KANSAS CITY (Dow Jones) — The 2011 Kansas wheat crop is expected to have an average yield of 37.4 bushels per acre, according to figures released Thursday by the Wheat Quality Council.
The yield estimate was issued at the conclusion of a three-day crop tour sponsored by the council. The annual tour assesses wheat across Kansas, which is the country’s top producer of hard red winter wheat, the variety that is milled into flour used to make bread.
The average of participants’ crop estimates puts Kansas wheat production at 256.7 million bushels. The tour’s estimate is lower than last year, when the state produced 360 million bushels, with an average yield of 45 bushels an acre, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In 2010, the tour estimated the Kansas wheat crop at 333.5 million bushels, with an average yield of 40.7 bushels an acre. The tour’s estimates are meant to represent a snapshot of the crop in early May and are not intended to predict the government’s final crop estimates.
The annual wheat tour kicked off Tuesday morning in Manhattan, Kan., and ended Thursday with a meeting at the Kansas City Board of Trade. Tour participants, including representatives from food companies, the government, universities and the media, fanned out to survey the state’s crop, which has struggled with dryness since it was sown last fall.
(AG)
Source: Dow Jones
Posted by Haylie Shipp
