The spring wheat crop in South Dakota is a near disaster with crop ratings at only 7-percent good in this week’s USDA Crop Progress Report. South Dakota Wheat Commission Executive Director Reid Christopherson says the crop conditions score is one of the lowest in the state’s history.
He says the winter wheat crop looks better than the spring crop mainly due to the heat in June and many of those spring wheat acres will be abandoned.
Christopherson says the result will be lower production, and yields could be down on spring wheat more than 50-percent.
Crop insurance adjusters will be busy over the next week or so as farmers make claims before the harvest starts up. He adds that while yields will be down the protein levels on spring wheat will be higher, which millers will need to blend with lower quality winter wheat in the Southern Plains.
