Wheat Harvest Update

Wheat Harvest Update

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report 

In the Pacific Northwest, it is wheat harvest time. USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says around the rest of the country, winter wheat is harvest is about finished as of August 5th.

Rippey: “Virtually complete everywhere but the northwest, we still have four states in progress: Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington state. In two of those four states progress is actually is behind schedule -- Oregon and Washington due to a wetter and cooler growing season.”

The Pacific Northwest harvest update for the week of August 5th, Washington winter wheat harvest was 34 percent complete with 79 percent of the dryland winter wheat rated good to excellent.

Oregon winter wheat harvest was 47 percent complete and 72 percent of the winter wheat crop being rated good to excellent.

Idaho had 28 percent of their winter wheat harvested with 84 percent of the crop being rated good to excellent.

Rippey shares more overall statistics for the country.

Rippey: “Overall winter wheat harvest is 88 percent, five-year average was 87 percent, last year 82 percent. Spring wheat harvest has almost reached the half way mark 47 percent complete by August 5th. That is almost 4 times the five year average pace of 12 percent and more than 10 times the pace of last year’s harvest of 4 percent complete by August 5, 2011. In our last spring wheat condition of the year shows the crop at 63 percent good to excellent, 11 percent at poor to very poor. That is a little below what we saw this time last year when crop was 66 percent good to excellent and 7 percent poor to very poor.”

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.