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Lowered expectations may be the saving grace of Sumner County’s 2009 wheat harvest.
According to the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers the state average for wheat yield will be approximately 40 bushels per acre. Wellington wheat will most likely come in much lower than the state average.
"It's all over the board. You get down in my neck of the woods and there is still wheat standing that will never be cut,” said local farmer Robert White. “You get to the northern part of the county and it's a little better.
"What was cut on the southern part of the county yielded about 25 bushel."
The poor crops in some areas was largely due to a wet spring and a late frost, two things that don't agree with wheat.
Bill Spiegel, communications specialist for the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, said, "Wheat does not like to be wet. Wheat is kind of a dry climate crop. Obviously, it needs some moisture, but to be in a field with standing water wheat does not do well. That hampers the ability of the crop to uptake nutrients and it brings about diseases. Unfortunately south central Kansas had that problem this year."
Spiegel said when coupled with the late frost it formed "a one two punch that negatively effects the number" of the overall wheat harvest this year.
In an area known for producing the highest number of bushels of wheat in the state each year, that can be a burden.
Still, county farmers expected a poor crop. They may have overestimated how bad it would get.
Curt Guinn of the Wellington Farmer's Coop sees between three and four hundred wheat farmers during harvest.
"I think everybody is actually fairly happy with what they've got from the weather conditions,” Guinn said. “It's a little better than they'd hoped."
White said, "I guess the surprise was that the quality was better than what we thought it would be. Everyone was prepared for shriveled and light weight wheat, and it came in better than we thought."
As for the effects on the state, the extreme rain that parts of southern Kansas saw may only end up having only a minor effect on the overall average. Part of this is thanks to a predicted good harvest in western Kansas.
"We've had some areas hit hard by weather, but we are finding that other areas are having really good wheat," said Spiegel. "Ten of the last 22 years have had 40 bushel averages or above. So this year will be about average. Certainly we've had much worse averages.”
Wheat harvest for Sumner county is expected to be finished later this week.
Lowered expectations may be the saving grace of Sumner County’s 2009 wheat harvest.
According to the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers the state average for wheat yield will be approximately 40 bushels per acre. Wellington wheat will most likely come in much lower than the state average.
"It's all over the board. You get down in my neck of the woods and there is still wheat standing that will never be cut,” said local farmer Robert White. “You get to the northern part of the county and it's a little better.
"What was cut on the southern part of the county yielded about 25 bushel."
The poor crops in some areas was largely due to a wet spring and a late frost, two things that don't agree with wheat.
Bill Spiegel, communications specialist for the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, said, "Wheat does not like to be wet. Wheat is kind of a dry climate crop. Obviously, it needs some moisture, but to be in a field with standing water wheat does not do well. That hampers the ability of the crop to uptake nutrients and it brings about diseases. Unfortunately south central Kansas had that problem this year."
Spiegel said when coupled with the late frost it formed "a one two punch that negatively effects the number" of the overall wheat harvest this year.
In an area known for producing the highest number of bushels of wheat in the state each year, that can be a burden.
Still, county farmers expected a poor crop. They may have overestimated how bad it would get.
Curt Guinn of the Wellington Farmer's Coop sees between three and four hundred wheat farmers during harvest.
"I think everybody is actually fairly happy with what they've got from the weather conditions,” Guinn said. “It's a little better than they'd hoped."
White said, "I guess the surprise was that the quality was better than what we thought it would be. Everyone was prepared for shriveled and light weight wheat, and it came in better than we thought."
As for the effects on the state, the extreme rain that parts of southern Kansas saw may only end up having only a minor effect on the overall average. Part of this is thanks to a predicted good harvest in western Kansas.
"We've had some areas hit hard by weather, but we are finding that other areas are having really good wheat," said Spiegel. "Ten of the last 22 years have had 40 bushel averages or above. So this year will be about average. Certainly we've had much worse averages.”
Wheat harvest for Sumner county is expected to be finished later this week.
