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Soil moisture key for winter wheat

The executive director of the South Dakota Wheat Commission says soil moisture is affecting the U.S. winter wheat crop differently across the plains.

Reid Christopherson tells Brownfield most of South Dakota’s winter wheat is covered with snow and it will be a few weeks before green up.

“It’s hard to believe now as we talk about all the snow we’ve got, how dry we were going into the winter. There were significant areas that didn’t have winter wheat emergence. We’ll have to see how that vernalization process went.”

He says there are reports of drought affecting other winter wheat growing areas, including Kansas and Oklahoma, and the winter wheat in those states is being monitored closely as it advances from dormancy.