Wheat harvest struggles

By the time wheat harvest marched northward across Texas, conditions that initially led Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agronomists to predict a good wheat season had deteriorated in some areas, resulting in lower yields than expected.

For some areas, the issue was heavy rains, others experienced hail and some received little to no moisture fall during the production stage – grain fill.

Wheat harvest has progressed across Texas, with most producers seeing lower than expected yields after suffering through periods of too much rain, hail or too little rain during the final months of the growing season. (Sam Craft/Texas A&M AgriLife) According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Texas wheat harvest was estimated to be 74% complete at the end of last week. The May crop production report forecast Texas wheat production at 71.4 million bushels, down 8% from last year. Yield is forecast at 34 bushels per acre, down 3 bushels from 2023. Harvested acreage for grain, at 2.1 million acres, is unchanged from the previous year.

To see how varieties across the state fared in 2024, AgriLife Extension agronomists encourage producers to access Texas A&M AgriLife’s “Wheat Picks,” which will be available by mid-August at http://varietytesting. tamu.edu/smallgrains/.