Web posted
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Wheat harvest rolling along
By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net
Farmers were busy today cutting wheat and unloading grain at area grain elevators, as the harvest in this area nears completion.
"It's going pretty good," said Kevin Kelly, general manager of Two Rivers Coop, of the harvest. "Most places, we're above the 5-year average for receipt."
The 5-year average is 2 million bushels, and more than that already has been received this year, Kelly said. He estimated that the harvest is about 75 percent complete in the Ark City area.
Two Rivers operates grain elevators in Udall, Arkansas City, Geuda Springs, Ashton, Newkirk and the Ponca City area.
Kelly said the yield for grain this harvest varies greatly -- from 70-plus bushels per acre to 10 to 15 bushels on the low end.
"Early in the harvest , the yield was going well -- above average," he said. "But Geuda Springs and Ashton received a lot of hail damage."
Despite above-average rainfall this year, the harvest is going much better than it did last year, when there also was heavy rainfall., Kelly said.
This year's rainfall for January through June for the Ark City area was 31.61 inches, well above the normal average of 18.7 inches for the first six months of year, said Bob Frazee, the city's emergency management coordinator.
Last year, rainfall through June was 39.25 inches, Frazee said. The normal average is figured from rainfall totals between 1971 through 2000.
The harvest is 75 percent to 80 percent finished in the north and eastern areas of Cowley County, said Rick Kimbrel, general manager of Valley Coop Inc. Valley Coop has grain elevators at Hackney, Kellogg, New Salem, Burden and Atlanta.
"Overall, we've received 900,000 bushels," Kimbrel said. "This year will be an average crop, not a bumper. We've had a fair amount come in -- a lot more than last year."
The average for a harvest received by Valley Coop is 1.2 million bushels, he said.
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