Kansas wheat growers face crop abandonment decisions
Apr 16, 2001 (FWN Financial via COMTEX) -- By Lisa Kallal
Chicago, April 11 (BridgeNews) - Many Kansas wheat producers are now being
forced to decide whether to keep their hard red winter wheat crop or to tear up
poor areas to plant a summer crop. In a survey of some members of the Kansas
Association of Wheat Growers, responses varied depending on the region.
Producers have chosen to destroy areas for a number of reasons: a lack of
reasonable germination, winterkill, minor flooding, damage from geese and
disease problems. * * *
Producers in central Kansas continue to boast the best conditions, while growers
in western Kansas and some southern areas have not been as fortunate.
In central Kansas, Paul Penner, who farms in Marion County near Hillsboro, does
not plan to abandon any acres this year and notes that his no-tilled wheat
drilled into soybean stubble looks especially good. However, Penner expects
around 5% of the wheat acreage in his area to be torn up. Also in central
Kansas, Kendall Hodgson, who farms near Little River in Rice County central,
said some minor flooding along the Little Arkansas River in late February is the
major factor in his decision to destroy some wheat fields. A record number of
geese also caused damage in some areas.
Hodgson looks for most wheat to be kept through harvest even though some doesn't
look as good as it did earlier in the winter. However, he also noted that
winterkill has thinned wheat in the Rice Country area.
Dean Stoskopf, the KAWG president and wheat producer in central Kansas, said
wheat in his area is all over the board, with about half of it in average
condition while the other half is below average.
However, he does not anticipate a very large percentage being grazed-out or
destroyed. Leaf diseases are now a developing concern in continuous production
fields. Stoskopf contended that the farther west you go the poorer the wheat,
and the farther east the better the wheat.
In the north-central part of the state, Jerry McReynolds, a grower near
Woodston, says that at least 12% of his acres will be destroyed and perhaps a
substantial amount more. McReynolds is waiting for crop insurance adjusters to
evaluate another 25% of his acreage. In a more western part of the state, Roger
Beesley of Gove County said, "We are tearing up about 450 acres of wheat, which
is about 37% of our crop." Beesley intends to plant dry-land sorghum or corn for
fall harvest. Unfavorable weather conditions started last fall when the state
suffered from drought-like conditions, meaning producers gambled by planting in
the dust or by delaying plantings as late as possible, hoping for rain. Heavy
rains did eventually come, but the abundant moisture further stalled seeding
activity.
Both of these moves resulted in stunted wheat plants, which were in a weakened
condition due to a cold and bitter winter, compared with the mild winter of the
past few years.
CONTACT: Send comments to grain@bridge.com
(C) Copyright 2001 FWN
-0-
The bridge.com ID for this story is BQYKHWY
*** end of story *** |
