The latest Crop Progress report shows that Oklahoma’s wheat is only 32 percent planted, fifteen percentage points lower than the five-year average. Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays caught up with Oklahoma Wheat Commission’s Mike Schulte, to talk about the challenges surrounding wheat planting in Oklahoma.
“Wheat planting is certainly a challenge in Oklahoma for us right now with the return of La Nina and drought conditions,” Schulte said. “We are behind the five-year average and if you look at Texas and Kansas, they are at 51 and 32 percent planted, so we are behind those two states as well.”
He said that as October progresses, more and more producers may decide to plant some of their fields while hoping for rainfall to germinate the seed.
“Certainly, we have had long-term drought conditions over the last ten to fifteen years, but I think, as far as planting goes, this is probably the driest I have seen it,” he admitted. “It does have producers concerned.”
The Oklahoma panhandle stands as an anomaly from the rest of the state due to unusually high rainfall for the area. “The summer crops have been favorable in that region,” he said. “It looks different out there than the rest of the state. It seems like we are facing the challenges that they have been facing over the last ten to fifteen years of drought conditions.”
According to the most recent Drought Monitor Report, several counties in the Western corridor of Oklahoma have returned to extreme drought conditions, as have areas in Northeast Oklahoma where both hard and soft red winter wheat production is normally strong. In North Central Oklahoma, extreme drought situations are being reported.
Producers had been looking at the possibility of seeding early because wheat prices had dropped due to the higher volume of harvest this year. They thought that seeding for early forage may benefit the market, but the plan hasn’t panned out in Oklahoma.
“Looking at the long-term forecast for the next ten to fifteen days in Oklahoma, there isn’t a lot of hope for rainfall, but of course, that can change. That may also make producers decide to go ahead and dry sow their wheat,” Schulte said.
He added that there are already some fields in Southwest Oklahoma that were seeded early and are continually hoping for later forage opportunities. “We always seem to rise to the occasion when we face these challenges,” he stated. “What works for one producer might not work for another, but hopefully, things will look different three to four weeks from now.”
