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As the winter wheat harvest moved quickly north through the Plains and central states toward a timely conclusion, growers in the drought-plagued Northern Plains and grain markets braced themselves for what would increasingly most were expected to be a challenged 2021 US spring wheat crop.
The U.S. winter wheat harvest was 73% completed by July 18 in the top 18 producing states, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. This exactly reflected the previous year's progress and was close to 74% of the 2016-20 average for the date.
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In hard red winter wheat country, Oklahoma farmers completed the combine and the end of harvest was near in Texas (99% completed), Kansas (96%), Colorado (61%) and Nebraska (60%). The combination was 33% completed in South Dakota and 10% in Montana, which was close to the average progress for the date for those states.
Most samples of new crop hard red winter wheat tested at the combine or offered for sale on the spot market in late June and July were of good quality, but proteins at that time, on average, were lower than producers, traders and millers waited. Timely storms in late spring and early summer were beneficial to crop development, especially during the grain filling stage.
After that, hot, dry days became scarce and low stress benefited yields but reduced average protein levels. Another round of rain in early July seemed to ease the average test weights in western Kansas and eastern Colorado.
By: Leonardo Gottems | agrolink
