The local wheat harvest is coming in, and while quality is decent, yields are way down, agriculture officials report.
“The mechanical harvests have been going well, but the drought conditions the last two years are having an effect on bushels per acre,” said Bruce Riddell of High Country Elevators in Dove Creek. “Producers just ran out of moisture.”
The protein content is average, and the wheat berry did not fill out as well this year, Riddell explained, causing a drop in test weights.
“A bushel usually weighs in at 60 pounds, but we are seeing 58 pounds,” he said. “When the test weight goes down, the flour yield goes down.”
Wheat harvests are as low as three bushels per acre for dryland this year. In normal years. Dryland wheat farmers can expect 26 bushels per acre.
According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, total wheat production in Montezuma County dropped from 486,000 bushels harvested off 8,700 acres in 2010 to 238,000 bushels harvested off 5,800 acres in 2011, the latest years for which statistics are available.
On irrigated lands in the county, producers harvested 56 bushels per acre in 2010, and 41 bushels per acre in 2011.
Statewide wheat production is down as well.
Colorado harvested 108 million bushels in 2010, 78 million in 2011, and 75 million in 2012.
Mother Nature prevents the wheat plant from fully developing in drought conditions, Riddell explained. Typically, a mature wheat plant will have 15-20 tillers (stalks), but in drought it will only produce 6-8 tillers.
“When stressed from drought, the upper florets will be aborted by the plant; we call it ‘kicking the blossom,’” he said. “It is the plant’s way of preserving energy.”
The recent rains are a double-edged sword for wheat growers. The extra moisture helps yields but also spurs weeds in the fields, mucking up machinery and adding moisture to the harvest.
“Farmers are not pleased. At the same time the weather is getting good, they are trying to get their crop in, and then the weeds start to thrive,” Riddell said. “That moisture is added to the dry wheat and I won’t take if it’s over 13 percent moisture.”
High Country Elevators delivers wheat to Cortez Milling, where it is processed into flour and sold on the regional market.
“We buy wheat it all year round from the elevators. We have customers for our flour all over the reservations, throughout Colorado, Phoenix, New Mexico, Texas and beyond,” said Dave Lamke of Cortez Milling.
