Wheat Harvest Update

Wheat harvest season is here and depending on your location — maybe be completely done, nearly there or just begun. I asked CliftonLarsonAllen Principle and Farm CPA Today blogger Paul Neiffer what he had heard about this year’s wheat crop
Neiffer: “What I have found in Northeastern Oregon and Southeastern Washington so far based on clients and friends I’ve been talking to is wheat yields are definitely up — especially over the last couple of years with the drought. I’d say they are up anywhere from 10 to maybe in some cases 30 to 35 percent over the average for last 10 year average they are definitely up. One of the issues we are certainly seeing right now is the falling number. The falling number tells how well that wheat will make cake and breads - how well that wheat will hold up. What has happened is that we had rain right before harvest and the wheat thinks it needs to start sprouting. When it sprouts, it really messes up the quality of the wheat so that is something we need to be careful of. What I’ve seen in Mid-West in Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota and Wyoming in that area the wheat looks really good. We know that they are having record harvests in Western Kansas. I have heard about 100 bushel wheat in Western Kansas on non-irrigated ground that we would normally be lucky to get 50. We are hearing very good yields out there. Certainly in the United States so far on the wheat crops I’ve seen and I’ve talked to across the country — it is above average.”