north dakota spring wheat tour

The 2023 Spring Wheat and Durum Tour is officially underway!

The 2023 Spring Wheat and Durum Tour is officially underway as crop scouts travel through North Dakota and western Minnesota to assess the crop’s conditions and quality.

Executive Director of the Wheat Quality Council, Dave Green spoke with RFD-TV’s own Suzanne Alexander on this week’s events, where he will be traveling to, current conditions, and what he is expecting to see from the crop.

US spring wheat tour gets underway

Erica Olson with the North Dakota Wheat Commission introduces North Dakota State University agronomist Clair Keene on July 24 at the NDSU Agronomy Seed Farm during the kickoff of the 2023 Hard Spring Wheat and Durum Tour.

FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, US — After a long, cold winter, “June and July got their temperatures mixed up.”

That weather profile from North Dakota State University agronomists was part of the background issued to 57 scouts gathered on the eve of the 2023 Hard Spring Wheat and Durum Wheat Quality tour.

Early May temperatures were below average, delaying snowmelt. The lengthy wait for the seeding window to open had many producers envisioning a second straight year with hefty “prevent plant” acres, said Clair Keene, an NDSU agronomist specializing in corn and wheat.

“But then it got very warm very quickly, and we had the temperatures of August in June,” she said. “Wheat got planted later than it generally does. Producers like to plant spring wheat and durum in late April in the southern tier of North Dakota, early May to mid-May in the middle and northern tiers.”

Freezing cold temperatures that hung on well into spring gave way within weeks to 90° and 95° weather — mid-to-late-summer temperatures that were not ideal for the early development stages of wheat plants, which thrives when it gets off to a cool start with plenty of moisture that allows additional tillers (stems) to form.

“I don’t think there will be a lot of fields out there with a lot of tillers,” Keene said during a wheat tour information and measurement training session at NDSU’s Agronomy Seed Farm in Casselton, North Dakota, US. “So, I’m not expecting a bumper crop. However, what yields are going to be across the state will be very dependent on local growing conditions. I’ve heard from some farmers that they think they have average to above-average yields, but a lot suspect they have below average yields. Rainfall has been very sporadic. Even this farm as an example, our weather station on one side of the farm had a couple of tenths of an inch and the station on the other side of the farm had an inch. In the dry North Dakota spring, that makes a really big difference.”

Meanwhile, select areas received hefty rainfall totals in recent weeks, such as the monster downpours that left behind as many as 10 inches near Langdon in North Dakota’s Cavalier County in a short amount of time. Some fields were flooded, and scouts may see some drowned-out pockets when the tour circles back through the northeastern part of the state on July 27.

Scouts from across the wheat value chain — producers, elevator operators, millers and bakers — along with representatives from academia, government and media were set to depart Fargo early July 25 in 14 rented SUVs and minivans, each following one of seven color-coded routes toward Mandan, North Dakota, US. Along the way, scouts planned to stop at unfenced wheat fields to visually assess and measure wheat. Routes are consistent from year to year in order to provide comparisons.

Visual assessments include observing wheat stands and wheat color, checking for insect or weed pressure, and looking for foliar diseases. Presence of the latter was expected to be minimal. However, there was a risk of scab “depending on who caught rain and when,” said Andrew Friskop, a cereal crop extension plant pathologist at NDSU. Pockets of southwest North Dakota were most at risk for scab.

Scouts planned to measure plant height, heads per yead, kernels, and row spacing. Using a formula, those measurements will be converted into bushels-per-acre yield estimates for each field. Field yield estimates were to be averaged per car and then averaged with all other car totals to create yield estimates for Day 1. The process was to be repeated on the final two tour days, generating a total tour yield estimate.

Related Articles

Hard winter wheat virtual tour underway, us spring wheat crop in good shape, but behind normal pace, us spring wheat crop late, but poised for large yields, wheat industry leaders tour durum, spring wheat fields, ukraine grain harvest gets underway, current issues & directories.

Popular Articles

Chs to buy eight grain facilities from cargill, bunge unveils new leadership team, king milling unveils new mill, russia pushing for brics grain exchange, popular galleries.

VICTAM Asia sets attendance record

BANGKOK, THAILAND — VICTAM Asia and GRAPAS Asia 2024, in co-location with Health & Nutrition Asia, enjoyed a record-breaking attendance of 8,722 visitors from 73 countries from March 12-14 at BITEC in Bangkok. The event hosted by Victam Corp. welcomed 315 international exhibitors from the animal feed, pet food, aquafeed, as well as the rice, grain and flour processing industries. Following are some of the companies showcasing their innovations.

IAOM Supplier Showcase

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, US — The International Association of Operative Millers’ (IAOM) 128th Annual Conference & Expo will be April 16-18 in Salt Lake City, Utah, US. Along with educational programming, committee meetings and networking opportunities, the event includes the expo. Following are products and services from  World Grain  advertisers who will be exhibiting at IAOM.

• buyers & processors
• publications
• DTN future prices
• Search Site
• DTN Future Prices
• Basic Wheat Facts
• Weekly Wheat Update
• Market Information
• Charts and Statistics
• North Dakota Wheat Classes
• Buying North Dakota Wheat
• Progress and Action
• Resource Links
• Educational Activities & Materials
• Nutrition and Health Facts
• Wheat Food Facts
• Celebrate Pasta
• Wheat Quality
• Wheat Breeding
• Production Information
• Funded Projects
• Crop Quality Reports
• Crop Progress Reports
• Variety Survey
• Annual Report

Weekly Wheat Update April 16, 2024

• Minnesota – 1.6 million acres, up 23%
• Montana – 2.7 million acres, no change
• North Dakota – 5.3 million acres, down 5%
• South Dakota – 850,000 acres, up 15%
• Privacy Policy
• Security Policy

Spring Wheat Tour Observes Variable Conditions, Good Quality

Commenting on his participation in the 2021 Wheat Quality Council Hard Spring and Durum Tour completed July 29, U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Market Analyst Michael Anderson said “variable” was the word of the week.

“The crop condition varied across North Dakota, across counties and even across every 10 miles we traveled,” Anderson said. “We would see one nice looking field with wheat up to my waist then see sparse fields with stalks below my knee.”

USW Vice President of Programs Erica Oakley noted the variability in crop maturity.

“Most of the fields in the south and central areas of North Dakota will be ready for harvest within a week,” she said. “But as we moved north along the U.S.-Canada border, those fields were 4 to 6 weeks from harvest.”

It will come as no surprise that the tour confirmed that the U.S. hard red spring (HRS/DNS) wheat and northern durum production will be down significantly for 2021/22. The tour’s HRS yield estimate was 29.1 bushels per acre (bu/a) compared to the 2016 to 2019 tour average of 47.5 bu/a. The tour’s durum yield estimate was 24.3 bu/a, slightly higher than the tour’s durum yield estimate of 23.3 bu/a in 2008.

(L to R) USW staff Catherine Miller, Michael Anderson and Erica Oakley attended the Wheat Quality Council Spring Wheat Tour in North Dakota this week.

There is Good News

However, there seemed to be much less variability with what tour participants said about HRS/DNS quality.

Wheat Quality Council Executive Director Dave Green said even in the driest area of North Dakota, kernel quality looked good. Josh Longtin with Miller Milling Company told the Red River Farm Network that, “on a positive note, we hardly saw any quality issues, which is good for millers.”

“We saw many fields where the wheat was short, but the kernels were round and plump,” said Oakley. “So, the general consensus is the quality will be there – it is just a matter of how much wheat there will be.”

Wheat farmer and USW Director representing the North Dakota Wheat Commission Phil Volk was on tour and shared this observation with Progressive Farmer : “The bottom line is that we want our foreign customers to see that we will do our best to get them the best wheat possible, even with the drought conditions.”

Wheat Quality Council Spring Wheat Tour Day 2 stop in Burleigh County, North Dakota on the blue route. Photo shared by Kim Chapman, Bloomberg.

