Wheat Harvest Nearing Completion

In western Kansas, wheat harvest is well behind schedule due to weather delays that have also brought hail damage. Despite the disruptions, elevators are generally seeing a better harvest than was anticipated this spring, although hail is hindering final yields for some and test weights are declining as producers wait for conditions to dry out enough to finish cutting.

The wheat has been high on protein, averaging 13 percent, but test weights have been falling from initial highs due to the rain, now at 58 pounds per bushel. Producers have seen a very wide range of yields from 20 to 70 bushels per acre.

Overall, western Kansas will take in about half of their five-year average. Some of the wheat will likely stay within the United States and be sent to flour mills or Kansas gluten plants, instead of traveling south on the rail to the Gulf of Mexico for export.