Kentucky Small Grain News

Less than ideal weather conditions prevented many thousands of acres of wheat from being planted in Kentucky this fall. It also resulted in very dramatic developmental differences in Kentucky’s wheat crop.

Kentucky farmers harvested 19.8 million bushels of winter wheat during the summer of 2018, down seventeen percent from 2017. Yield is 66 bushels per acre, down eleven bushels from 2017. Farmers harvested 300,000 acres for grain, and another 150,000 acres were used as cover crop, cut as forage or abandoned. Kentucky ranks 18th in U.S. wheat production. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its Small Grains Summary Report today from the Small Grains Production Survey conducted earlier this month.

With thinking about wheat planting has come the usual, and less usual, questions about fall soil fertility. This article is prompted by recent questions about one of the less usual topics, in-furrow starter fertilizer for wheat. What, how, why/when and why/when not? Photo from K-State.

Italian or annual ryegrass (Lolium perenne L. ssp. multiflorum ) has been a major weed issue for Kentucky wheat growers for many years. The introduction of ALS-inhibiting herbicides that had selectivity on ryegrass brought about a great tool for con-trolling ryegrass in wheat post-emergence.

One of the most critical management decisions Kentucky wheat producers must make in late summer/early fall is choosing which wheat varieties to grow. Even though Kentucky’s climate is extremely variable from year to year, there are several must have traits: yield and test weight are always at the top of the list, but disease and lodging resistance are essential as well.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is surveying Kentucky producers for its County Agricultural Production Survey (CAPS) small grains survey. The survey will collect information on total acres planted and harvested, and yield and production of small grains crops. CAPS will provide the data needed to estimate acreage and production of winter wheat in Kentucky.

Christian County is the leading wheat producing county in Kentucky for 2017, with production totaling 4,222,000 bushels, harvested from 53,000 acres. Wayne County had the highest average yield. 

The top five counties, which account for 52 percent of Kentucky’s wheat production, include: Christian County, Logan County, Todd County, Simpson County, and Graves County.