2021 Brought a Record Average Wheat Yield
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the Small Grains Summary report in September, showing a record high Kentucky wheat yield and the largest production since 2016.
“Growers shattered the Kentucky wheat yield record,” said David Knopf, director of the NASS Eastern Mountain Regional Office in Kentucky. “The new record is 87 bushels per acre, up from 80 in 2016. Production ranks as the seventh largest crop in Kentucky history.”
Kentucky farmers harvested 30.5 million bushels of wheat during the summer of 2021. This was up 42% from the previous year, which suffered from weather effects. Yield is estimated at 87.0 bushels per acre, up 24.0 bushels from 2020. Farmers seeded 510,000 acres last fall, unchanged from 2020. Area harvested for grain totaled 350,000 acres. Acres for other uses totaled 160,000 acres and was used as cover crop, cut as hay, chopped for silage or abandoned.
Research is Still a Top Priority for Kentucky Small Grain Production
Production research has always been a major priority of the Kentucky Small Grain Growers. In fact, we have dedicated more than $4 million in checkoff to research over the last 29 years. Of that amount, more than $1 million is directed toward the Grain and Forage Center of Excellence.
2021 RESEARCH REPORTS
Soft Red Winter Wheat Breeding & Variety Development - David Van Sanford, UK
Improvement and Development of Barley for Use in Feed, Food and Fuel - Carl Griffey, VA Tech
Breeding New Rye Cultivars for Kentucky - Tim Phillips, UK
Performance of Small Grain Varieties in Kentucky - Bill Bruening, UK
Fragipan Remediation - Lloyd Murdock, UK
Rye Crop and Disease Management in Kentucky - Chad Lee, UK
Advancing Modern Wheat Nutrition to Sustain Both Yield and the Economics of Production - John Grove, UK
Providing Guidance to Kentucky Farmers for Grid and Zone Based Crop Management - Josh McGrath, UK
Italian Ryegrass Herbicide Resistance Survey and Harvest Weed Seed Control - Travis Legleiter, UK
Impacts of Sulfur Fertilization on Yield, Grain Quality, and Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Wheat- Hanna Poffenbarger, UK
Advancing Modern Wheat Nutrition to Sustain Both Yield and the Economics of Production - John Grove, UK
Identification & Characterization of fungicide-resistant strains of Zymoseptoria tritici in Kentucky - Carl Bradley, UK
Use of LED lights to optimize barley malt diastatic (fermentation) power and bioactive compounds for food production - Akinbode A. Adedeji, UK
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