Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Harvesting
Harvesters continue to roll across the county, gathering in a bumper crop.
Combines on the Palouse are cutting what appears to be the second-best winter wheat crop in Washington state history.
Drawing an average 74 bushels per acre so far – for a crop about 70 percent harvested – the number is second only to 2011, which drew 75 bushels per acre.
“We’re having really high yields,” said Glenn Squires, Chief Executive Officer of Washington Grain Commission. “This is on the heels of two years of drought.”
The numbers include varied production on dryland fields and irrigated land.
Spring wheat is coming in at 49 bushels per acre.
On the Palouse, specifically, the numbers are high.
“We’re seeing some very good yields,” said Sam White, CEO of Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative.
He noted Colton, Pullman and the Genesee areas as pulling historic results.
In quality, an issue has arisen this year with falling numbers, which refers to the stage at which starch and protein start to break down in a wheat kernel.
Wide temperature swings in May and June have contributed in some areas to the falling numbers.
“Some farmers are seeing that in their wheat and others aren’t,” said Squires.
Total grain harvest so far, as of Aug. 12, in eastern Washington, according to National Agriculture Statistics Service, is 74 percent of winter wheat cut, 51 percent of barley and 44 percent of spring wheat, which starts harvest later.
In Washington, 80 percent of the wheat grown is soft white wheat, with the rest hard red winter and hard red spring.
Protein levels for soft white are coming in at 10.2 percent.
“That is an excellent protein level,” Squires said. “A lot of buyers want a maximum of 10.5.”
Since soft white is used for weaker gluten products such as crackers, sponge cakes and pastries, the lower number applies.
At this point farmers are transitioning from cutting fall-planted crops to spring. Aside from spring wheat, these include peas, barley and lentils. Garbanzos are usually the last to be harvested on the Palouse.
“They look good out in the fields,” said White. “I think overall, this year we’ll be at average or above average in most crops.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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