New yield records for Washington wheat

Washington Ag Today October 3, 2011 That long, cool, wet spring paid off for Washington’ wheat growers. The Washington Field Office of the Agricultural Statistics Service says both winter and spring wheat set new average yield records this year. The agency’s Linda Simpson has the numbers.

Simpson: “Washington’s 2011 winter wheat yield averaged 75 bushels an acre, the highest on record. The previous record was the 2000 crop when the average was 73 bushels an acre. Spring wheat yields averaged in Washington 61 bushels an acre, nine bushels an acre above last year. This yield surpasses the previous high yield of 55 bushels an acre set in 1984.”

In total Washington growers produced over 167-million bushels of wheat this year, nearly 20 million more than in 2010. The Statistics Service says 85% of the winter wheat grown in the state in 2011 was white wheat, unchanged from last year. Fifty-one percent of the spring wheat was white, also the same as in 2010.

In terms of winter wheat production Washington was ranked number two in the United States after Kansas. In total wheat production it’s in fourth place.

The Statistics Service says barley production in Washington this year increased 42 percent over 2010. Yields of 72 bushels an acre were the same as last year but harvested acres were up 42 percent making for crop of 8.2 million bushels. That puts Washington in fourth place in the nation for barley production.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.

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