With the Kansas Wheat harvest about 60% complete, a clearer picture of the crop quality and production throughout the state is starting to develop.
Ken Jameson, vice president of the grain division of Garden City Co-op says yields are poor in his trade area, with yields ranging from 5 to 40 bushels per acre and averaging about 20. Test weight has averaged 60 pounds per bushel and protein ranges from 12 to 14. The area’s dryland wheat farmers were hit first by drought, then by freeze; irrigated wheat production will be far less than normal due to freeze damage this spring and late-season heat. The cooperative has 18 locations in southwest Kansas and will take in about 30% of a normal wheat crop, Jameson says.
Jerald Kemmerer, general manager of Pride Ag Resources in Dodge City, says harvest in the area is about three-quarters finished, but this is the third year in a row that yields have been disappointing. Yields range from singe digits to 30 bushels per acre, averaging 25 bushels per acre. Test weight averages 58.5 pounds per bushel, and protein ranges from 10-13, with more wheat in the upper end of that spectrum.
Harvest is nearly finished in Pratt County, according to Jim Bob Lewton, manager of the Kanza Co-op in Iuka. Yields have been better than expected, averaging about 40 bushels per acre but ranging from 15 to 60. Protein is averaging 12%. Lewton says the 2013 harvest has been average overall.
Ted Schultz, manager with Team Marketing Alliance in Moundridge says wheat harvest in the TMA trade area is about 80% complete. This has been one of the best crops in his 30-year career, with yields ranging from 30 to 100 bushels per acre and averaging 60 throughout the company’s 49 locations in central Kansas. Test weight averages 60 pounds, with protein about 11, Schultz says.
Dell Princ, manager of Midway Co-op in Osborne, says harvest in the company’s four-county trade area should be wrapping up by the end of the week. The crop is poor, with yields ranging from 15 to 30 bushels per acre, but protein averages 12.5 and test weights are near the 60-pound-per-bushel benchmark. Each of the company’s 12 locations were impacted by drought and/or hailstorms, Princ says. Although farmers in the area planted near-record amounts of wheat last fall, he expects the company to take in just 75% of an average crop.
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, and the Kansas Grain & Feed Association.