http://droughtreporter.unl.edu/

v 2.4.3.0

After a dry fall and winter in the Great Plains, and very arid, windy spring, the wheat has had about as much as it can take. In southwestern Kansas, a wheat grower abandoned 800 acres at planting time due to no soil moisture. Hopefully recent moisture can improve the growth and yield of his remaining wheat, otherwise it will only be 12 inches tall. Dribs and drabs of precipitation have kept the wheat alive in northwest Kanas, but yield potential is already lost and increasing. Large areas of the major wheat growing regions may be on track to see below average yields as dry weather persists from the central to the southern Plains. The high winds have stolen away moisture and resulted in blowing dust and buried wheat crops. In eastern Nebraska, the endless wind has left the dryland wheat “graying out,” while even the irrigated wheat stands are thin and uneven. Evapotranspiration has topped 10 inches this year, twice the norm. Many wheat fields in western Oklahoma were abandoned due to drought. DTN – Progressive Farmer (Burnsville, Minn.), May 3, 2022