As the closing in on the end of wheat harvest nears, the quality and quantity are both looking good. Farmers are taking great care of their crops and going the extra mile to make sure they are getting the yields they want.
Josh Grunnet, the Director of Bulk Procurement Commodities and Commodity Risk at ALCIVIA shares more about how this year’s wheat crop is looking and what factors have played a role in it.
It wasn’t too long ago that the average wheat yield would be about 50-70 bushels per acre. This year’s harvest has really exceeded normal production with some fields having yields of over 100 bushels per acre. Grunnet shares that this is a function of high commodity prices and folks taking really good care of their crops.
“When looking at total acres seeded in Wisconsin, we’re going to harvest close to 260,000 acres,” says Grunnet. “That’s the highest amount of harvested acres since 2013.”
Factors that helped exceed normal production years are having a good fall harvest and getting the beans out of the way on time to be able to get back out in the fields. The increase of wheat price has also led the way as a good commodity for farmers to plant this past fall.
Grunnet adds that protein and SRW is something they measure; however, from a market standpoint it is not as big of a concern as you hear about in those hard wheat areas such as the Southwest. A couple things they do pay attention to though are vomitoxin and falling numbers.
“If we can miss some of the rain and sprouting that can take place, we think falling numbers will stay in good milling number specs and then we can ship this wheat to mills across the country,” says Grunnet.
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