06/26/07 Slow going for U.S. winter wheat harvest

Farm and Ranch June 26, 2007 The pace of the U.S. winter wheat harvest is running far behind normal. USDA meteorologist Mark Brusberg says only 22 percent of the crop has been cut. Brusberg: "Now that is an increase of 11 percentage points over last week but that is well behind last year's 50%. So the numbers for the winter wheat harvest are reflecting a lot of that wetness we are seeing in the southern Plains and Midwest." In the Northwest some winter fields are reported turning in Sherman and Wasco counties in Oregon and in Walla Walla county in Washington. Ratings for the winter wheat crop in Idaho are 88 percent good to excellent, in Oregon 49 percent good to excellent and in Washington 61 of the winter wheat is in the good to excellent category. The U.S. spring wheat crop is now 33 percent headed. That compares to 44 percent at this time last year and Brusberg says the condition rating is going down a bit. Brusberg: "Seventy-nine percent good to excellent this week compared to 85% last week. And we are starting to see some declines in the northern Plains area because of the warmth and dryness." In the PNW Idaho's spring wheat is rated 84 percent good to excellent, down a point from last week. Washington's spring wheat is 44 percent good to excellent up a point from a week ago while only 34 percent of Oregon's spring wheat is rated good to excellent. The U.S. corn crop at 73 percent good to excellent is three points above a year ago at this time. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.