03/30/05 USDA says rains improve winter wheat

Farm and Ranch March 30, 2005 The USDA said this week that the nation's winter wheat situation is looking good overall thanks to recent moisture in the northwest and the Plains. USDA says the crop is breaking dormancy as far north as Montana where 44% of the crop is rated good to excellent according to USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey. Rippey: "The one thing that is really a benefit now has been the recent turn towards wet conditions in Montana and across the northwest because those areas were extremely dry. There was a lot of concern for the wheat crop there. This moisture is coming just as it is emerging and beginning to green up. It will take regular spring rains to keep the crop in good shape across the northwest and the northern High Plains because of subsoil moisture deficits." According to Washington State University soil scientist Bill Schillinger, some summer fallow wheat growers in eastern Washington had been considering two-years of summer fallow because the potential lack of seed zone moisture this coming fall. Either that or perhaps not planting winter wheat this fall and waiting until next spring to sow spring wheat. It's not clear if recent moisture has changed any of those considerations. Meanwhile, back to Brad Rippey and conditions elsewhere in the U.S., he says concerns about wetness and the winter wheat in the Ohio Valley have subsided. Rippey: "That has become somewhat less of a concern because of a drier March." On Monday, April 4th, USDA will again resume reporting condition ratings for the nation's winter wheat crop on a weekly basis. That's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report. "Brought to you by new DuPont Affinity TankMix with TotalSol soluble granules for wheat." I'm Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network.