— US Wheat Associates Intern Karoline Kastanek
Inclement weather is playing a big role in North American wheat production this year. Southern plains hard red winter (HRW) production is mixed but yields are expected to fall below average after a generally dry season. HRW conditions tend to improve moving north, but recent rains have slowed harvest progress. The hard red spring (HRS) crop is behind schedule in Minnesota and North Dakota but its progress is closer to average moving west into Montana. The western Canadian spring wheat crop is also under the gun. On June 18, the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) said western Canadian production is expected to drop 20 percent compared to last year mainly from weather-related challenges. Soft white (SW) producers in the U.S. Pacific Northwest have not seen such challenging conditions.
Summer thunderstorms have been rolling over the plains and soft red winter (SRW) production areas recently. Quality concerns come naturally when rain delays wheat harvest. Initial reports of test weights and protein levels on HRW samples are generally within a normal range. Falling number values are also at risk in a rainy harvest. While the biggest concern is with SRW in the south, southeast and Midwest, falling numbers recorded from 81 SRW samples as of June 19 averaged around 300 – somewhat lower than the final average for 2008/09 but still within a normal range.
USW, in cooperation with its 18 state wheat commission members, wheat producer associations, and other organizations, gathers hundreds of samples from five U.S. wheat classes to report on crop quality. USW updates the available quality data in weekly “Harvest Reports” now posted every Friday on the USW web site. USW also publishes a comprehensive Crop Quality Report as soon as possible after all six classes are harvested.
Spring Wheat Progress. Spring wheat emergence appears to be on track in the U.S. North Dakota spring wheat received excess rainfall earlier in the season, which delayed planting and set back emergence to nine percent below the five-year average as of last week. However, the NASS Crop Progress Report for June 22 showed North Dakota wheat caught up to an average 98 percent emergence. North Dakota Wheat Commission’s Crop Progress Report released June 24 showed that virtually no HRS had headed in the state. Minnesota’s spring wheat is down 13 percentage points from its average with only eight percent of the crop headed. South Dakota spring wheat is 40 percent headed, six percentage points lower than the average, and Montana’s spring wheat is 11 percent headed at just two percentage points above the five-year average.
As HRW and SRW producers fight through rain delays, North Dakota spring wheat producers may have a different opponent to battle: pests. The Red River Farm Network reported June 22 that late-planted wheat and other cereal grains may be vulnerable to cereal aphids. North Dakota State University Extension Service has already noticed the aphids at its Ag Experiment Station farm near Fargo.
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