A three-day lightning tour of the spring wheat crop in the northern Plains points to the lowest average yield in nine years, “a sign of the intense drought conditions plaguing much of the western Dakotas this year,” said DTN. Crop scouts checked 496 fields to compile their yield estimate and saw a “high number of abandoned fields in the western counties, many of which had been cut and baled for hay” because the wheat was not worth harvesting.
Erica Olson, a marketing specialist with the North Dakota Wheat Commission, said the higher-than-usual abandonment “will bring down production from USDA’s current estimate.” Based on conditions at the start of the month, the USDA has forecast an average spring wheat yield of 40.3 bushels an acre, down 15 percent, or 6.9 bushels, from last year.
The crop tour estimated the spring wheat yield at 38.4 bushels an acre, down 16 percent, or 7.1 bushels, from 2016, based on the routes it follows each year.
Growers sowed fewer acres of durum and spring wheat this year than last, which will compound the effect of lower yields when the harvest is tallied. Durum wheat is used in pasta, while hard red spring wheat, the dominant spring-planted wheat, yields medium- to high-protein grain used in bread, rolls, and all-purpose flour.