Rains leave wheat quality discouraging

By FINN HARTNETT

Staff writer

After last week’s heavy rains delayed wheat harvest, county farmers are finishing up this week.

Makenzie Joseph at Cooperative Grain and Supply in Hillsboro said a wave of farmers came in after the weather cleared up.

“Definitely more calls wanting to sell and get their loads into the elevators,” she said. “A lot of people are trying to dodge the rain.”

Jerry Beharano, an elevator operator in Hillsboro, concurred.

“It was going good here over the weekend,” he said. “Then we got some rain on Sunday.”

Alan Hett, who was three days away from finishing his harvest, reported decent yields but said quality was poor.

“It’s bleached and a lighter test weight than what it should be,” he said.

Rain discolored and shrank the mature grain.

County extension agent Rickey Roberts was more measured in his comments, calling the wheat quality “pretty average.”

Hett said he had seen 55- to 58-pound-per-bushel test weights, and that he thought elevators would dock prices for test weights of less than 59. Beharano said those numbers sounded accurate.

“The price is already below break-even price, and now some of it’s going to get docked for quality issues, too,” Hett said.

He said some wheat farmers might quit growing wheat in the future.

“We have to grow some wheat for rotation because there’s nothing else,” he said. “But it’s discouraging.”

Hail storms in Hillsboro over the weekend were another concern for farmers, but none of the people interviewed had experienced or even heard about hail harming county wheat.

“I don’t think the hail did too much,” Beharano said.

Roberts said he was more concerned about wheat “shatter,” when excess grain is spilled onto the ground because of rain at harvest time.

“Later this summer, we’re going to have volunteer wheat everywhere, and that can give us problems with next year’s wheat if we don’t spray it,” he said.

“Volunteer wheat” is exactly what it sounds like — wheat that grows unintentionally because of past crops.

It can spread streak mosaic virus unless it is promptly killed.