Wheat harvest in the Northwestern Oklahoma region is expected to begin June 15, according to several wheat experts from the area and Oklahoma City.
“It’s kind of a guess, but I expect there could be some people doing harvest by June 15,” said Joe Pearson of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Services Agency in Buffalo.
Pearson said harvest would be down overall compared to last year.
“There’s going to be some good wheat in some areas but overall the harvest will be down due to the freeze and the drought,” Pearson said. “It was probably hurt more by the drought than the freeze.”
Beverly Mings of the co-op in Alva agreed with Pearson on the day harvest would begin.
“It may be a day or two before that,” she said, noting that she expected the harvest to be average this year.
However, she said, “I don’t think it’s going to be as bad as some people think. I’m gathering that information from the farmers.”
She added, “We won’t be able to assess the extent of freeze damage until the wheat is harvested. Some of the heads (of wheat) are filling out, while some aren’t.”
Mike Schulte of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission in Oklahoma City said he was recently in the Woodward and Panhandle areas and said June 15 was a good time to estimate for harvest.
“It appears to be about two weeks away,” Schulte said. “In the Southwestern region, moisture has made it more difficult to get into the fields (in some areas), and they’re waiting for tillers to ripen up, so the entire state could be harvesting at the same time.”
Schulte noted the wheat crop looked good by Alva and Burlington, while in the Woodward area, it appeared the wheat would yield 10 to 25 bushels an acre.
“The irrigated wheat in the Panhandle -- the snow saved that,” he said.
The irrigated wheat may make 65 bushels an acre or “about that,” he said.
As for the yield statewide, Schulte said the freeze got a lot of wheat in Central Oklahoma.
“We’re leaning toward (greater) than a 50 percent loss (during harvest) this year,” he said. The wheat “in a lot of the Northern parts has laid down for hay. It’s going to be a challenging year for the wheat producers.”
Schulte said the USDA estimates for wheat production this year in Oklahoma was 80.5 million bushels.
“Last year, we took in 165 million,” he said, “bringing in over a billion dollars. A half-billion dollar loss is predicted for this year by the USDA. We’re seeing a lot more abandonment where fields are being cut down for hay.”
