News

South Dakota wheat harvest off to strong start; corn needs timely rain

A grain elevator manager and a farmer, both based in South Dakota, say winter wheat harvest is off to a better-than-expected start.

Kevin Kjorsvik is the general manager of Oahe Grain Corporation in the central part of the state.

“Fifty to 80 bushels is kind of what I’ve been hearing. We’ve had some drier pockets in the area, so the quality of the crops so far has been really good, with test weights well above 60 pounds so far. Proteins have been all over the board.”

He’s expecting harvest to pick up pace in his area on Wednesday, with the help of this week’s warmer temps ripening the crop. USDA says 19 percent of the state’s winter wheat has been harvested so far, ahead of average.

Farmer Chet Edinger in southeast South Dakota is nearly finished with winter wheat harvest.

“It’s all above Actual Production History on our stuff,” he says. “The all-farm average will be above APH. I know of one farmer that tied his record and he also hit her really hard to spring with fertility. Some cold weather came in, and set the crop back, which is actually a good thing, because the late rains definitely put bushels on.”

Edinger says the rising tensions with Russia and the Ukraine, along with issues in the Middle East, has created a small rally in wheat prices, and he will sell some now and store the rest for winter.

Edinger raises other crops, and tells Brownfield the corn conditions are good at pollination, but a rain is needed shortly following this week’s heat.

“We’re burning up a lot of moisture with this heat and it is cooling off to about 68 to 70 degrees at night. That does help, but if you have a weaker pollinating variety, you may want to go out and check it here in about a week, 10 days, we’ll find out then.”

USDA says 17 percent of the state’s corn is silking, ahead of average, with conditions rated 64 percent good to excellent. Some South Dakota soybeans are starting to set pods, with conditions rated 63 percent good to excellent.

Hear Brownfield’s interview with Kevin Kjorsvik.

Hear Brownfield’s interview with Chet Edinger.