12/06/06 Winter wheat snow cover

Farm and Ranch December 6, 2006 Last week's artic blast and snow that hit much of the U.S. actually turned out okay for most of the U.S. winter wheat crop. That's the word from USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey who talks about the snow the Pacific Northwest received ahead of the cold. Rippey: "Temperatures after the storm dropped to near zero there so good protective blanket of snow in eastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, much of Idaho. And we saw a good snow cover in Montana. Temperatures there as low as minus 20 in the storms wake." Some of the drier parts of the Plains also got snow. Rippey: Oklahoma a nice blanket of snow in some key areas, especially in the north-central and northeastern part of the state. So that is a big benefit for wheat on up into southeastern Kansas and even Missouri there and back into north Texas." But Rippey says some winter wheat areas did not receive a blanket of snow. Rippey: "Western portions of South Dakota and Nebraska. No snow there. They missed out. Temperatures there fell into the zero to minus ten range. Potential winterkill problems there." 11 Wheat growers in this region are in Portland, Oregon today for the start of the Pacific Northwest Grains Conference which runs through Friday. This is the second straight year the Idaho Grain Producers Association, the Oregon Wheat Growers League and the Washington Association of Wheat Growers have combined their annual meetings. Participants will hear a panel on the 2007 Farm Bill today, attend various workshops and each state will hold their business meeting and develop policy positions as well as hold elections of officers. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.