Winter Wheat Heading Slows, Still Ahead Of Average

Cooler, and in some cases, wetter weather across the western and northern states slowed down the development of the winter wheat crop slightly this week.

“We had been running quite a bit ahead and as a result, winter wheat heading progress stays ahead of average 64% of the crop headed on May 18th," said USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey.  "[The] five-year average, 58% a little behind last year's 67%."

Rippey said at this point, only two states have yest to report winter wheat heading.  When it comes to the crop condition:

"This crop currently rated 52% good to excellent," he noted.  "That is down to points from last week. No change in the very poor to poor ratings, steady at 18%. This year's crop rated just slightly higher overall than last year at this time when we were sitting at 49%, good to excellent and 18% very poor to poor."

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