February 9, 2012

US wheat crop shows early signs of freeze damage

Erratic weather patterns from global warming had quickened the pace of US wheat maturity, causing signs of diseases to surface early this year due to freeze damage.

"Wheat is ahead of normal from Illinois south and from Texas to Virginia," says Steve Harrison, LSU AgCenter small grains specialist. "Right now, wheat is actually jointing in southern Arkansas.

"The winter has been very mild. In Florida, Georgia and Louisiana, temperatures were at least six degrees warmer than the January average. That's allowed the wheat crop to grow quickly."

Because the wheat crop is so advanced huge US acreage is now more vulnerable to freeze damage.

"A freeze could cause enormous losses," says Harrison. "If there's a freeze - say temperatures drop to 24 degrees at the end of February, it might mean a 40 % loss across our region alone."

Wheat specialists say that farmers considering booking their wheat should keep the freeze threat in mind.

Harrison believes there's "a fairly high probability we'll have freeze damage this spring. If we don't, of course, we could wind up with an excellent and very early wheat crop. That usually means higher test weights because of grain-filling in cooler weather."

Last fall, North Carolina producers had a very long wheat planting season.

"There was a spate of warm, dry weather around the first week of October, when we normally wouldn't see wheat planted," says Randy Weisz, NC State University professor and North Carolina small grain Extension specialist. "But farmers were itching to go the last week of September, so seed started going in the ground two or three weeks earlier than it should have."

That has resulted in wheat that, "in the extreme, is knee-high and very thick. Early triticale and rye varieties have already headed out. Some of the tall wheat, particularly the early varieties, is already jointed. Those fields are at least a month ahead of normal.