5/2021: The US HRW harvest in the 5 most southern Great Plains States is now complete. All remaining states are at least 70% complete (Montana) and as high as 98% complete (South Dakota). Drought and high temperatures have (and continues) to reduce the yields and test weights of the crop in the northern and northwestern states. A significant portion of the crop in the most affected areas is being baled and may be used for feed.
The 2021 HRW harvest is moving very rapidly and also continues to be a very memorable one as more testing starts to become available. The problems began in the northern most regions of the US in the form of drought followed by extreme winter conditions (which extended as far south as central Oklahoma where temperatures plummeted to the mid (- minus) teens in February. This was cold enough to burn leaves back which actually slowed or stopped some of the major diseases in their tracks. However, that freeze event was followed by a late freeze in April that also affected many southern areas negatively. Wheat from South Dakota northward continues to show the effects of prolonged drought with lower test weights/thousand kernel weight/overall less favorable kernel attributes. This contrasts with (the early reporting) of large kernels and very good kernel characteristics (but lower protein) out of parts of Texas, Oklahoma and into areas of Kansas.
There are now 418 samples (up only 7 samples from last week) of an expected 500 as harvest winds down in all states south of South Dakota. Samples from those areas are in various stages of testing. The numbers in the table below reflect averages of individual locations not weighted for production. The changes this week include a small decrease in TKW (0.1%) and are reflective of the changing out of the Falling Number instrument (FN overall average now at 370 seconds).