By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
Despite recent rains, a significant drought continues to grip the region, and the result could be one of the smallest wheat harvests in decades.
According to a recent report from the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA), 65 percent of the wheat in Kansas is considered to be in either poor or very poor condition.
The USDA’s Wheat Outlook for May showed that approximately 48 percent of the winter wheat-producing region of the United States is currently experiencing drought. The western two-thirds of Kansas is considered one of the major wheat-producing regions in the US., and Kansas is the second biggest producer of wheat in the US.
K-State Research and Extension Cottonwood Extension District Agriculture Agent Stacy Campbell said the ongoing drought has already had a significant impact on wheat crops in Kansas.
“That's why there are quite a few acres that aren't going to be harvested, and then the ones that are, it's going to be below the county average,” Campbell said.
In its May report, the USDA said Kansas farmers are projected to give up or destroy about 19 percent of this year’s planted wheat crop because of the condition and the low yields, something Campbell said he continues to see in Ellis County.
One of those farmers is Nathan Leiker. Leiker, who farms in Ellis and Rush counties, said they planted a little more than 2,000 acres of wheat last fall. An increase from a typical year.
He said they have already destroyed half of this year’s crop. Leaving his farm with approximately 1,000 acres of wheat.
Leiker said in talking with area crop adjusters and other farmers, he believes as much as 50 to 55 percent of the wheat crop could end up being destroyed this year in Ellis County.
He also thinks this year’s wheat harvest could be the smallest in decades.
Leiker called the 2012 harvest a “light” year but said he cannot remember a year where they destroyed the amount of acres they have this year.
In its May 12 Crop Production report, the National Agricultural Statistics Service said Kansas’ production is expected to be 191.4 million bushels, which would equal the lowest since 1963.
The USDA says Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado are all anticipated to have a historically low ratio for the number of acres planted to the number of acres harvested.
For Leiker, it’s the second failed crop in a row after last year’s corn crop.
He also said the drought and the late freeze have himself and other farmers worried about the quality of wheat they will have left over to use as seed wheat for next year.
Both Leiker and Campbell said some of the region has benefited from the spotty rains last fall and again this spring.
Leiker said some areas that received rain in September are going to see a marginal crop, but “without that rain, the crop is going to be very minimal.”
Campbell said the recent rains have helped.
“Ideally, it needed to come earlier to be of huge benefit,” Campbell said. “But I think this last little bit of moisture and cooler weather on some of the wheat that is still out there, it could have benefitted it some.”
Campbell said some farmers have been able to turn their cattle out on the failed wheat. But Leiker called that just a band-aid.
The drought is also having an impact on the available acres of grassland to graze cattle and the lack of available hay.
Some combines were already seen rolling in southeast and southcentral Kansas over the weekend, and Leiker said he anticipates harvest will start about normal time in Ellis County, the last 10 days of June, weather permitting.
The recent rains have allowed spring planting to get off to a good start.
Leiker said conditions couldn’t be any better and that it’s “a good start but need mother nature to finish it out.”
He also added that the recent round of showers the region is experiencing gives him, “hope.”