays about the harvest, which has now reached the ninety percent completion mark across Oklahoma. Listen to the complete interview by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below.
Active harvest continues in the Oklahoma Panhandle- and farmers are waiting on lower moisture levels in some northestern Oklahoma fields to finish around the Miami/Afton region.
Schulte says the test weights have really been impressive- with some of the reports from north central locations being into the mid 60s. Schulte says that should help make this crop outstanding in its baking qualities as it is marketed domestically and internationally in the days to come.
At the start of harvest in southwest Oklahoma- yields were something of a disappointment- but the numbers have improved- especially as harvest espanded north across I-40 and approached the Kansas border. Schulte says farmers who were more aggressive in their management efforts have been rewarded this year with yields well above the expected state average of 38 bushels per acre- the average projected by USDA in their June Crop Production Report.
Mike Schulte is hopeful that the next USDA Crop Production Report will find a few more bushels than the June forecast showed. USDA forecasts, as of June 1, that Oklahoma will have a 102.6 million bushel wheat crop here in 2020- Schulte thinks we might be closer to 110 million bushels when all the bushels are counted, although he says there were many acres that never saw a combine this year in the south central and southwest areas of the state because of the April 15th freeze.
Click here for our earlier story that details the midweek Oklahoma Wheat Commission harvest report as compiled by Mike Schulte and his team- and click on the LISTEN BAR below to hear Hays and Schulte discuss the 2020 crop in detail.
By the way- the picture above was taken by Mike out in Custer County- ripe wheat under a beautiful Oklahoma sky.
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