According to the Kansas wheat harvest reports of 2013 compiled by the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers (KAWG), Kansas wheat harvest is about 90% complete. The 2013 crop is down to the final few days in northwest Kansas.
KAWG director Roger May of Oberlin says three days into the 2013 harvest, he has dryland farms averaging about 30 bushels per acre and harvested one irrigated field that made 50 bushels per acre. Test weight averages about 59 pounds per bushel, but no protein samples have been taken. May says the varieties Denali and Winterhawk are performing well.
South of Goodland, Kansas Wheat Commissioner Brian Linin says yields range from 10 to 30 bushels per acre on land that his family has harvested; but about 50% of their acres have been abandoned due to drought. Many area farmers have let go 100% of their wheat crop, he says. Fields that have been harvested range from 5 to 25 bushels per acre.
Dirk Schneider, location manager at United Plains Ag in Tribune, says last year’s wheat crop was bad, but this year’s was way worse. About 80% of the wheat in Greeley County was abandoned; the remainder ranges from 5 to 20 bushels per acre. Test weight is about 58 pounds on average, and protein is about 13. Harvest should be wrapped up by the weekend.
In the Wheeler area, harvest is about two days from completion according to Dale Weeks, manager of the Wheeler Coop Mercantile Equity Union. Yields range from 5 to 45 bushels per acre, but most farmers are having yields from 25 to 30 bushels per acre. Test weight averages about 58 pounds; protein is 13. Weeks says the elevator will take in about half a normal crop.
Harvest is all but complete near Russell, according to Dan Bernard, general manager of Agco Inc. there. The crop is down 200,000 bushels from last year, and Bernard anticipates taking in 70% of a normal crop. Yields among the cooperative’s three locations average about 35 bushels per acre; test weight has ranged from 60 to 63 pounds per bushel, and protein ranges from 11.8 to 15.2.
The 2013 Harvest Report is brought to you by the Kansas Wheat Commission, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers and sponsors Kansas City Board of Trade, a part of the CME Group and the Kansas Grain & Feed Association.
