Winter wheat ratings in region good heading into Artic cold
Farm and Ranch November 23, 2010 It appears snow arrived in most areas of the inland northwest winter wheat country just ahead of the bone chilling temperatures dropping down from the Artic. Areas with slight cover could see the wind blow that snow away though. At least the winter wheat in the region is in good condition, which USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says that is not true everywhere. Rippey: “We do see five states with at least one-quarter of their acreage rated very poor to poor and topping the list is Colorado at 37% followed by Indiana at 32%. Kansas and Texas both 26% of the acreage rated very poor to poor. Arkansas 25%. If you are looking for the good wheat head to the northwest. We have 90% of the winter wheat rated good to excellent condition in California and more than 3/4s of the acreage also in Washington state and in Idaho and also in the southeast in North Carolina. More than two-thirds of the crop rated good to excellent across the northern plains and Great Lakes region. In Montana at 74%, South Dakota 70% and Michigan at 69 percent.” Rippey says that overall the U.S. winter wheat crop is rated 47 percent good to excellent and 16 percent very poor to poor, well below last year’s rating. Rippey: “At this point we were looking at 64% of the crop good to excellent and only six percent very poor to poor in late November of 2009.” I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net. ? ? ? ? ?