Great Experience

Every year, the Wheat Quality Council hosts the HRS and durum crop tour in North Dakota, bringing together participants from across the industry, including millers, traders, farmers, researchers, government officials and media. These participants travel in small teams along eight distinct routes covering most of the state’s wheat production, as well as into parts of South Dakota and Minnesota. The 2020 tour was canceled due to COVID-19. During the three-day tour this year, 43 participants inspected 273 fields. When scouting fields, participants measure yield potential, determine an average for the day’s route and estimate a cumulative daily tour average when all scouts come together again in the evening. The tour is also a tool to help educate a broad range of stakeholders about wheat production challenges.

USW is always pleased to send colleagues to the Wheat Quality Council tours. Michael Anderson and Erica Oakley have participated in other tours, but this was the first time for USW Programs Coordinator Catherine Miller.

“The tour was an incredible learning experience,” Miller said. “I got hands-on knowledge of the new spring wheat crop and the chance to meet so many new people from our shared industry. I have a much stronger appreciation for the challenges our farmers face every year to produce quality wheat for people here and around the world.”

USW is happy to share several photos from the tour here and thanks to Dave Green and the Wheat Quality Council for bringing the U.S. wheat industry together again.

USW will continue monitoring crop conditions and sharing updates in its weekly harvest report published every Friday during the U.S. wheat harvest season. The 2021 U.S. Crop Quality Report will be published in October. Subscribe here to receive the harvest reports and other crop quality updates directly to your inbox.

Think Farm Export Programs Don’t Matter? Think Again.

• Dependable People. Reliable Wheat.
• Board of Directors
• Staff Directory
• Office Locations
• Market Information
• Price Reports
• Price Charting Tools
• Supply and Demand
• Commercial Sales
• Crop Quality
• Harvest Reports
• Hard Red Winter
• Hard Red Spring
• Soft Red Winter

Working with Buyers

• Working With Buyers
• Customer Conferences
• Wheat Classes
• Wheat Glossary
• Wheat Grade Factors
• Ask the Expert
• Who We Represent
• Board Meetings
• State Wheat Commissions
• Trade Activities
• Trade Negotiations
• Trade Barriers
• Food Security and Assistance
• Public-Private Partnership
• Wheat Letter Blog
• News Releases

DTN Wheat Detail DTN Corn Detail

2008-2013 U.S. Wheat Associates. All Rights Reserved Privacy Policy | Non-Discrimination Statement

• Search Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Markets Newswire

Southern, eastern North Dakota spring wheat yields above average- tour

By Karl Plume

MANDAN, North Dakota, July 26 (Reuters) - Spring wheatyields in southern and east central North Dakota reboundedsharply from last year's drought-hit crop as ample soil moistureboosted harvest potential in the country's top producing state,scouts on an annual crop tour said on Tuesday.

Crop scouts estimated an average hard red spring wheat yieldof 48.9 bushels per acre (bpa) in 120 field stops on the firstday of the Wheat Quality Council's (WQC) tour, up from thetour's day-one findings in 2021 of 29.5 bpa and above thefive-year average of 39.0 bpa.

North Dakota is the largest producer of spring wheat in theUnited States, the world's fourth-largest wheat exportingnation. The high-protein variety is used in artisanal breads,pizza dough and bagels or blended with lesser grades of wheat toimprove flour quality.

Grain traders, millers, bakers and exporters are monitoringresults from the tour after shorter harvests in key wheatproducing areas and after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sharplycut exports from the Black Sea breadbasket region.

An increased spring crop would offset drought losses fromthe harvest of hard red winter wheat, the largest U.S. wheatclass. The U.S. Agriculture Department projected overall U.S.wheat production in 2022 of 1.781 billion bushels, up from 1.646billion in 2021.(Reporting by Karl Plume in Mandan, North Dakota)

© Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Click For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

We couldn’t find any results matching your search.

Please try using other words for your search or explore other sections of the website for relevant information.

We’re sorry, we are currently experiencing some issues, please try again later.

Our team is working diligently to resolve the issue. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

News & Insights

North dakota wheat tour predicts above-average spring yields in south, east.

July 25, 2023 — 08:15 pm EDT

Written by Tom Polansek for  ->

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO, July 25 (Reuters) - Scouts on the first day of an annual U.S. crop tour on Tuesday projected spring wheat in southern and east-central North Dakota will produce yields that are slightly lower than last year but bigger than the five-year average.

