No till soybeans planted in failed wheat, Belle Plaine KS

Belle Plaine, KS, June 9, 2009 Failed winter wheat in south central Kansas is being abandoned before harvest to plant no till soybeans in the standing wheat crop.

The damage to this years wheat crop in South Central Kansas has more than one cause. Blowing Sleet to a depth of 3 inches followed by rain and then a few inches of snow in a single night caused unexpected damage in early spring. This weather caused much of the winter wheat which was actively growing to turn yellow like a freeze burn within days, some of the wheat took several weeks to recover a green cast and shed the dead leaves.

Later excessive amounts of rain and standing water during the balance of spring damaged even more wheat.

The crop insurance estimated that these 400 acres in these two separate tracts in Sumner County would produce less than 1 bushel per acre.

While some wheat is not a total loss and will be harvested, other wheat that looks good on the 60 mile~per~hour drive by tour with fair color and standing straw such as this but is a total loss.

Operator Paul Lange of Conway Springs hand thrashed this head of wheat, it produced a total of three grains. The specific gravity and size of these grains would make recovery nearly impossible as the small light grains are hard to dislodge from the head chaff and very close to the weight of the straw so that wind and gravity separation in a combine would blow a majority of these grains over the grain shoe and out of the harvester onto the ground.

The grain damage to the wheat kernels in this field if harvested would cause it to receive a severe test weight penalty and more than likely be refused as feedstock at flour mills.

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