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Illinois Wheat Association yield estimate ‘better than expected’

DSCN3547The wheat yield estimate for Illinois is better than some were expecting.  A survey of tiller and head counts from dozens of Illinois wheat fields Thursday resulted in an estimated average yield of 63.5 bushels to the acre.  Illinois Wheat Association President John Ernst was among the volunteers doing the counting.

DSCN3586“Well, we found impressive head counts, tiller counts.  We also found impressive leaf disease pressure,” Ernst told Brownfield Ag News at the Belleville Research Center following the field surveys.  “We all figured we’d see some scab, but we didn’t see as much scab as we thought we would.  All-in-all, we were impressed with the head counts and the yield potential that’s out there.”

Ernst says that from the flowering stage on, there’s been cool, wet weather in Illinois wheat country.

“Every day constantly it was just the perfect environment to inoculate the head blight,” he said, “if we don’t see the scab in the next ten days I’ll still be surprised, but again, happy.

Ernst looks for harvest to begin by June 15, which, he says, is about ten days earlier than usual for his area.

AUDIO: John Ernst (3 min. MP3)

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