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South Dakota winter wheat crop at risk, even with recent rain

A farmer in south-central South Dakota says the farm received some much-needed moisture ahead of the Easter weekend.

Bryan Jorgensen tells Brownfield “we’re just at one inch, maybe an inch and a quarter. That’s the most we’ve had since August.”

He says fall was extremely dry. While the early planted winter wheat established well, later planted wheat failed to emerge, and there has been some winterkill.

Jorgensen says the recent moisture, combined with some sunshine, will show how significant the losses could be.

“I never give up on winter wheat. It’s usually one of those that has nine or 10 lives before it gets in the bin. We’ll know a lot more in another week or 10 days,” he says. “But I would say it’s probably one of the poorest winter wheat crops I’ve seen in my career of almost 40 years.”

Jorgensen says by the end of the month, farmers with winter wheat will decide whether their crop is worth keeping or if they’ll switch to corn, soybeans, or milo. He plans to use the crop either way and turn it into forage or feed for livestock.

Jorgensen is also the chairman of the South Dakota Wheat Commission.