More than half of U.S. winter wheat territory is in drought but growers are sowing the grain at a faster pace than usual, said the Crop Progress report on Monday. In USDA’s first look at the new crop, it said the grain was planted on 21 percent of winter wheat land in the 18 leading states, 4 points ahead of the five-year average.
In Kansas, the No. 1 producer, 15 percent of winter wheat was planted, 5 percentage points more than usual for the third week of September. In Colorado, the No. 3 state, 31 percent of the crop was sown, 3 points behind normal. Some 75 percent of Kansas and 46 percent of Colorado were in drought of varying intensity, according to the weekly Drought Monitor. The second-largest producer is Washington state, where 45 percent of winter wheat was planted and drought was not a problem.
Winter wheat is sown and sprouts in the fall, goes dormant during the winter and is harvested during late spring and the summer. The USDA said 2 percent of winter wheat had emerged as of Sunday. Colorado was the leader with 9 percent emergence.