It’s the tale of two crops during the 2019 Kansas wheat harvest as some pockets of harvested acres are seeing above-average yields and test weights while other areas are battling drowned acres, severe lodging, weed pressure and on top of it all, low yields. Combines are continuing to roll northward as some are anxious to start (while others are anxious to finish) before the Fourth of July celebrations.
Jay Armstrong, a farmer in the Atchison County community of Muscotah, has wrapped up his wheat harvest for the year. He ended up averaging about 60 bushels per acre. On acres that weren’t flooded out his test weights came in at around 60 pounds per bushel and higher. A lot of wheat in his area had to be cut wet (thanks to Mother Nature’s soggy conditions) and put in bins with giant fans blowing on the kernels to bring the moisture content down.
In Sedgwick County, Martin Kerschen, a farmer in Garden Plain, is finishing up this year’s wheat harvest. They received about 31 inches of rain in a span of 54 days. Nevertheless, they were able to pull wheat harvest off. He has been seeing average yields and noticed that the sandier soil fields were harvesting better.
“Considering everything that has happened this year, we are happy with the results,” says Kerschen. Kerschen is also happy for wheat farmers out in western Kansas. He says “while that may not be my field I’m harvesting, all of us wheat farmers are in this together. It’s nice for others in the industry to be successful.”
Jeff Boyd at the Garden City Co-op reported their harvest started up late last week and local farmer are making progress through the hot and dry days. The proteins are less than average, but their yields have been ranging between 70-80 bushels per acre with an average test weight of 63 pounds per bushel. If the weather holds up, they should have a little over a week left of harvest, so let’s hope Mother Nature keeps the rain away for a while!
By Peyton Powell, Kansas Wheat Intern
The 2019 Harvest Report is brought to you by the Kansas Wheat Commission, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers and the Kansas Grain and Feed Association. To follow along with harvest updates on Twitter, use # wheatharvest19.
