WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Farmers are beginning to test-cut some winter wheat fields in southern Kansas, with the harvest likely to start within days, but deteriorating crop conditions have dashed hopes for what could have been a bountiful crop elsewhere in the state.
Steve Inslee, general manager of the OK Coop Grain Co. in Kiowa, said Monday that early test-cuttings show the wheat kernels have not dried down enough yet to harvest. Still, he expects farmers in that area to be cutting in earnest by Wednesday.
The local crop looks good, with farmers expecting to harvest 40 to 45 bushels an acre once they can get into the fields, he said.
"We are just excited to have a crop look like this — and now to get it into the elevator," Inslee said.
The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that 14 percent of the wheat in south-central Kansas and 19 percent in the southeast part of the state has matured. That means the plant has finished developing and growers are just waiting for the moisture in the kernel to dry enough so they can put it into the bin. Statewide, about 5 percent of the crop has matured.
The potential was there just a month ago for an above-average wheat crop, said Justin Gilpin, executive officer of the trade group Kansas Wheat. But lack of rainfall, disease pressure and high temperatures have taken their toll. Wheat in south-central Kansas was further along in its development and therefore not as vulnerable as crops further north, which still needed to another rainfall or two.
"It is going to get more disappointing the further north we go, unfortunately," Gilpin said of this year's wheat harvest.
KASS downgraded its crop assessment Monday as well. It now rates 22 percent of the crop in poor to very poor condition. The agency reported Monday that 35 percent is in fair shape, with 36 percent in good and 7 percent in excellent condition.
Meanwhile, spring planting of the state's corn crop is nearly done, with only 2 percent of the corn left to seed into the ground, the agency said. About 80 percent of the state's corn has now emerged.
The agency rated corn condition as 4 percent poor to very poor, with 28 percent rated as fair. About 60 percent of the corn in the state is in good condition, with 8 percent rated as excellent.
Kansas growers have also planted so far about 64 percent of their soybeans and 28 percent of their sorghum crops.
