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Across the Volunteer State farmers are hitting the wheat field hard harvesting more than 400,000 acres of winter wheat, and most are saying it’s one of the best wheat crops they’ve had.
Amy Beckham: Wheat Crop on Top. Hello there and welcome to Tennessee Home and Farm Radio, I’m Amy Beckham.
Chris Fowler: We’ve actually had a very good wheat crop that is one benefit of drought weather. One of the best ones, best ones I can remember.
Amy Beckham: Well, across the Volunteer State farmers are hitting the wheat field hard harvesting more than 400,000 acres of winter wheat, and most are saying it’s one of the best wheat crops they’ve had. Chris Fowler from Weakley County says so and shares some of their successful yield.
Chris Fowler: Our wheat crop I would say is averaging somewhere around 90 bushels an acre. We’ve had some really incredible wheat, it’s been over 100 bushels and we’ve had some just not quite as good, but overall very good average for us.
Amy Beckham: John Chester also farms with Fowler in Weakley County and agrees about the successful wheat crop and shares why this year’s harvest it’s looking so good thus far.
John Chester: Wheat crop is excellent here in Weakley County. Some farmers are saying best ever, some are saying top three crops. Fortunately, it had a wonderful growing season. The old saying plant in the dust and your bins will bust is definitely true this year for the wheat crop in Weakley County.
Amy Beckham: You could say Kevin Bomar of Henry County also agrees with that old saying and thinks his wheat crop might be his top harvest ever, even though he had some concern when the temperatures dropped to zero around Christmas time.
Kevin Bomar: That coldsnap had us concerned and when it was within a degree or two of hitting those dangerous levels, but I’ve seen very few white blanked out heads as it was growing. As far as I know, it’s probably the best wheat crop I’ve ever cut. I can’t speak for a lot South of here, but I’ve been hearing excellent, excellent yield results all around. I am tickled to death with the wheat and look forward to continuing on finishing up.
Amy Beckham: According to the Tennessee winter wheat production forecast from USDA, Tennessee farmers expect to harvest 28.4 million bushels of winter wheat this year. So with more than half of that already harvested, we wish our farmers well as they finish up the crop. For Tennessee Home and Farm Radio, I’m Amy Beckham.
