Persistently rainy spring weather is bogging down the winter wheat harvest in Kansas, the No. 1 state for winter wheat, Oklahoma and Missouri, says the weekly Crop Progress report. Kansas is forecast to reap 21 percent of the entire U.S. winter wheat crop and Oklahoma, the No. 3 producer, nearly 8 percent. Growers harvested 2 percent of Kansas’ winter wheat as of Sunday, compared to the usual rate of 18 percent, says the USDA. In Oklahoma, 38 percent of the crop is in the bin vs the usual 57 percent for mid-June. In Missouri, 4 percent of the winter wheat is harvested, far behind the five-year average of 22 percent.
In Missouri, soybean planting, at 42-percent complete, is 35 points behind normal, and in Kansas it is 28 points behind normal with 57 percent of soybeans planted. Heavy rainfall is a reversal from severe drought that ravaged the winter wheat drop in the Plains last year. Missouri grew nearly 7 percent of the U.S. soybean crop in 2014.