2019 wheat harvest was about half what was normal for Sumner County
by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — The 2019 Sumner County Wheat Harvest will be remembered as absolutely unimpressive due to the adverse flooding and continues rain thereafter.
Mike Moreland, Manager of the Progressive Co-op, said harvest was about 50 percent compared to years past at the 14 Sumner County elevators under the PAC umbrella. Relentless flooding that hovered over the lower two-thirds of Sumner County in May and early June, destroyed a significant portion of the crop.
However, the wheat that was harvested was good, Moreland said.
In the western part of the county where there was not as much flooding, and better wheat was cut.
Moreland said test weights at his operation in Danville averaged about 58 and that seemed fairly common throughout the county.
The county has had a couple of years of good crops and the wheat was good this year until the May flooding. Later rains kept people from getting into fields to harvest as well, which made the harvest significantly later than usual.
The Kansas Wheat Commission issued its latest harvest report last week. It said south-central Kansas had a lower than normal harvest, and the central part of the state was far below normal. The Northwestern part of the state had one of its best crops ever, the report said.
MKC CEO Erik Lange said his operation from Seward County to Sumner County took in about two-thirds as much wheat as normal, compared to the five-year average.
He said tests weights were below average in many places, such as Sumner County due to the rains. The protein levels were averaging 10.5 percent, which is also below normal.
There was a lot of variety in yields on the wheat that was cut. In the western part of Sumner County yields ranged from 35 to 50 bushels per acre.
In one of the Kansas Wheat Association reports, a Garden Plain farmer had a lot of flooding and had low yields, which was pretty common where there was flooding.
According to the Kansas Wheat Association, 16 percent of the crop is rated poor, 29 percent fair, 41 percent good and 14 percent excellent.
Even with the rain and a later than usual crop, the overall outlook is good. The NASS predicts statewide there will be 330 million bushels of wheat harvested, which is 19 percent more than last year. The excellent crop in the western part of the state had a lot to do with that.
