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Kansas farmer says winter wheat yields inconsistent, protein higher than expected

East Central Kansas farmer Paul Renner says his winter wheat harvest has been a mixed bag so far.

“We’ve harvested about four or five fields.  The high has been about 45 bushels per acre and low has been in the high teens to mid 30s.”

He tells Brownfield the crop struggled through weed pressure, immense drought stress and early freeze, but late season rain brought some optimism. “It’s been a struggle, but I’m amazed how good the quality is.  We did a protein test and we tested 13.6 protein.”

But, Penner says, he expects to harvest half of his average. “It’s difficult to know what the trend will be. I usually expect a 50 to 55 bushel per acre average, but we’re no where near that.”

He says recent rainfall has delayed the beginning of harvest for many farmers in his area, but that will help improve planting conditions for double-crop soybeans.