The Wheat Crop in Western Kansas was hard hit by the snowstorm and extended hours of below freezing weather last weekend.
44% of the crop was headed out as of last week. Farmers don?t know the extent of the damage yet but it could be extensive.
The Wheat Quality Tour started on Tuesday and participants viewed NW Kansas wheat, some of it still under snow.
The western Kansas wheat crop was buried over the weekend from the spring snowstorm that covered a lot of wheat under 8-14″ of snow.
David Schemm is President of the National Association of Wheat Growers from the Sharon Springs, Kansas, area. He says the heaviest snow hit their area Sunday morning with 60 mph winds. He’s anticipating significant loss.
“It’s not how much damage has it done, it’s how much wheat are we going to have left,” Schemm says.
Schemm went on to say there are a few farmers with corn planted who are concerned about re-planting and now have a shorter window to get the rest of the corn planted. He says they are still without electricity and will be for a while as crews continue to work in the Western Kansas area.
“Big challenges I see coming up here through the next several weeks as to what we are going to do. Obviously with the wheat it’s going to be a lot of evaluating,” Schemm explained. “I do know we are getting ready to kick off the wheat tour here in the state, it’s going to be interesting to see what they find, especially when they get out to this part of the country.”
The USDA 18-state Winter wheat conditions were unchanged for the week ending April 30 at 54% good/excellent. Kansas and Nebraska ratings declined, but reporting lag is suspected.
NASS shows that 44% of the KS crop was headed when the snow hit. None of Nebraska?s was that far along. Tour participants evaluated the crop in the Colby area at 43 bushels per acre versus last year’s yield of 47.
