03/26/08 Dryness still a factor for Plains winter wheat

Farm and Ranch March 26, 2008 The USDA won't begin issuing national weekly winter wheat crop ratings until early April but some states are already issuing reports. USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says those reports show the impact of continued dryness on some of the nation's hard red winter wheat crop. In Kansas 17 percent of the winter wheat is in poor to very poor shape. In Oklahoma it is 25 percent. In Texas over half the crop is rated poor to very poor. Meteorologist Rippey sums up what the wheat in these areas has suffered. Rippey: "That crop has been hit in the western areas by dry condition, windy conditions, lack of rainfall and snowfall through the winter and that crop was poorly established going into the winter last fall. So we have an entire series of problems that have stacked up over a period of months." Rippey estimates just how much of the U.S. winter wheat crop is in this very dry area. Rippey: "About ten percent, a very rough estimate about 10% of national production is in the very dry area of the central and southern High Plains." That might not mean much in a normal year but with carryover wheat stocks the tightest in some 40 years, it's a different story. And now there are concerns about the wet conditions in the soft red winter belt of the Midwest. One northwest state issued a winter wheat condition report this week, Washington, where 92 percent of the dryland wheat was rated in good to excellent condition with eight percent fair. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.