The wheat harvest is about finished in southern Wisconsin. According to crop specialist Alex Beaver, growers are overall pleased with how the crop turned out.
“Growers have been overall happy with the yields they’ve gotten,” says Beaver. He covers the Jefferson, Lake Mills, and East Troy region for Insight FS. Beaver adds that despite a dry fall and concerns over minimal snow cover during the winter, yields held strong into harvest.
“It really didn’t seem to have a big impact on yield at all come this summer,” he explains.
The biggest challenge came in July, when humidity and scattered rain slowed harvest and impacted test weight. Even so, Beaver says test weights remained fairly consistent, averaging 54 to 56 pounds. It was also a low disease year.
“Everything seemed to be pretty clean as far as Vomitoxin goes,” he tells Mid-West Farm Report.
Despite nerves over spring and summer storms, standability remained strong. Yields were especially strong in fields with good fall establishment.
“A lot of guys were knocking on that 100-bushel-plus yield range,” Beaver says. “And then the places where we were less than that were the places that did have some issues getting a good stand established last fall with some dry weather… more of that 80 to 90 bushel range.”
Beaver says local wheat acres were slightly up this year due to natural rotation changes. As for marketing, most wheat in the region is delivered directly at harvest. He explains that the yield has made up for shortfalls in the price. Straw bales also provide an opportunity for growers to bring in more revenue.
