Kansas Wheat is estimating the wheat crop at 284.4 million bushels, 7% lower than the May 12 USDA estimate of 306 million bushels and down 16% from last year’s production of 338 million bushels.
This estimate was released on May 21, after yield calculations were made in hundreds of fields across the state by crop scouts, including extension agents, agronomists and farmers.
This estimate is a snapshot in time of the potential of the crop, if weather conditions are favorable.
Crop scouts stopped in wheat fields across the state over three days and calculated potential yields using a history-based formula provided by USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. This formula has traditionally been used by the Wheat Quality Council’s Hard Red Winter Wheat Tour, which is held each year during the first week of May.
This year’s tour was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so a virtual tour was held the week of May 18 by Kansas Wheat and Kansas State University Research & Extension, with support from the Kansas Department of Agriculture.
While the virtual tour was based loosely on the WQC’s tour, it did not follow the same routes, nor did scouts visit as many fields. This virtual tour gave a broad look at the crop in the lieu of the regular tour.
For more information, visit Kansas Wheat.
