The Wheat Quality Council’s 67th Annual Hard Winter Wheat Tour concluded Thursday, May 15, in Manhattan, Kansas. After three days, scouting 449 fields across the state and some into neighboring Nebraska and Oklahoma, the total weighted average yield for hard winter wheat was estimated at 53.0 bushels per acre (bpa), a nearly 14% increase from 2024. These strong results come in the face of widespread Wheat Streak Mosaic and drought in parts of the state.
Last year, the average yield estimate for the 2024 winter wheat tour was 46.5 bpa.
Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays talked after the final report session with the President of the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association, Dennis Schoenhals of Kremlin, who was a participant for the three days of the 2025 tour.
Schoenhals says they saw more good wheat on Thursday morning- driving from Wichita to Manhattan. The top yield they calculated in his car was 61 bushels per acre. He told Hays that they did see some freeze damage again on their route and that was also seen by several other scouts on other routes. All in all- he believes that the Kansas crop is clearly better this year versus what he saw in 2024.
After the final yield determination was made- Schoenhals says that everyone threw a dollar into the hat and offered a prediction as to the size of the Kansas HRW crop for this year- and the scouts had an average guess of 338.5 million bushels.
Listen to Ron and Dennis visit after the conclusion of the Kansas Wheat Crop Tour by clicking on the Listen Bar below:
