The exceptionally early wheat growing season means combines are already starting to roll in Kansas. Stoney Reif – Branch Manager at the OK Co-op Grain Company at Hardtner, Kansas – says they received about eight to ten loads of wheat Monday evening.

He says early test weights look good – between 58 and 62 – with most around 61. Reif says the wheat coming in is not all completely dry yet – but he expects the local harvest to be in full swing very soon.

The recent trend of drought-like conditions has taken a last minute bite out of the yield potential for this year’s crop.

Reif says the weather – although uncomfortable – has become conducive for a rapid ramp-up in harvest activity. Many areas of North Central and Western Kansas have been experiencing a flash drought where recent hot, dry weather – accompanied by strong winds – have sapped yield potential from the ripening wheat.

A few farmers to the southwest of Hays, Kansas have reported that they put some of their wheat up for hay in order to salvage at least part of the value of their crop.