MANHATTAN, Kan. (RFD News) — Harvest is moving ahead across the Plains, but winter wheat production is down sharply from a year ago.
Farmer Justin Gilpin said production in Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma has fallen significantly.
“The Southern Plains, Kansas, is at 196 versus 346 million bushels production a year ago, and that’s over 40 percent decline in production. Texas is about over 50 percent decline in production, and Oklahoma is similar to Kansas with over 40 percent decline in production, which puts that total hard red winter wheat production for the United States under 500 million bushels, which that hasn’t happened since the 70s. The total U.S. wheat production is going to be the lowest in nearly 60 years.”
Despite the poor production numbers, harvest has continued to move along. USDA’s latest Crop Progress report shows 67 percent of the winter wheat crop has been harvested.
