A record turnout for the annual Wheat Quality Council Winter Wheat Tour of Kansas will see a wide variety of wheat conditions over the three-day tour. That's according to Aaron Harries, director of research at the Kansas Wheat Commission and one of the tour hosts. Harries spoke to the tour's 92 participants, all of whom are farmers or members of agribusiness and ag media, at a briefing Monday evening in Manhattan, Kansas.
The annual tour, sponsored by the Wheat Quality Council, is intended to give participants a crash course in wheat production. In three days, each participant will take measurements of wheat height, stand counts, and the number of kernels per head in order to estimate the Kansas crop production.
Last year, tour participants predicted a 261 million-bushel crop. The actual yield was 246 million bushels, the smallest Kansas wheat crop in 30 years, and well off the average 328 million bushels.
This year, tour participants were warned they will see another subpar crop. Drought has plagued western Kansas, and freeze damage has hit fields in southern Kansas. In the last few weeks, farmers throughout the state have noted stripe rust and leaf rust moving in from the south, says Erick DeWolf, plant pathologist at Kansas State University. Many farmers are trying to determine whether to treat fields with fungicide.
Jim Shroyer, retired wheat specialist at KSU, told participants that up to now, growing conditions for the state's wheat crop have been poor. "There are a lot of things that can happen between now and harvest, and most of them are bad. Up to this point, things have been pretty bad," he says. "There are thin stands along northern Kansas, and the wheat is very short. That area has some of the worst wheat I've ever seen there."
The crop is rated at only 33% good to excellent, according to the most recent Crop Progress Report from National Ag Statistics Service, and it has faded almost every week since March.
Still, rain Monday could help bolster crop prospects. Manhattan - the starting point of the tour - received 7 inches, making for a soggy start to the tour. Elsewhere, rain totals were far less. Anything will help, however. Most of the state's crop is heading out at this point (hastened by drought), and uses about 1 inch of soil moisture per week.
Shroyer reckons harvest could begin in five to six weeks, assuming normal conditions.
