Kansas Wheat Harvest Report, July 10

An Audio Version Here.  

This is day 16 of the Kansas Wheat Harvest Reports, brought to you by the Kansas City Board of Trade, DeBruce Grain, the Kansas Grain & Feed Association and Kansas Wheat.

High humidity and frequent showers are slowing down harvest progress in northwest Kansas, but the crop continues to meet or exceed expectations.

In central Cheyenne County, Dale Weeks at Wheeler Cooperative says farmers are experiencing perhaps the best harvest in the last 15 years. Test weights range from 59-63 pounds per bushel, with yields averaging better than 55 bushels per acre. Protein levels are about 10.5. Harvest around the Wheeler area is about 90% finished.

Roger Snodgrass, McDougal-Sager and Snodgrass Grain, Atwood, says this has been one of the best harvests he has seen, although progress has been slowed by dampness in the morning and evening. Yields range from 50 to 90 bushels per acre and protein levels have averaged 10.5. Harvest in Rawlins County is about 50% complete.

Harvest is just beginning at the Kanorado Co-op, on the Kansas/Colorado border. A foggy and damp morning yesterday prevented farmers from getting into the field until about 2:30 p.m. Yields are expected to be at least 50 bushels per acre or more; a good week of harvest weather will allow farmers to cut most of the wheat in the area by July 18.

Herb Mattson, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers director from Colby, is in his third full day of harvest. Despite a hailstorm that wrecked much of his crop, the quality, test weight and yield are all surprisingly good. The variety Post Rock has weathered the storms very well, turning what looked to be a disappointing harvest into a successful one so far.

Finally, at Skyland Grain, LLC in Johnson, Kansas Wheat Commissioner Matt Overturf says the crop was average or slightly below. Dryland farmers in his area averaged about 30 bushels per acre, while irrigated crops averaged about 50 bushels per acre. Quality as far as test weights go was good, but protein ranged from 8 to 14. Company-wide, Skyland Grain took in about 11 million bushels of wheat.

Check out the Kansas Wheat Harvest Survey for 2009, sponsored by Kansas State University's International Grains Program. Online at http://grains.ksu.edu, the site features GIS maps with quality reports.

The 2009 Harvest Salute to Producers is brought to you by Kansas Wheat in conjunction with sponsors Kansas City Board of Trade, DeBruce Grain and the Kansas Grain & Feed Association.

Kansas Wheat is the cooperative agreement between the Kansas Wheat Commission and the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, joining together as “leaders in the adoption of profitable innovations for wheat.”