by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Area grain elevators are gearing up for the 2014 Wheat Harvest which promises to be a rather uninspiring crop.

After two years of record-breaking yields, Sumner County wheat farmers are expected to cut about half to two-thirds what they cut last year according to Curt Guinn, Wellington Farmers Co-op manager.

“I think we could get some wheat that will average around 30 bushels an acre,” said Curt Guinn, Wellington Farmers Co-op Manager. “We’ll just have to wait and see for sure.”

While the recent rain, estimated more than 6 inches cumulation in June, has been a godsend for Sumner County it has delayed the start of harvest. Area elevators took in a smidgeon of grain on Wednesday before the rain came. 

Wellington’s Co-op has taken in just 3,000 bushels. Rome and South Haven have both taken in 10,000 bushels and Caldwell has taken in 25,000 bushels.

“If we don’t get any rain on Saturday evening we could have a very busy weekend,” Guinn said. The National Weather Service is estimating a 30 percent chance of rain Saturday evening. “I expect wheat trucks to start rolling in sometime this afternoon.”

The samples have been cringe worthy but not surprising. Wheat coming into the local co-op is weighing in at 58 pounds per bushel – some even at 57. Sixty pounds per bushel is considered normal, Guinn said. If the test weight is down, farmers are expected to take a discount of 2 to 5 cents on the bushel.

The moisture content is still high, testing at 14 percent. Elevators like it at 12.

While the predictions are slightly better than dire, farmers are eager to get this crop in. After all, it’s still money. The price at the Farmers Coop in Wellington is at $6.81 a bushel. And if the wheat crop is lackluster here it isn’t much better anyplace else in Kansas – meaning the price of wheat could go up. Across the state, Kansas is expected to take in 243,600 bushels of grain according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture which is 76 percent of what it was in 2013.

A June 1 estimate by the USDA predicted the state’s wheat harvest at 243.6 million bushels, the worst since 1989.

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