Two USDA reports important for grains were released on September 30, quarterly Grain Stocks and the annual Small Grains Summary. Farm Director KC Sheperd caught up with USDA National Agricultural Statistics Expert Troy Marshall to discuss the contents of the reports.
Wheat production increased significantly in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, which Marshall attributed to weather conditions. Oklahoma showed 4.35 million planted acres in 2024, 2.85 million acres harvested, and 38 bushels to the acre yielded, and 108.3 million bushels of wheat were produced in the state.
“That production number is about a 58 percent increase over last year,” he said.
Texas, in 2024, planted 5.5 million acres, down from 6.5 last year. Harvested acres totaled 2.6 million acres, up from 2.1 million last year; however, yield was down 6 bushels per acre from the 2023 numbers to 31 bushels per acre this year. Texas produced a total of 80.6 million bushels of wheat, compared to 77.7 million bushels last year.
Kansas planted 7.6 million acres of wheat, down from 8.1 million in 2023. 7.15 million of those acres were harvested which is up from 5.75 million acres last year. This year’s yield was 43 bushels per acre as compared to 35 bushels per acre in 2023. Wheat production was up to 307 million bushels, a 53% increase from last year.
Oklahoma planted 98% hard red winter wheat, with the other 2% being soft red winter wheat, unchanged from last year. Texas’s wheat was 95% hard red winter wheat, a 2% decrease from last year. Kansas planted 94% of their wheat fields with hard red winter wheat. Two percent was soft red and 4% was hard white winter wheat.
KC brought up the topic of rye production in Oklahoma, which saw a decrease in planted acres but an increase in harvested acres for grain.
“The big news for Oklahoma rye is that we know a lot of it gets used for forage and grazing, so when we look at the harvest report, it shows about seventy thousand acres being harvested for grain,” Marshal explained. “That is up from about 45 thousand acres in 2023.”
Yield increased to 27 bushels per acre from 17 bushels in 2023. Those harvested acres produced 1.9 million bushels total compared to 165 thousand bushels last year.
The final quarterly survey for spring-planted crops, including small grains, would be published in January, marking the start of tracking planted acres for wheat.
You can also view the full reports here.
U.S. Highlights: United States winter wheat production for 2024 totaled 1.35 billion bushels, down 1 percent
from last month but up 9 percent from 2023. Yield averaged 51.7 bushels per acre, 1 bushel higher than a year ago. Acreage to be harvested for grain totaled 26.1 million acres, up 6 percent from last year. Oat production is estimated at 67.8 million bushels, up 19 percent from 2023. Yield is estimated at 76.5 bushels per acre, up 7.9 bushels from the previous year. Barley production, at 144 million bushels, was down 23 percent from last year. Rye production is estimated at 14.7 million bushels, up 42 percent from 2023.
