Market News & Headlines >> Spring Wheat Tour Finds Strong Yield Potential

Spring wheat yield potential in south-central North Dakota is trending above average, with the crop benefiting from ideal weather following a wet spring that delayed planting, scouts on the Wheat Quality Council’s annual tour found on Tuesday. 

"This is really good wheat for out here," said Dave Green, executive vice president of the Wheat Quality Council. "I think everything looks good for being so late," he told Reuters News Service. 

Yields along one route of the tour were pegged at 38.6 bushels per acre, based on the average of six fields surveyed in Stutsman, Morton and Stark counties. A year ago, the tour projected yields on the same route at 34.7 bushels. The five-year tour average is 33.8 bushels per acre. 

On another route further east that went through Cass and Barnes counties, scouts calculated yield potential of 50.0 bushels per acre, up from 40.3 bushels a year ago and the five-year average of 48.0 bushels. Some evidence of scab was noted, likely due to the overly wet conditions much of the crop was seeded in, Reuters reported.

A third route, which also pulled samples in Cass and Barnes counties, estimated the average yield from four fields at 71.0 bushels per acre, well above the 30.6 bushel average for the route last year and the route's average of 42.7 bushels.