Harvest down by a third

Harvest is over in the Odessa region, and according to market experts at both the Odessa Trading Company and the Odessa Union Warehouse, the crop this year is said to have been reduced by about one third compared to what farmers have been receiving for the past several good years. The reasons vary and include winter kill, late frosts in the spring and drought. The lack of moisture, at least prior to the bit of rain that accompanied some of the recent thunderstorms to strike the area, has farmers worried now about their fall planting efforts. Some believe they will have to go quite deep in order to put the seed into moist ground.

Even irrigated wheat has suffered this year. Mark Cronrath of the Odessa Trading Company said many irrigators had to stretch their supplies of water to cover their crops. Added to that, a late frost during the wheat bloom phase resulted in heads that looked good on the outside but were not filled on the inside. Therefore, yields were also down for some irrigators.

Pearson Burke of the Odessa Union Warehouse reported that wheat test weights were good and protein content was higher than in some other years, but that yields were still down by about a third. Canola crops were also hurt by winter kill, he said, with some circles completely wiped out. Most farmers appear to be waiting for more moisture from mother nature before venturing out to perform fall seeding, he added.

Reports from individual farmers showed great variability in yields. One dryland farmer’s lowest yield was 29.5, but another field came in at 40 bushels to the acre. Most farmers appeared to be mostly resigned to having a less than stellar crop this year and were looking ahead to next year’s crop. Farmers who have been in business long enough, don’t worry too much about the occasional bad crop. They just keep plugging away, thinking about the next crop to come. They all have their eyes on the sky, waiting for nature to bless them or curse them as it will.