US winter crops harvested ahead of time

Despite high humidity and intermittent showers holding up progress in some spots, the Plains winter wheat harvest has quickly surged northward, with farmers and custom cutters whittling out acres already north of Interstate 70.

The relative speed of harvests of such crops as wheat and barley early on wasn't the best sign for the crop quality in some areas. One landowner said his harvest crew's been able to crawl north at a quicker pace than usual because of poorer crop conditions in fields further west. But, that has changed this week: After a growing season paced by drought, the spigot's opened in parts of western Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, slowing progress in that area.

"We have been able to meet our obligations everywhere so far, but we work west and are down significantly on acres due to drought...again," the farmer told Tootoo.com. "As a matter of fact, Sunday was the first day we had all three combines running. Thankfully those guys are getting rain down southwest of Amarillo, though it has stalled harvest for a few days again. That wheat is thin enough weeds could get to be a problem, but they need rain for their grass terribly bad as the cattle is their main business interest."

Word of good yields don't end in the foothills of eastern Colorado. In western Kentucky, there's been talk of triple-digit yields coming in.

Looking ahead to areas where harvest has yet to begin, there are concerns with crop quality because of some lingering wet late-spring conditions. Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) Ed Winkle, with HyMark Consulting LLC in Martinsville, Ohio, says moisture has his customers concerned about disease pressures in the area's still-green wheat.

"The barley is coming off now but the wheat is slow to mature," says Winkle, a CCA correspondent for the 2008 Agriculture Online Crop Tech Tour. "Disease is going to cost some yield because of the wet weather and not being able to apply fungicides but the cool weather have slowed them down and the maturity."