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Drought’s impact on SD winter wheat

Jonathan Kleinjan with the South Dakota Wheat Commission says the drought has affected early winter wheat conditions.

“There’s a small pocket in the middle of the state that’s only abnormally dry with most of the state at D1 to D2 and then, there’s a pocket in the south central part of the state that’s D3 or extreme drought.”

Kleinjan tells Brownfield the crop is variable.

“I’ve talked to producers around the state and the crop ranges from the seeds just laying there in the dry dirt to I’ve got a good stand and it looks ok or I don’t have a good stand at all.”

But he says what really matters is what happens to the crop between now and spring.

“Winter wheat is very resilient. You can have pretty poor looking stands in the fall or early spring and it will still fill out and turn into a pretty good crop. I’m not super concerned yet.”

Kleinjan says rain is needed and while there is a chance for additional moisture in the forecast, it’s unclear how much will fall.