Flooding Causes Growers To Abandon US Spring Wheat Acres
US farmers have said they will abandon 200,000 acres of spring wheat in North Dakota and 100,000 acres each in South Dakota and Minnesota this summer due to record-breaking winter and spring snowfall and flooding, says Allen Motew of QT Weather.
Experts believe a further decline in acreage will result as heavy snow and further flooding occurred after the survey while soil temperatures reports show saturated or frost levels to 30 inches or more. Yields are projected to drop to the 5-year average of 38 bushels per acre from 40.5 last year, says Allen.
According to hydrologists at the River Forecast Center, “extreme meteorological conditions have dominated over the past 7 months”, and the fact that spring is just beginning, the Red River and its tributaries will be very susceptible to additional flooding for the remainder of Spring and into the Summer. Soil moisture rankings remain in the 99-percentile range across North Dakota, NW Minnesota and northern South Dakota. Around 72% of the nation’s spring wheat is grown across the Dakotas and W Minnesota, he adds.
Experts believe a further decline in acreage will result as heavy snow and further flooding occurred after the survey while soil temperatures reports show saturated or frost levels to 30 inches or more. Yields are projected to drop to the 5-year average of 38 bushels per acre from 40.5 last year, says Allen.
According to hydrologists at the River Forecast Center, “extreme meteorological conditions have dominated over the past 7 months”, and the fact that spring is just beginning, the Red River and its tributaries will be very susceptible to additional flooding for the remainder of Spring and into the Summer. Soil moisture rankings remain in the 99-percentile range across North Dakota, NW Minnesota and northern South Dakota. Around 72% of the nation’s spring wheat is grown across the Dakotas and W Minnesota, he adds.
