A forecast of heat and wind is good news for area harvest crews anxious to get out in the field and get their wheat cut. Just as it was about to get started, harvest came to a halt across the area after Tuesday’s rain.
Lauren Welsch is the manager of the MKC Coop in Marquette. Up to 6 inches of rain fell in some parts of her area. She tells KSAL News she is hopeful that combines will be rolling this weekend. She’s optimistic about the quality of this year’s crop.
According to the Kansas Wheat Commission, Derek Sawyer who farms in McPherson County reports that before Tuesday’s rain they were cutting wheat that was yielding 80 bushels per acre. But Tuesday brought the area 5 to 6 inches of rain, up to 10 inches in some places, and 80 mile per hour sustained winds. This took kernels out of the heads in many wheat fields. He estimates that they probably lost 25% of the yield potential. Test weights were good, but will no doubt decrease with the rain. Some fields are in standing water and may not be able to be harvested. While he should be over halfway done with harvest, Sawyer reports that he barely even got started, and won’t be able to get into even the fields with the least amount of rainfall until the weekend at the earliest. The creek is out of its banks and roads are flooded in the area.
Lee Scheufler who farms in Rice and Ellsworth counties reports that harvest began on June 10 and that yields were average up to 20 percent above average. They’ve had a couple rain delays, including Tuesday’s rainfall which ranged from 1.75 to 4 inches in the area, with localized flooding. He was able to find dry ground on Thursday and get back to harvest before the weekend. After the rains, test weight has decreased slightly but is still around average. He is only about 15 to 20 percent of the way done with harvest and has at least a week left.
KSAL’s Harvest Fest is underway. All this week into early next week the radio will broadcast live from elevators across the area, tracking how harvest is going and handing out pizza and cold drinks to harvest crews.
Here is theschedule of locations and times:
- 6/20 11-1 MKC Lindsborg
- 6/20 4-6 Ellsworth Co-Op Kanopolis
- 6/23 11-1 Delphos Co-Op
A couple of more stops will be added next week as well.
