BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — There likely will be added interest in the annual Illinois winter wheat tour this year given the recent rains that walloped much of southern Illinois during the past two weeks.

 

The morning tour and field examinations May 23 will give the state’s industry a timely look at disease prevalence, how the crop has progressed and yield expectations, and finishes with a dinner and evaluations at the Southern Illinois University Belleville Research Center, 2036 Charles Lane in Belleville.

 

As of late last week, growers were hoping for quick drainage of rain that totaled more than 15 inches in some parts of southern Illinois, from storms that started April 28. Many growers raced to apply fungicide to this year’s crop before the storms hit, a crop that was maturing at a rate about three weeks ahead of average.

 Going into the weekend, though, standing water was the big concern. Bruce Rodely, president of the Perry County Farm Bureau who grows wheat in Du Quoin, said he was able to apply protection to his crop before the storms hit but now is evaluating what damage excess water will do.

 

“We had wheat that was blooming. We put some fungicide on it … with weather that’s this wet, it always increases the disease threat,” he explained. The same system of storms that washed through Illinois hit the country’s top wheat-producing state, Kansas, with a wicked wintry mix of snow that totaled more than a foot in some places.

 

Growers in Kansas say so far they believe at least 15  percent of the wheat crop in their state was killed, A.J.Foster, an agronomist with Kansas State University, told the Associated Press.

 

Back in Illinois, about 67 percent of the state’s crop had headed as of the start of last week, well above the five-year average of 23 percent, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Its condition before the rains was promising, with 72 percent of the crop rated as good or excellent.

 Participants in this year’s wheat tour will give the industry an up-close look at its condition as it exists 10 days from now. While the tour and dinner are free, participants are asked to RSVP for the dinner portion by May 16 to the Illinois Wheat Assoc., at 309-557-3619.

 

Anyone interested in taking part in the morning tours are asked to meet at any one of five different starting locations at 9 a.m., and are asked to register for those tours by calling the organizers at the specific locations. Tour starting points include Siemer Milling Co. in Teutopolis; Mennel Milling Co. of Mt. Olive; Wehmeyer Seed Co. in Mascoutah; Wabash Valley Services Co. in Carmi; and Jefferson County Farm Bureau in Mt. Vernon.

 Contacts and phone numbers for each are: Dave Devore at Siemer, 217-857-3131; Mark Miller at Mennel, 217-999-2161; Matt Wehmeyer at Wehmeyer Seed,618-382-7022; Doug Anderson at Wabash Valley, 618-382-8512; and Jim Fraley in Jefferson County, 309-557-3619.