Wheat outlook grim in Oklahoma

Apr 19, 2009      The Woodward News

Michelle Seeber

Apr. 19, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- "Grim?"

"That would be a correct assessment," Mike Schulte of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission said of the current wheat crop outlook for Northwestern Oklahoma.

"We've been in a severe drought all year long, and the wheat is really stressed," Schulte said. "It appears there is damage to wheat caused by the freeze in the Woodward area, but we won't know the full extent of it for another week."

About three or four days ago, "we thought there wouldn't be much damage, but a walk through recently is showing some damage."

Tim Bartram, executive director of the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association, said, "We're seeing some significant damage because of the drought and the freeze."

However, he said, Southwestern Oklahoma received the "nail in the coffin" when it froze April 7 with reports of 18 degrees F.

"Wheat came up early because of the drought, and the freeze hurt it," Bartram said. "Southwestern Oklahoma won't recover. But the farther north you go, the better off it is."

Bartram said that from Interstate 40 to U.S. Highway 412, wheat shows some improvement and from 412 to the Kansas line, it appears to have a chance of recovering.

"There was some damage the week of the snow storm, but most of the damage was freeze related," he said. "It's apparent damage is showing up all of the time. We're going to need fairly consistent rainfall for the next few weeks for recovery, but we don't see a lot of room for recovery."

Asked for a figure of about how many dollars would be lost to damaged crops, Bartram couldn't provide one.

"Some fields will survive," he said, "but we'll see a 30-percent to 50-percent loss. The freeze will make the wheat more susceptible to disease and insects."

What hurts the most, he said, was lack of crop insurance.

"About 60 percent of the producers this year do not have crop insurance," he said.

Elevators are also feeling the pinch, Bartram said.

Because of the cost of fertilizer, farmers weren't buying it, he said. In addition, less farm equipment has been sold and the cost of seed has gone up.

"It will have a pretty big effect on the economy for the state," he said, noting, "Producers have more invested in these crops than ever before because the cost of oil went up.

Bartram said the outlook for feed crops wasn't good, either.

Some farmers may simply plow their crops under, he said.

However, Bartram warned they should contact their extension agent before destroying a crop to prevent something from happening that could cost more.

Schulte said the economic impact of the wheat crops this year will have "significant economic impact on the state and industry as a whole."

"Crop insurance will be a band-aid," he said. "Elevators are going to be stressed. In the southwestern part of the state, elevators won't even see crops. It's going to be an extremely challenging year for them.

Schulte estimated that the loss for farmers would be an investment of $180 to $225 per acre.

Todd Peach, a farmer and rancher who is from Mooreland, said dry land wheat got "hit pretty bad" before the rains.

"The freeze did five percent to 10 percent of the damage," he said, noting, "I don't look for it to be a bumper crop on wheat this year because we only had .7 of an inch of rain between October and February."

He said he was fortunate that when the freeze occurred, "our heads weren't out of our wheat, and that helped tremendously."

However, he said, "I'm sure there are going to be some white heads from the freeze."

Another farmer, Dustin Donley, said it's still a bit early to determine the damage to his crops and was more positive about the outlook.

"In a week, we'll know a lot," said Donley, who also lives near Mooreland. "The wheat here was far enough behind that the freeze didn't affect it that much. The rain really helps."

He said his wheat crop was about two weeks behind this time last year because of the drought.

"Over by Enid, there is a lot of damage," he said, "but we may be OK."

Newstex ID: KRTB-0458-34244502

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