By TIM THORNBERRY

Kentucky Correspondent

FRANKLIN, Ky. — The state’s wheat harvest is in full swing, and what held promise as a banner crop may prove to be much less because of an April freeze event.

Last fall, Kentucky producers planted one of the largest wheat crops seen here in years, thanks to high grain prices. But a warmer-than-normal winter caused the crop to advance ahead of schedule, leaving it susceptible to damage from freezing temperatures the first week in April.

While not all wheat fields were exposed to below-freezing temperatures, those that did realized some sort of damage. University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture grain crops specialist Jim Herbek said even though the cold snap created problems it wasn’t as bad as had been anticipated.

“About the time that those damaging temperatures occurred, the majority of the wheat was headed and beginning flowering. That was a crucial time period,” he said. “Surprisingly, we didn’t get as much damage as I thought we would see from that, overall.”

Herbek added there were some areas, however, affected more than others, with some fields escaping the damage completely. Unfortunately for growers in Simpson County – located in south-central Kentucky on the Tennessee border – many weren’t so lucky.

Jason Phillips, UK ag extension agent for the county, said the harvest there has been a mixed bag, at best. “We had a lot of problems with (the cold spell). We just didn’t get very good
pollination,” he explained.

Those problems are noticeable from a combine, added Phillips, as fields turned from a golden color to dark brown, depending on the elevation.

“You can literally see where it changes. The bottoms are brown and deteriorating and up the hill, you can see a distinguishable line where it looks like it supposed to look.” he said. “I would say what was an 80- or 90-bushel (per acre) wheat crop went down to 40 or 50 bushels. It cut it in half.

“There is some good wheat here, but I was riding with a farmer and his yield monitor read anywhere from 5 to 135, in the same field.”

Phillips also said, as was the case with most wheat, producers there have been 2-3 weeks ahead of normal harvest times. Herbek said at one time, the crop was nearly a month ahead of a normal growth schedule.

Phillips said after the freeze, he kept his fingers crossed because the area was so close to that temperature line where damage could occur. But upon inspecting fields, he knew the potential for much damage was there.

“I didn’t know what the extent of the damage was going to be, but I knew I saw a lot of injury,” he said.

He noted some wheat escaped damage due to the variety or the timing – when it was planted. He also pointed out some patchy areas of certain fields may not produce anything.

If there is a bright spot, Phillips said some of the early test weights have been good. But the bottom line is, what was likely to be a banner year with some yield estimates possibly reaching as much as 100 bushels per acre, according to Phillips, could only turn out to be average – and that will be with a little luck.

“It’s hard to swallow when you see such a good crop get devastated like that. For the most part, wheat prices are pretty good and it will still pay to run the combine through most of the fields, but in some fields it won’t be good for anything but straw,” he said.

Simpson County is situated in one of the most agriculturally productive regions in the state even though is it one of the smallest counties. It consistently ranks near the top in grain production. Phillips said the area typically ranks fourth in the state for wheat.

If the wheat-producing regions in the state follow USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service projections, the state’s crop will be down from 2011 numbers by 12 percent despite more planted acres. The latest information estimates the harvest here to be 27 million bushels.