Agnews News
Winter wheat harvest to be lower
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
FarkThe winter wheat harvest in South Dakota, now under way, will be much lower than last year because of drought during the winter and spring.
Many wheat farmers in South Dakota cut their crop earlier this summer for hay, according to Thandiwe Nleya, agronomy specialist with South Dakota State University's West River Ag Center in Rapid City. "Some farmers found their crop was not even good enough for hay," Nleya said. Some of them replanted their fields to other crops such as millet.
"For those who are harvesting, the yield is very low," she said. Nleya said she spoke to one farmer near Sturgis who was getting only about 27 bushels to the acre, compared with 40-50 bushels in a good year.
On July 12, South Dakota Agricultural Statistics Service predicted the harvested area this year would total 1.25 million acres, down 130,000 acres from last year's 1.38 million acres. The service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, predicted production of 43.75 million bushels, down 13 percent from the June 1 forecast. Last year's yield was 59.3 million bushels.
The yield was forecast at 35 bushels per acre, down eight bushels from last year.
Nleya said Thursday that the service did not have updated figures this week.
But, she said, the harvest outlook is not good. "I know we're very much down this year," she said.
Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com
The opinions above are from readers of rapidcityjournal.com and in no way represent the views of the Rapid City Journal or Lee Enterprises.
Rapidcityjournal.com provides this community forum for readers to exchange ideas and opinions on the news of the day. Passionate views, pointed criticism and critical thinking are welcome. Name-calling, crude language and personal abuse are not welcome. Moderators will monitor comments with an eye toward maintaining a high level of civility in this forum. Our comment policy explains the rules of the road for registered commenters.
If you don't see your comment, perhaps...
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy