Winter Wheat Rough This Year, While Spring Wheat Looks Good

Winter wheat harvesting is underway in many places in this unusual early summer heat, with 27% of the crop harvested, 8% more than the average for this week.  But, of course, the big story is the condition of the crop, which many say does not look good.  USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey said as we start this week, only 39% of winter wheat is rated in good to excellent condition.

"It's up a point from last week, 33-percent very poor/poor, down two points. But even with that slight improvement, we're still well below last year's crop, which was nearly half, 49%, good to excellent at this time."

Rippey noted least half the crop is rated very poor to poor in Oklahoma and Texas, as is and almost half the crop in Kansas.  However, when you move over to spring wheat.

"You see this spring wheat crop now rate 78% good to excellent. That's up 8% points from last week. "

And that figure is up 37% from this time last year.

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