Wheat harvest likely to exceed expectations

By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

Based on what she can see, Joan Pool would call this a good wheat harvest.

The Phillips Seed Farms office manager in Tescott has watched the company's grain elevator overfill with the crop that has far exceeded predictions in north-central Kansas.

With the bulk of this year's wheat harvest expected to wrap up this week, the returns are generally happy.

Most of the 25 to 30 farmers who haul wheat to the Phillips Seed Farms grain elevator "seem pretty pleased," Pool said.

The elevator normally takes in about 100,000 bushels of wheat, she said. This year, the crop has filled the elevator's 240,000 bushels of storage space and another 25,000 bushels have been piled on the ground.

"It's been really good. I think most of them are running between 50 and 60 bushels (to the acre). I'd say the average is going to be 45 to 50," she said.

Official results aren't in, but some have a sense that this harvest will be remembered as better than normal, said Tom Maxwell, of Salina, agricultural agent for the Central Kansas Extension District, which covers Saline and Ottawa counties.

Some producers are disappointed, he said, but the majority are saying their wheat yields are well above Saline County's longtime average of 41.7 bushels to the acre. Yields of 50 to 60 bushels to the acre are prevalent this year, he said, with extremes in the 30s to more than 80 bushels to the acre.

"I've heard some good reports. I would say we're pleasantly surprised," Maxwell said.

The harvest is besting predictions from the early May Kansas Wheat Quality Council Tour. When fields were examined along four routes from Manhattan to Colby, the average yield was expected to be 41.3 bushels to the acre.

It's better than that in northern Ottawa County and that is "refreshing," said Dave Studebaker, general manager of the Delphos Co-op Association. He figures the wheat yield will average in the 50s.

"I'd say it's a lot better than what we thought it was going to be. We don't have the kind of wheat you've got south of Salina, but we're having a good crop up here," he said.

The quality has held up as well, with test weights above the industry standard of 60 pounds a bushel. Protein levels are low -- 101/2 to 11 percent -- which is normal for the Delphos area, Studebaker said.

Farmer Billy Gans and his family finished harvest Sunday in the Bennington and Niles areas and, for the second straight year, posted high yields.

"Overall, we'll average 52 to 55 compared to about 60 (bushels to the acre) last year," Gans said. "It's kind of unusual to have two good crops back to back."

The consensus among farmers in his rural neighborhood is the wheat production is higher than normal.

"I haven't heard anybody say they cut any 30- to 40-bushel wheat. It's all about 48 or above," Gans said. "There's been an exception of maybe some 70-bushel wheat but not any large fields."

Fields in the Tescott area enjoyed good rains, Pool said, but folks farther west weren't so lucky.

Craig Naylor, a farmer in the Lucas area, said his farm received less than 11/2 inches of moisture from January to May 1. During that span, Salina logged 4.46 inches.

Despite the dry conditions, Naylor figures his crop will produce between 40 and 45 bushels to the acre. His harvest was about 70 percent complete Monday.

"With the way the weather was, I'm very pleased with the way the wheat's turned out," Naylor said.

The wheat tourists in May filed an expectation for Kansas to harvest 333 million bushels with a yield of 40.8 bushels to the acre. Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service predicts 340 million bushels of production and a 40-bushel yield, said Bill Spiegel, spokesman for the Manhattan-based Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.

"I think it'll beat 40," he said.

The wheat market is responding to good returns from somewhere. The price dropped 8 cents a bushel Monday at the Cargill Ag Horizons grain terminal, 1112 N. Halstead. It was at $5.30 a bushel at Delphos Co-op.

With the good yields, storage space is a concern, which is why trucks are hauling grain out of the Delphos grain elevator to terminal elevators, while simultaneously receiving truck loads from the fields.

"It's kind of a wild place," Studebaker said.

He expects most of this year's harvest to be out of the fields by this weekend. There is no rain in Salina's forecast until Friday, and temperatures will rise to the low to middle 90s.

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

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