News

Kansas winter wheat condition holds steady

Central Kansas farmer Rick Schlender says he’s been impressed by his winter wheat crop so far.

“The wheat looks really good. We were blessed with a good rainfall in November and the wheat that was in the ground and up at that time and responded well.”

The latest crop progress and condition report from USDA has winter wheat pegged at 43 percent good-to-excellent. Nearly half of the crop has jointed, 12 percent of the five-year average.

He tells Brownfield he’s not seeing a lot of weed and disease pressure. “Some of the later planted wheat that did not look so good, we do have some mustards that are blooming right now along with some henbit. It’s a little early on the disease (issues), but we might see some spotting diseases.”

Eleven percent of the corn crop has been planted.

Topsoil moisture is 46 percent adequate-to-surplus, and subsoil moisture is 45 percent adequate-to-surplus.