Watch the video to see Romulo Lollato show how to do Wheat Tour 2025 data collection.

Use the following information to scout wheat fields and make your own yield estimates. To help, we have compiled the steps tour participants use to estimate yields so you too can participate. Justin Knopf, wheat farmer in Saline County, provided some helpful hints he and other farmers use when evaluating their fields.

What You Need:

• One yard stick (a ruler will work in a pinch).
• One writing utensil and notepad.
• One calculator (the one on the phone will suffice).
• The wheat yield formula (see below in the story).

Optional:

• A pocket knife to slice open wheat in the boot stage to examine the wheat head.
• A camera to capture an overall view of the wheat field (the one on the phone is fine).

How to Estimate Wheat Yield and Conditions:

Step 1: Find a wheat field. If you are not a farmer or landowner, call a farmer friend. Above all else, be respectful of other people’s property.

Wheat Tour Tip: Do not enter a fenced field, just as you would not enter a fenced yard in town.

Step 2: Pick your scouting spot.

Wheat farmer Justin Knopf suggested going further out in the field than the first few rows, called end rows. This is where equipment often overlaps and farmers load out their trucks near field entrances, both of which can affect tiller count.

Step 3: Observe general field conditions.

Do you see weeds? Does the field have an odd color (yellow or blue)? Is the wheat stand uniform or are there bare patches in the field? How thick or thin is the canopy (where the leaves from one row touch the other, same as in a forest where the trees touch each other)?

Wheat Tour Tip: Old farmer’s scouting trick: Throw a hat into the field. If the wheat holds it up, it is generally a good, thick stand. Watch the wind!

Wheat Tour Tip: Color can be an indicator stress, which will reduce yield. A yellow cast can indicate a lack of nitrogen or drought stress. A blue cast indicates drought or heat stress.

Wheat Tour Tip: Yellowed leaves at the bottom of the plant are not necessarily indicative of reduced yield. But, yellow patches on the upper leaves with red spots (pustules) can indicate stripe rust .