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Late emergence of winter wheat a concern in some areas

The final condition rating of the nation’s winter wheat crop, until next spring, is 58 percent good to excellent and six percent poor to very poor. That’s a slight decline from last week and also a few points below where the crop finished up this year.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says there are two major issues, including late emergence in some parts of the Midwest.

“In Illinois we see 11 percent of the crop rated very poor to poor—and Michigan nine percent,” Rippey says. “The other problem is lingering drought across the southern Great Plains, and also a drought in the Northwest. As a result, we see 13 percent of the crop rated very poor to poor in Texas and Washington State, and 11 percent very poor to poor in Oklahoma.”

The next report on the condition of the winter wheat crop will be out in April of 2015.