07/08/08 U.S. winter wheat harvest half complete

Farm and Ranch July 8, 2008 Hot, dry weather is moving ripening of the Pacific Northwest winter wheat crop along. The Agricultural Statistics Service reports that at the start of this week some harvesting had begun in Oregon but none in Washington or Idaho yet. Nationally, USDA meteorologist Eric Luebehusen says that as of July 6th, fifty-two percent of the U.S. winter wheat crop had been harvested. Luebehusen: "That's a 16 point change from last week. On par with last year but still nine percentage points behind the five year average. But we are also again seeing delays in the Ohio Valley where Illinois, Indiana and Ohio are all reporting on the order of 25, in some cases, 50 percentage points slower than last year, and the same level of magnitude off the five year average." USDA's weekly ratings for the U.S. spring wheat crop saw a drop with 69 percent good to excellent compared to 74 percent last week. Crop development continues to lag behind last year with 58 percent of the crop headed compared to a five year average of 70 percent. In Idaho only 40 percent of the spring wheat is headed. Normally 66 percent of the crop has reached that stage by now. The U.S. corn crop of course continues to lag in development because of the wet, cool spring in the Midwest. Only six percent of the corn is in the critical silking stage. The five year average for now is 19 percent. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.