http://droughtreporter.unl.edu/

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The 2024 Wheat Quality Council’s Hard Winter Wheat Tour across Kansas ended on May 16. During the three days of wheat scouting, tour participants traveled six routes from Manhattan to Colby to Wichita and back to Manhattan. “The official tour projection for total production of wheat to be harvested in Kansas is 290.4 million bushels. This number is the average of estimated predictions from tour participants who gathered information from 449 fields across the state. Based on May 1 conditions, NASS predicted the crop to be slightly lower at 267.9 million bushels, with a yield of 38 bushels per acre. “These fields are still two to four weeks from harvest. A lot can happen during that time to affect final yields and production.” The three-day average yield for the fields that were calculated was 46.5 bushels per acre. While an estimated 7.5 million acres of wheat were planted in the fall, the Kansas wheat crop varies in condition depending on the amount of moisture received. Among the stressors affecting the wheat were freeze damage, drought stress and stripe rust coming on after it was too late to spray fungicide. High Plains Midwest Ag Journal (Dodge City, Kan.), May 7, 2024 The Kansas wheat crop looked promising at the end of winter, but a dry April has dashed hopes of a good wheat crop as it suffered from lack of moisture for much of the growing season, especially during the spring green-up. A Ford County farmer stated that the last decent moisture for the wheat came on February 5, and that drought had killed some tillers since then, with the wheat deteriorating rapidly. Area fields have swathes of brown which were mostly caused by drought. A Rice County grower saw his late planted wheat finally come up in January. The wheat was just knee-high due to drought. A McPherson County wheat grower needed rain. The crop received half of an inch in April, which was 2.5 inches less than normal. The wheat showed promise earlier in the winter, but the freeze damage and drought has caused the crop to wither away. Some of the wheat is not even producing a head very well. High Plains Journal (Kan.), May 7, 2024