By STEVE WEBSTER
Great Bend Post

GREAT BEND  — Challenging would be a good way to describe farming over the past six months in agriculture. In central Kansas, farmers had to work around above average precipitation in the fall during the corn, soybean and milo harvest while trying to beat the weather to get a wheat crop planted.

Great Bend Coop Seed Manager Jeff Mauler says that fall precipitation will mean timely decisions will need to be made this spring when it comes to planting those crops that will be harvested next fall.

Jeff Mauler Audio

As for this year’s wheat crop, Mauler says there is a big difference between the wheat that got planted early and the wheat that didn’t get planted until very late in the fall. With the wide range of winter weather we have been experiencing he hopes that crop will come out unscathed.

Jeff Mauler Audio

Mauler expects this year’s wheat acres to be down significantly in the area due to the fact that the weather kept some of the crop from even being planted. But due to the government shut down that kept USDA from providing normal crop reports, no one really knows for sure.

The USDA has reported that crop reports that were due out on January 11th are now scheduled to be published on Thursday February 8th.