Wheat stripe rust, a fungal disease that can reduce yields by 40 percent, has “swept through fields from Oklahoma to Kansas up into the Dakotas and east into the Great Lakes states,” says DTN. The disease arrived as the winter wheat crop nears harvest; USDA will update its estimate of the crop on Friday.
Cool and wet spring weather created conditions “just right for stripe rust this year,” said Oklahoma State University plant pathologist Bob Hunger. Ohio State University plant pathologist Pierce Paul said, “This is the most widespread and earliest I have seen this disease in the state in 13 years.” Growers can combat the disease with fungicides, an added cost.
Winter wheat accounts for the bulk of U.S. wheat production. USDA estimated the crop at 1.43 billion bushels based on conditions at the start of May, up 4 percent from last year, with yields that would tie the record of 47.8 bushels an acres set in 1999. The high yields would outweigh and 8 percent drop in plantings because of low prices. USDA projects an overall wheat crop of 2 billion bushels, slightly smaller than usual.