USDA Crop Report & Wheat Harvest

The new crop yield forecasts released by the USDA on Friday didn’t come loaded with any surprises when it came to corn and soybean production. The drought has left both down 13 and 12 percent respectively from this time last year. Good news for wheat growers though, wheat yield forecasts are up 2.8 bushels from last year. That includes a record yield estimate for winter wheat. Shawn Claussen and Chad Denny both wheat growers here in Washington state, talk about how their wheat crops are shaping up this year.

CLAUSSEN: We’re right in the middle of wheat harvest right now and so far our yields have been average to above average on our irrigated wheat. No disasters yet and quality looks good.

DENNY: The spring wheat, all in all, I’m really pleased at the moment. I think it looks very good. I’ve been spraying it and the rust is an issue - we’ve been spraying for rust a lot. When it broke, it broke in a big way on my winter wheat and we got it cleaned up fairly quick, and got it under control. I don’t think it’s going to hurt us yield wise. But I’ve been doing some ground rig work on the spring wheat side of it to control it for the second time again as well. We’ve been on it. We’re trying to protect that crop that I think is pretty good.

The recent hot temperatures that have been occurring across central and eastern parts of the state have made for ideal wheat harvesting conditions. The majority of winter wheat growers are reporting fair to excellent yields.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.