Oklahoma may produce 165 million bushels of hard red winter wheat

Some wheat industry experts were estimating Oklahoma could produce a healthy 165 million bushels of hard red winter wheat this year, lower than last year's crop, but well above the previous two seasons, state wheat commission officials said on Monday.
A survey of fields throughout the state and conversations with farmers and ranchers indicated wheat fields given over to grazing of livestock would be fewer than normal this year, Wheat Commission chairman Paul Jackson said.
That, combined with crop-enhancing rainfall in January and again recently has given the crop's production potential a boost, he added.
Last year, Oklahoma harvested 179.4 million bushels, well above the 2002 harvest of 103.6 million bushels and the 2001 tally of 122.1 million bushels. All three years, Oklahoma was the second-largest HRW wheat growing state in the nation, following its neighbour to the north, Kansas, which produced 480 million bushels last year.
Wheeler Brothers Grain representative Lanie Hale said he thought the 165 million bushels was an aggressive estimate and he projected production would come in at least 20 million bushels less than that.
But Oklahoma Wheat Commission executive director Mark Hodges said he, like Jackson, was pegging the crop to be in the "160 million range."
Despite thin and nitrogen deficient stands in many areas, good weather conditions of late have helped the crop.
"The recent moisture really benefited all areas," he said.
Still, he cautioned, much could change in the next several weeks ahead of harvest.
"What happens between now and the maturity of this crop will have a much bigger impact on what we harvest than what we've seen so far," Hodges said. "It is still very weather dependent at this point."
The Oklahoma representatives were taking part this week in a crop tour in Kansas to help gauge that state's HRW wheat production potential.
An official industry estimate for Oklahoma is to be offered Wednesday at a meeting of the crop scouts in Wichita, Kansas, before the conclusion of the Kansas tour on Thursday.
A weekly crop progress report issued Monday afternoon by the Oklahoma Agricultural Statistics Service said the state's wheat crop advanced rapidly last week with 70 percent of the crop headed by week's end, thanks in part to warm weather and good moisture.
Wheat condition was at 12 percent excellent, 46 percent good, 28 percent fair, 10 percent poor, and 4 percent very poor as of Sunday, the service said.