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Above average yields on the 2016 Spring Wheat Tour

The 2016 Hard Spring Winter Wheat and Durum Tour is underway and the executive vice-president of the Wheat Quality Council says yields are above average.

Ben Handcock says the crop won’t produce record yields like it has the past couple of years – but it isn’t disappointing.  “It’s going to be a really good crop,” he says.  “We’re going to be in the high 40’s somewhere.  The record is around 50 – so we’re not far off.  For the most part, based on the weather pattern, we think we’ll have a little more protein up here than we have had in the last few years.”

He tells Brownfield disease pressure, for the most part, isn’t a problem this year.  “There’s tracks in almost every field,” he says.  “You see that they’ve sprayed on the fungicide when they’re supposed to.  You can find a little bit of scab here and there – but I don’t think it’s a big issue.  There’s a couple of areas in the state where I think it’s kind of serious.”

Handcock says winter wheat harvest is complete and spring wheat harvest is just beginning with most of the crop at least a week away from maturity.

The tour covers all of the major wheat producing counties in North Dakota.

AUDIO: Ben Handcock, Wheat Quality Council