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US Wheat Tour: First Day Shows "Monster" Yield Potential
10:45 PM, julio 28, 2009
By Tom Polansek
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
MANDAN, N.D. (Dow Jones)--Field surveys on the first day of the Wheat
Quality Council's annual U.S. spring wheat tour showed the crop has the
potential to produce the highest yield in years, scouts said.
Based on surveys on 165 fields Tuesday, the average yield calculated for hard
red spring wheat was 45.7 bushels per acre, up from the 37.6 bushels last year.
That is the highest yield calculated on the first day of the tour since at
least 2001, according to data from the council.
"This obviously is a monster crop so far on the first day," a veteran tour
scout said.
The tour's estimate for the day seemed to be "right on" in reflecting the
crop's strong potential, said Ben Handcock, executive vice president of the
council. HRS wheat, used to make bread, benefited from "great subsoil moisture"
after a wet spring, he said. Cool weather this summer also has given the crop
time to develop after being planted late due to the wet, cool spring.
"I think it's a tremendous crop," Handcock said.
The 2009 Hard Spring Wheat and Durum Tour kicked off Tuesday morning from
Fargo, N.D., as about 55 crop scouts - including representatives of the milling
and baking industries, universities, grain groups and the media - fanned out on
different routes across North Dakota. Some routes also stretched into western
Minnesota and northern South Dakota. Scouts met up in Mandan, N.D, to compare
notes.
In addition to HRS wheat, crop scouts surveyed five fields of durum, used to
make pasta, and 14 fields of hard red winter wheat, used to make bread. The
average calculated yield for HRW wheat was 49.3 bushels, up from 45.9 bushels
last year.
The average calculated yield for durum was 44.2 bushels, up from 27.4 bushels
last year. Scouts expect to see more durum fields Wednesday.
HRS wheat and durum yields last year were hurt by hot, dry weather in western
North Dakota. By contrast, wetness in the west this year is expected to help
boost North Dakota's production.
In general, wheat had minor problems with diseases like smut and tan spot but
did not show serious disease pressure, scouts said. There were reports of dry
topsoil in some areas, including parts of eastern North Dakota that have not
seen much rain lately, they said.
A scout on one route that headed south from Fargo and then west into Ransom,
Lamoure and Logan counties said moisture looked "a little bit short, but it
didn't look like the plants were suffering from it." A scout who headed north
from Fargo said conditions looked dry heading into Griggs County and that wheat
"looked stressed a little bit."
There were reports of pests in wheat fields, including grasshoppers, aphids
and wheat stem maggots. They can reduce grain quality and yield by eating away
at plants, but the infestations were described as minor.
HRS wheat is generally less mature than normal this year due to the late
planting and cool summer, scouts said. Many estimated it would be about four
weeks until the spring wheat harvest could begin. Winter wheat, meanwhile, is
nearly ready to cut, they said.
The delayed planting of spring wheat was evident as scouts saw "unevenness"
in the crop as the tour headed west from Fargo, a veteran scout said. The
health of fields also looked "widely variable" because some farmers applied
fungicides and ample fertilizer while others did not, one producer on the tour
said.
Handcock said he expected scouts on Wednesday would continue to see generally
good-looking wheat. Tour participants will depart Mandan and meet up in Devils
Lake, N.D., to compare notes after a second full day of surveys.
The tour concludes Thursday in Fargo with the release of final yield
estimates around 3:45 p.m. EDT. The tour does not issue a production estimate.
-By Tom Polansek, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-341-5780;
tom.polansek@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-28-09 2345ET