The Midwest’s soft red winter wheat crop is at risk of damage as temperatures plummet
CHICAGO, Ill. (Reuters) — An arctic blast hitting the U.S. Midwest this week will put a third of the dormant soft red winter wheat crop at risk of damage, agricultural meteorologists said Jan. 5.
“It looks like extensive sub-zero temperatures on Wednesday night (Jan. 7) in the soft wheat belt will leave one-third of the belt at risk for damage,” said Joel Widener, senior forecaster with Commodity Weather Group.
“The cold temperatures will cover even more of the belt, but snow will fall tonight and provide some partial protection to limit the extent of damage a little bit.”
Read Also
China’s grain imports have slumped big-time
China purchased just over 20 million tonnes of wheat, corn, barley and sorghum last year, that is well below the 60 million tonnes purchased in 2021-22.
Overnight lows on Jan. 7 were expected to dip to -20 to -26 C across eastern Nebraska and southwestern Iowa and eastward to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and southern Michigan. Forecasters were also calling for 25 to 125 millimetres of snow to fall in the upper Midwest overnight Jan. 5.
Snow cover protects dormant wheat from winterkill when temperatures dip below zero for four hours or more. The damage can prevent the crop from reaching its full yield potential next summer.
“Outright wheat losses might be five percent or so,” said Don Keeney, senior meteorologist with MDA Weather Services.
The wheat grown in the Midwest is used in snack food and crackers and makes up about a quarter of the U.S. wheat crop. Most of the wheat produced in the United States is hard red winter wheat grown on the Plains.
An arctic blast hit the Plains hard red winter wheat country in the last week of December, when temperatures dipped well below zero, including south central Nebraska where morning lows fell to -13 C.
“There were a few spots in south-central Nebraska and north-central Kansas that did get to winterkill thresholds, but it was a small area, a couple percent of the belt,” Keeney said.
“The area that will be affected by the upcoming cold is a bigger area.”
