ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The annual wheat quality tour is anticipating a slightly better hard red winter wheat crop in Kansas this year compared to the drought-plagued harvest of a year ago.
Its participants forecast on Thursday that Kansas farmers will harvest 288.5 million bushels of wheat this season. The group also found an average yield of 35.9 bushels per acre in the 659 fields sampled over three days.
Last year’s crop was decimated by drought and was the smallest Kansas harvest in 30 years at 246 million bushels.
Farmers had hoped they’d be able to recover with a better 2015 growing season. This year growers again battled drought stress along with stripe rust disease, winterkill and pest infestations that varied from area to area across the state.
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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The annual wheat quality tour has found a hard red winter wheat crop plagued by drought, disease and winterkill across vast stretches of Kansas.
Participants are expected to announce Thursday afternoon their forecast for the size of this year’s crop.
Its estimate comes after more than 90 participants fanned out across Kansas, trudging through hundreds of wheat fields over three days to come up with yield estimates used to calculate a final production figure.
The trade group Kansas Wheat reported that group estimated Wednesday an average yield of 34.5 bushels an acre for its second day.
Some of the most drought stricken wheat was in southwestern Kansas where expected yields ranged from 0-18 bushels per acre. That was offset by better fields in the stretch from Dodge City to Wichita.