BrownfieldAgNews reports:
Results from this year’s Hard Red Winter Wheat tour show it could be the worst crop in 60 years.
The Wheat Quality Council predicted an average of 30 bushels per acre with production at 178 million bushels, the first time since 1963 total production in Kansas could be under 200 million.
Romulo Lollato, an extension wheat and forage specialist with K-State, says drought ruined much of the crop in Southwest and South-Central Kansas – the two largest wheat producing regions in the US. “I don’t think there’s much crop there to be harvested.”
The tour’s estimate came in one bushel per acre higher than USDA’s latest prediction, but 13 million bushels lower in total production.
He tells Brownfield while the tour didn’t estimate how much of the crop will be abandoned, it will have some impact on supply. “Both on the grain side, but also on the seed production side. If you’re thinking about the growers and the decisions they are making for the next fall when they’re planting their next crop, they may not have the seed available.”
Thirty bushels per acre is the lowest evaluation since 2000, according to the latest available data.
