There are a lot of smiles in Illinois’ Wheat Belt this year. Near-ideal conditions boosted yields and improved quality of the crop, most of which has been harvested.
“There are a lot of happy guys this year,” said Matt Wehmeyer of seed company AgriMAXX. “Yields were excellent. Many customers have commented it’s either a record harvest or near it.”
The company had a record number of members in its 100 Bushel Club, achieved by averaging at least 100 bushels per acre in an entire field.
“Overall, I believe yields were average to above average,” said Don Bergschneider of CHS elevator in Shipman.
Yields have been good, but so has quality, which may be as important. Growers with loads coming in below 55 pounds per bushels are routinely docked. This year, test weights have been excellent in many areas, elevator operators say.
There were relatively few outbreaks of serious diseases such as scab.
“The early harvested wheat has excellent quality,” Wehmeyer said. “A lot of the test weights were 60-plus. Some of the heavyweight varieties were up to 65 pounds. Sixty is the benchmark everyone wants to shoot for.
“The tail end of harvest had more rain delays, but that’s fairly typical. Test weights started so high, it didn’t affect the later wheat much.”
Joe Leidner, who farms near Mulberry Grove in Fayette County, hasn’t planted wheat the past two years but plans to get back in the saddle this fall after seeing how well the crop did on neighboring farms this year.
“I’ve heard 90 (bushels per acre),” he said. “I have the seed bought and I intend to sow wheat this fall.”
As is the case with many farmers, price is a driving factor, followed by quality issues.
“When I see wheat trend at $5 or below, that probably makes the biggest difference,” Leidner said. “And crop insurance doesn’t pay on quality issues, so if you have a wet spell during harvest you can have sprouting and low-quality grain, you can have an 80-bushel crop but have to sell it for nothing.”
Bergschneider said his customers were generally pleased with the crop.
“Quality was pretty good for the most part,” he said. “Test weights ranged from 56 to 61. … We didn’t have a lot of issues with vomitoxin. There was a touch of sprout damage of some crops that got too much rain on them, but I think it was minimal.”
Wehmeyer believes many farmers — like Leidner — will either resume wheat production this fall or increase acreage.
“I think it’s going to be steady to up,” he said. “New-crop prices on next June-to-July bids at St. Louis terminals are already north of $7 a bushel, which is higher than where we started last year at this time. … If the weather treats us well we may plant a lot of wheat.”
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