South Dakota’s wheat harvest is a tale of two crops this season. Winter wheat harvest is wrapping up in many areas and it could be one of the best crops on record. Jack Ingemansen is superintendent of South Dakota State University’s Foundation Seed Stock and overseas seed plots around the state. He says yields are 20 to 25 bushels per acre better than last year.
Ingemansen says the quality of the winter wheat is mixed, with favorable test weights, but protein is another story.
In contrast to the winter wheat, South Dakota’s spring wheat is not expected to produce a bumper crop with yields projected at 50 to 60 bushels per acre. That’s according to Jon Kleinjan, SDSU Extension Crop Production Associate.
Kleinjan says protein levels will likely be higher with the lower yields in the 14 to 16-percent range. Pest problems have also been minimal with this crop, with just the northeast corner of the state seeing some fields with scab pressure.
Spring wheat acreage was up in South Dakota this spring to 850,000 acres which is 33-percent above 2019 which was a record year for prevented plant acres.
