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Early wheat harvest can boost profitability and reduce quality risks

Michigan State University’s wheat breeder is encouraging growers to harvest early when facing potential quality losses from wet conditions.

Eric Olson tells Brownfield, “Get out there and cut that wheat early.”

“Once you start getting into that 17 to 20 percent moisture range, it is more profitable to cut that wheat early, dry it down, and then have a marketable crop,” he explains.

He says wheat can lose about a pound of test weight per day and have increased falling number issues when it rains.

“I want to make sure that growers are considering profitability from that perspective and making sure that we’re getting that crop out of the field on time to have a high-quality product for our milling industry,” he says.

Olson also recommends planting multiple wheat varieties to help spread disease risk and provide farmers with an extended harvest window.