News

Rains have improved Kansas’ wheat prospects

Participants in the annual Hard Red Winter Wheat Tour in Kansas this week see the potential for an average to above-average crop. But they say the amount of disease pressure in coming weeks will determine final yields.

Daryl Strouts, CEO of the Kansas Wheat Alliance, inspected fields and estimated yields in central Kansas Tuesday.

“We’ve had everything from 65 bushel an acre in a couple of fields to a lot of them running more in the upper 40’s to low 50’s,” Strouts says. “We had one that was under 30, but it had a fair amount of hail damage on it.”

Strouts says the wheat is very short.

“Boy, I’ve never seen so much short wheat as this year,” he says. “But I think it’s going to fill. I think we’re going to have a good crop and good quality.”

Strouts says recent rains have given the crop a boost. He says stripe rust is the main disease threat to the crop.

AUDIO: Daryl Strouts