Wheat harvest under way; yields above average

 

Last updated 7/24/2016 at 10:39pm

--Courtesy photo.

The wheat harvest began last week in the Odessa area, following canola and peas. Yields and quality were said to be above average, although market prices have remain below desired levels.

The Odessa area wheat crop is now being harvested and delivered to the town's two grain cooperatives. The Odessa Trading Company (a division of Ritzville Warehouse) received an initial load of club wheat on July 1 in the Batum area southwest of Odessa, according to marketing manager Mark Cronrath. He estimates that about 30 to 35 percent of the wheat harvest has already been delivered to the Trading Company's rural and in-town stations.

Over at the Odessa Union Warehouse, marketing manager Pearson Burke reports that trucks laden with wheat began coming into that company's stations on July 11. Rain in some areas and high humidity in others have gotten the harvest off to a slow start, Burke said, but the pace has slowly been increasing. The Union's stations have received only about five percent of the expected harvest so far.

Prior to the wheat harvest, both companies were receiving peas, which also were producing well, and the Union began receiving canola during the last week of June.

Both companies report that 2016 yields are above average and far better than last year in terms of both quality and quantity. The downside this year, both men say, is that the wheat prices are so low. Nevertheless, the other two factors will mitigate the low prices, since gross revenue per acre is up considerably this year.

Dryland wheat has been coming in at 50 to 70 bushels to the acre, with irrigated wheat coming in at normally higher yields, said Cronrath. Protein values, according to both Cronrath and Burke, are lower than they were last year, and the lower protein figures are considered very favorable by world markets for Washington state wheat.

Areas of spring wheat in the Sprague/Edwall area, Cronrath said, are still quite green and will likely not be harvested until the end of August.

Burke reports that frost damage has affected some farmers in the Harrington and Davenport areas, while fields in the vicinity of Wilbur and Almira were hit even harder. So far Odessa farmers seem to have dodged that bullet.

Author Bio

Terrie Schmidt-Crosby, Editor

Terrie Schmidt-Crosby is an editor with Free Press Publishing. She is the former owner and current editor of the Odessa Record, based in Odessa, Wash.

 

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