Web posted
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Farmers begin with high hopes
By ROY GRABER
Courier Editor
With the wet fields gradually drying out, the 2008 wheat harvest is in full swing.
Farmers countywide kept busy over the weekend and early this week to get their crops to the elevator. They're hoping they can get the wheat in the bin before another rainfall arrives.
After a dismal harvest in 2007 brought on by a late freeze and heavy rains during the time that farmers should have been cutting, this year's crop has already topped that of a year ago.
"It's a big improvement, no doubt. We've already more than doubled our input," said Rick Kimbrel, general manager of Valley Co-op.
The co-op operates facilities in Winfield, Burden, Atlanta, Hackney, Kellogg and New Salem.
About 150,000 bushels were brought into Valley Co-op elevators on Tuesday, bringing their total to the neighborhood of 500,000.
The quality of the wheat is also much better than it was a year ago.
Kimbrel did not have exact yield amounts, but he estimated that they ranged from 30 to 60 bushels per acre. The wheat has had test weights ranging from 58 to 60 pounds per bushel.
It is a similar story at Two Rivers Coop in Udall.
"There was a lot of wheat that tested around 60," said Two Rivers employee Danny Coble.
Reports from 2007 had the test weights ranging from 46 to 54. Many fields yielded so poorly the wheat wasn't even harvested.
While things appear pretty good overall and the prices are much higher than they ever have been during harvest time, there are still a few disappointments.
Kimbrel said there has been some wheat that was ready a week before it was harvested, but the wet weather prevented it from being cut, which can cause the quality to decline.
Coble said that in their area, the wheat hadn't matured as quickly, so there was less of a waiting time.
With sunny skies today, Kimbrel is expecting the busy schedule to continue.
"If we can get to the weekend without any more moisture, we'll be over the hump."
Barring no other weather disruptions, Kimbrel expects the co-op to take in close to 1.5 million bushels.
"We're hoping for a million and a half, but we'll have to see. When we had that hail storm in the Burden and New Salem area, that hurt some of the wheat and may hold us from that."
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