By Mindy Ward
Brian Lehman admits to doing a double take at his yield monitor when harvesting wheat this week as yields pushed past the 100 bushel per acre mark.
“It is definitely a record for us,” the Morgan County farmer says. “It is something I haven’t seen in all my years of farming.”
Farmers in Missouri are finding record-breaking wheat yields this year. And it is a welcome sight after last year when many farmers were unable to sell their wheat crop due to vomitoxin.
“Last year, it was just a worthless crop,” Lehman recalls. “This year we are making up for it a little.”
Lehman was able to plant wheat in a timely manner. He applied fungicides and added a few fertilizer applications to help the crop along. And the management practices paid off.
Wheat is coming in dry. Test weights are at 60-plus pounds. The yield monitor bounced above 100 bushels in many locations. Even some of Lehman’s neighbors saw 130. However, he is quick to add that some overall field averages settled around 85 to 90 bushels per acre.
Beating the projections
Still, these yields are well above the June 10 USDA Missouri Crop Production Report, which estimated a statewide average wheat yield of 57 bushels per acre.
The report showed planted wheat acres at 580,000 acres across Missouri, down 5% from the previous year. Wheat production forecast for the state was to be at 33.1 million bushels, however, with yields like those at Lehman’s farm, that number will likely rise.
Test plots
According to the University of Missouri Variety Testing program, soft red winter wheat plots are also seeing yields above 100 bushels. Charleston in southeast Missouri saw average yields as high as 107 bushels per acre.
And while some test plots may top out in the 90 bushel range, they are yielding well above the two-year average. At MU Bradford Research Center in Columbia, AgriMaxx 444 yielded 93 bushels, well above the 63.4 two-year average.
Wheat variety test results continue to come in with just a few more locations left to harvest. Check out how other wheat yields on the MU Variety Testing Program website.
Read full story at missouriruralist.com