Weather conditions this year have been the perfect recipe to allow the Kansas winter wheat crop to mature to perfection.

“Because we had the right kind of conditions for that wheat crop to finish out through May,” said Justin Gilpin, CEO of the Kansas Wheat Commission.

Gilpin tells KSAL News that a hint of green remains in some fields as the minor parts of the wheat head finish growing to their full potential.

“This year you have some of those minor tillers coming on and making heads and so you have a wheat field that is a high percentage and ready to go. But some of these minor tillers that came on late that are still a little wet and green.”

This week elevators in Cowley and Sumner Counties began taking in grain to kick off a harvest that is predicted to be a bountiful one.

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Kansas is forecast to produce 352.3 million bushels this year, after bringing in just under 322 million in 2015.

“Some farmers are still kind of waiting to get in the field to let those last heads finish off and make kernels, ” Gilpin said.