June 19, 2009

Kansas producers began cutting wheat "in earnest" this week, with harvest underway across southern areas and in the central part of the state, a growers' group said Thursday (June 18).

The Farmers Co-op Grain Co. in Caldwell, in far southern Kansas, took in 78,000 bushels of wheat Thursday and 31,000 bushels Tuesday, according to a report from Kansas Wheat, the growers' group. Test weights averaged about 59 pounds per bushel, with "little dockage" and moisture well below 12 percent, it said.

In Clearwater, Kan., about 20 miles southwest of Wichita, Kansas Wheat Commissioner Scott Van Allen on Tuesday began cutting wheat. Test weights in his fields averaged about 60 pounds, with moisture at 10 percent or below, according to the report. Wet weather and a spring freeze resulted in "disappointing" yields that range from 25 bushels to 35 bushels, it said.

Yields were similar in Murdock, Kan., about 40 miles due west of Wichita, where Kansas Association of Wheat Growers Director Leon Sowers began harvesting Wednesday. He reported yields of 25 bushels in continuous no-till wheat. However, in a field of summer fallow planted to the Overley variety last autumn, Sowers saw an average yield of 45 bushels and an average test weight of 61 pounds, Kansas Wheat said.

Harvest has reached as far north as Salina, Kan., where producer Joe Kejr cut about 100 acres of winter wheat Tuesday, according to the group's report. Test weights on the early loads were above 60 pounds, with yields expected to surpass 40 bushels, it said.

Kansas is traditionally the US' top-producing wheat state. It grows hard red winter wheat, used to make bread.

Kansas farmers planted wheat on 9.6 million acres this year and are expected to produce 340 million bushels, with an average yield of 40 bushels, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Last year, wheat was planted on 10.4 million acres and production came in at 356 million bushels, with an average yield of 40 bushels.

Kansas Wheat is the cooperative agreement between the Kansas Wheat Commission and the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers. The group issues harvest reports throughout the cutting season.