LAKIN, Kansas, May 1 (Reuters) – Winter wheat yield prospects in western Kansas are down significantly from a year ago due to drought with some fields expected to yield nothing, scouts on an annual crop tour of the state said Wednesday.
Scouts on one leg of the tour checked five fields in Logan, Wichita and Kearney counties and calculated an average yield of 16.8 bushels per acre. That compares with the tour’s year-ago average for the same route of 39.9 bu/acre.
The highest yield forecast was 25.7 and the lowest was zero.
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Most fields were behind in maturity, with plants less than 10 inches high. The plants, planted last autumn, did not have enough moisture to become established, said Aaron Harries, director of marketing for Kansas Wheat.
Some fields in western Kansas are not likely to be harvested but farmers will probably leave the wheat in the ground to reduce soil erosion.
“Now it’s just a matter of soil preservation. It’s only a matter of time before this part of the country goes airborne,” Harries said, referring to topsoil loss.
One Logan County producer said one of his fields had received just 6 inches of rain in the last two years.
A light rain was falling in the area on Wednesday morning, yet trucks were still kicking up dust on rural dirt roads.
Another producer who met with tour scouts, Gary Millershaski, said wheat in the area would not be ready to harvest until after July Fourth, by which time hot temperatures will likely have reduced yields.
