KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) – Drought-stressed wheat fields in western Kansas are highly vulnerable to damage from wind and cold as winter takes hold, crop experts say.
“It’s all slumped over, heading into dormancy,” said Kansas State University agronomist Merle Witt. “It doesn’t look good.”
Witt said hard red winter wheat fields around his base of Garden City, Kansas, have had no rain since Sept. 10. Fields that have emerged are thin and dull green, and some have not emerged.
High winds and extreme cold could reduce yield potential and even kill the plants. Rain or damp snow is needed to protect the crop, he said.
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Kansas, the largest wheat producing state in the United States, produced about 480 million bushels this year. The western third of the state produced 37 percent of the crop, according to the state agricultural statistics service.
The central third of Kansas produces about half of the state’s crop and is also struggling with abnormally dry conditions. But the situation there is not as dire as it is in the west.
The Kansas wheat crop was rated 23 percent poor to very poor as of Dec. 1 by state agricultural officials. The good-to-excellent portion of the crop fell seven points over the last two weeks to 47 percent of the total.
The situation in Kansas is similar to other Plains states. As of Dec. 2, severe to extreme drought was seen in the central and western regions of Nebraska, central South Dakota, eastern Colorado and parts of northern Texas.
