What Is Going On With Kansas Winter Wheat?

The USDA released its final Crop Progress report of the year on Monday. Here’s what the agency had to say about the winter wheat crop in Kansas, the country’s leading winter wheat state. 

Planting Now Complete

Winter wheat planting in Kansas increased 1 percentage point the week ending Nov. 24 to reach 100%, even though farmers were presented with only 3.3 days suitable for fieldwork for the week.

With that, planting progress is 1 percentage point ahead of last year at this time, and right on track with the five-year average.

Emergence of the crop increased 5 percentage points during the week ending Nov. 24 to reach 96%. That’s ahead of last year’s progress, which was 92%, and ahead of the five-year average of 90%.

Condition Significantly Improved This Month

For the week ending Nov. 24, the USDA rated Kansas winter wheat 3% very poor, 9% poor, 33% fair, 46% good, and 9% excellent.

The overall winter wheat condition in the state has steadily improved over November. For the week ending Nov. 3, only 40% of the crop was rated good/excellent and almost a quarter was rated very poor/poor. As of the last USDA report, the combined percentage of good/excellent winter wheat has climbed to 55%, and the combined percentage of very poor/poor winter wheat is now just 12%.

Soil moisture supplies, which have been replenished in recent weeks after drought has lessened throughout Kansas, have contributed to the improvement in winter wheat conditions. 

Topsoil moisture supplies were rated over 80% adequate/surplus the week ending Nov. 24, a marked improvement since the beginning of the month. Over half the topsoil moisture was rated very short/short the week ending Nov. 3.

Kansas subsoil moisture supplies have also improved significantly this month. Although 65% of the state’s subsoil moisture was rated very short/short the week ending Nov. 3, about the same percentage — 66% — was rated adequate/surplus the week ending Nov. 24.