The statewide wheat harvest is coming to an end as harvest begins to wrap up in the panhandle. Currently about 80 percent of Panhandle wheat has been harvested, with average to below average yields.
Despite the numbers, producers in the area have made out much better than others across the state.
The Panhandle typically grows around two million acres of wheat, which makes up around one-third of the total acres grown in the state of Texas.
“Even though we plant one-third of the acres, we’ll actually end up producing about 45 percent of the yield for the state, now this year’s going to be a higher percentage than that just because everywhere else in the state did so poorly,” said Dr. Brent Bean, extension agronomist for the Panhandle.
Bean said the northern counties did better than those in the south and western part of the Panhandle. The harvest has been variable with some farmers doing quite well while others had poor yields.
“I think when it’s all said and done we’re going to have a slightly below average yield year. Dry land certainly is going to be below average, irrigated wheat is closer to average — that is what we’re going to end up experiencing,” said Bean.
Current estimates from USDA have Texas winter wheat harvest at 90 percent complete. Nationwide, winter wheat producers harvested 56 percent of their crop, four points ahead of last year’s pace, but three points behind the average.
Leave a Reply