South Dakota winter wheat varies in quantity but quality looks good

ONIDA, S.D. & IDEAL, S.D. — Winter wheat harvest was 91% complete in South Dakota by Aug. 2, and producers across the state have seen a variety of results. In central South Dakota, the winter wheat crop did well. ADVERTISEMENT “In the spring we had several freezes that we thought could be damaging, and once we pulled into the combine, we were pleasantly surprised with our yields. With the quality, the quality was excellent,” said Todd Yackley of Onida, in central South Dakota. “For our farm, it was probably the second best winter wheat harvest we ever had.” “It's been looking really well,” said Kevin Kjorsvik, general manager of Oahe Grain Corporation in Onida. “Yields were average for the most part and the quality was quite a bit better than last year, as far as test weight. Proteins were kind of all over the board, all the way from 10 to there were a few 17’s that showed up even, but our overall average was just like a 12.2 pro. So pretty average crop that way as well.” It was a surprise for the region. “Not only ourselves, but even the farmers. It kind of exceeded their expectations by about 10 bushels an acre,” Kjorsvik said. Yackley said that despite going through a lot of the spring fairly dry, timely rains through the first half of June was "just enough to fill the crop." “I was a little concerned because I thought a lot of this wheat was turning way too quick. We started losing our flag leaves fairly early, but it must just have been enough there. It got what it needed and just really pleased with the results that we had,” he said. “Given the hot, dry weather, it progressed pretty rapidly,” said Jonathan Kleinjan, executive director of the South Dakota Wheat Commission. ADVERTISEMENT Struggles in south central South Dakota The positive results in central South Dakota didn't extend to the south. “It’s been one of the most challenging wheat crops in my 40-some-plus career,” said Bryan Jorgensen of Ideal, South Dakota, and chairman of the South Dakota Wheat Commission. “We started out very, very dry in the fall and very little of our winter wheat even emerged last fall. And, of course, the winter was long and dry, we didn’t accumulate hardly any snowfall throughout the winter, so consequently, we didn’t really see any emergence of most of the winter wheat until late April.” With the late emergence, there was not any root establishment or tillering, Jorgensen said. Weather throughout the growing season didn’t help. “It really had a pretty rough start. And then once it did finally get going, we had some moisture late in April; we did get some emergence and things started to take off,” Jorgensen said. “Then came May and we had three different freezing events that really set it back on its heels.” Jorgensen said the winter wheat yield averaged around 36 bushels per acre. “Some fields surprised me in their yield and others kind of disappointed me a little bit,” he said. “But overall, it kind of fell right in line with what the crop adjusters were saying and what I was visualizing.” What he didn’t harvest was bailed for hay, which amounted to about 1,000 acres. ADVERTISEMENT “We actually interseeded some oats because of the poor stands,” Jorgensen said. Baling winter wheat isn’t uncommon in drought years. Kleinjan said that more winter wheat is being baled than normal this year. “It’s a pretty common practice, you know, especially dry years, keep the cows fed, you know, hay becomes worth more,” Kleinjan said. “I’ve heard of instances of people selling winter wheat, baled up winter wheat, for $175 a ton and depending on how much you get per acre, you might get more than you would if you harvested it for grain.” Quality boost Even in places where wheat struggled in terms of yields, quality and test weights were good across the board. “The one bright spot is, the quality of the wheat is pretty good despite what it went through. You know, we saw really good test weights, 59 to 64 pounds,” Jorgensen said. “We have not done any proteins yet. Most of the wheat that we salvaged that we didn’t hay was used for seed production.” “Quality was really good. The test weights were anywhere from 61 to 63.5. Protein was 11.5 to 13, and yields were above average. So, we were real pleased,” Yackley said. Higher test weights than last year was something Kjorsvik said he was hoping for. ADVERTISEMENT “We had a little bit better weather. The heat that we’ve been seeing recently was pretty much at the end of the growing cycle for winter wheat, so we didn’t think would hurt it as much,” Kjorsvik said. “Last year, we had some frost, some dry conditions early on; that’s why we figured last year's crop was a little lower on test weight.” Kleinjan said this year, the premiums and discounts for protein are not around, which is unusual. “Typically in South Dakota we’re kind of at the mercy of what happens in the southern states, so if Kansas has poorer wheat, poor grain protein, we get a nice premium for high grain protein and then we get a discount for low protein,” Kleinjan said. “But this year, since it was kind of dry in the south, they had good protein, and so we’re not being discounted for low protein because the market just doesn’t need it. Which is very, very good for producers not to have to take that little bit of a ding, I guess, at the elevator when they sell.” Acreage moves Winter wheat acres across the state were down significantly this year. “It was quite a bit less. We were prepared for that. Plantings were down roughly 50% from last year, so we were kind of expecting to take less winter wheat, as well as spring wheat, as acres were down there as well,” Kjorsvik said. “We probably planted two-thirds of what we would normally do,” Yackley said. “Our spring wheat acres were pretty close to normal.” Wheat fits well into a South Dakota crop rotation, so having fewer acres could hurt farmers down the road. ADVERTISEMENT “We really like wheat for our rotation, for growing corn, you know, the next couple of years after wheat,” Yackley said. Having fewer acres impacts checkoff dollars as well, which are used for funding research and developing new varieties, Jorgensen said. “We are losing wheat acres across the state to other crops and … when you have a year like this year, it definitely impacts the bushels that are produced and therefore the the checkoff dollars are reduced,” Jorgensen said. “We’ve got a very tight budget this year, but we’re still going to be able to fund most of the activities that we have in the past.” The economics of growing and selling wheat were predominantly the main factor in the decrease. “Farmers are just running their incomes off of the land and corn, and there were a lot of better options, corn being the top one,” Kjorsvik said. “I think the price had a lot to do with the lack of acres,” Yackley said. “The inputs were higher. Fertilizer last fall was high, and it was high this spring. So I think that’s probably the biggest thing.” But, the winter wheat price is starting to look better. ADVERTISEMENT “They’re pretty good with the strife that’s going on over in Russia and Ukraine. With Ukraine kind of targeting their shipping lanes, it kind of put a little bit of scare in the market here recently, so we’ve seen a nice run up,” Kjorsvik said. “Additionally, the crop down south was poorer than expected, so the market is kind of holding firm with that.” Kleinjan said it looks like Austrailia isn’t going to have a great crop, which will also bring up the U.S. price. “We were getting down into the $4 price range for a while last year, and we’re back up probably, you know, $6 to $6.50 per bushel, which is encouraging,” Kleinjan said. A continuing lack of moisture could impact producers' planting decisions for winter wheat next growing season. “You’ve got to get the winter wheat off to a good start. You’ve got to have a nice stand. You don’t have to have it real thick; you’ve just got to have a good stand and be consistent with your inputs and let it do its thing,” Yackley said. “If it stays very dry and the row crops burn up in the central part of the state and western part of the state, maybe guys will lean toward more of a wheat rotation,” Kleinjan said. “So, I guess at this point it’s anyone’s guess. You know, what’s the weather going to do in the next month? Hopefully this warm, dry pattern will break, and we’ll get some rains and get some moisture back in the profile.”