Most of the winter wheat in South Dakota appears to be in good shape and may have avoided winter kill during the Polar Vortex. South Dakota Wheat Commission Executive Director Reid Christopherson says there’s been snow cover over most of the winter wheat crop, except for southeastern South Dakota.

He says they’re also monitoring other weather conditions this winter and it will likely be at least two months before they’ll know if there was any winter kill damage.

Christopherson says he heard many more winter kill concerns when he was in Kansas last week, the leading wheat producer in the U.S.

The cold concerns just add to the stress for Kansas wheat producers who faced many challenges in 2018, including extreme moisture and very late crop development where some of crop was not harvested.