Kansas Harvest forecast at 330 million bushels

A government report is forecasting that growers in Kansas will harvest 330 million bushels of wheat this season.

The latest estimate released Thursday by the National Agricultural Statistics Service is based on crop conditions July 1 and comes as wheat harvest is well under way in the state.

Its forecast anticipated that the crop will be 19% larger than it was a year ago even though farmers are harvesting fewer acres this year.

Kansas growers are expected to harvest wheat from 6.6 million acres, down 10% from a year ago. The larger crop is expected because average yields in the state are estimated to run about 50 bushels per acre, up 12 bushels per acre compared to last year.