The Wheat Quality Council tour said participants estimated an average hard red spring wheat yield of 48.1 bushels per acre after surveying 130 fields, compared to the tour's day-one findings in 2022 of 48.9 bushels. The five-year average is about 40.2 bushels, excluding 2020 when no tour was held because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Traders, millers and exporters are monitoring results from the tour after Russia's exit from the Black Sea grain export deal last week fueled concerns about global supplies.

North Dakota is the largest producer of spring wheat in the United States, the fourth-largest wheat exporting nation. Hot, dry weather has hurt the crop, which is used in artisanal breads, pizza dough and bagels or blended with lesser grades of wheat to improve flour quality.

Hotter than normal temperatures this week will likely stress fields further, the North Dakota Wheat Commission said on Tuesday.

"Despite the less than ideal conditions, the crop is hanging in there," the commission said.

As of Sunday, 49% of the U.S. spring wheat crop was in good-excellent condition , down from 51% a week earlier and from 68% last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday.

The tour will assess fields in northern North Dakota on Wednesday before releasing a final yield estimate on Thursday.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

(( [email protected] ))

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

More Related Articles

This data feed is not available at this time.

Sign up for the TradeTalks newsletter to receive your weekly dose of trading news, trends and education. Delivered Wednesdays.

To add symbols:

• Type a symbol or company name. When the symbol you want to add appears, add it to My Quotes by selecting it and pressing Enter/Return.
• Copy and paste multiple symbols separated by spaces.

These symbols will be available throughout the site during your session.

Your symbols have been updated

Edit watchlist.

• Type a symbol or company name. When the symbol you want to add appears, add it to Watchlist by selecting it and pressing Enter/Return.

Opt in to Smart Portfolio

Smart Portfolio is supported by our partner TipRanks. By connecting my portfolio to TipRanks Smart Portfolio I agree to their Terms of Use .

• Contact DTN

• World & Policy
• Business & Inputs

Brent Fades Gain as Hostilities Ease, RBOB Slips on Demand

Oil futures nearest delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Brent crude on the Intercontinental Exchange settled Friday's session...

Oil Drops to 3-Week Lows on Stock Build and Easing Tensions

Oil futures lower as eia confirms crude build, oil futures drop after api reports outsized crude build, top 5 things to watch.

Active Weather, What's New in Land Trends

Week of April 21 we'll kick off the 2024 installment of our popular View From the Cab series, and initiate a new series on land trends. We'll also...

CHS to Buy 8 Cargill Grain Elevators

Chs strikes deal to buy eight cargill grain elevators in five states, daisy to invest in new iowa plant, daisy brand to invest in iowa dairy processing plant, biden administration grants summer e15 waiver, biden administration grants e15 emergency waiver to continue summer sales, our rural roots.

Soak Up Spring's Simple Pleasures

Blogger Meredith Bernard encourages people to make the effort to effectively turn back the clock to simpler times.

View From the Range

Silver spur ranch success comes from ensuring good health for cattle and cowboys, tips to a (temporarily) tidy life, protect your farm from eclipse visitors, prepare for extra traffic, trespassers from solar eclipse visitors.

• Special Sections
• Past Issues
• LOG IN or JOIN OUR COMMUNITY

Spring Wheat Tour: Day 2

Spring wheat tour scouts calculate day 2 hrs yield of 24.6 bpa, durum 23.6 bpa.

OMAHA (DTN) -- On Day Two of the 2021 Hard Spring Wheat and Durum Tour, scouts were not expecting to see good stands given much of the area traveled Wednesday have been in extreme drought conditions since the spring planting season, with rainfall picking and choosing what fields got a drink.

For the second day, the tour estimated the average calculated yield at 24.6 bushels per acre (bpa) for hard red spring wheat with 95 samples drawn. Durum yields were calculated at 23.6 bpa over 11 samples. The tour was canceled last year because of the pandemic. In 2019, the second-day totals over the same routes were calculated at 40.8 bpa for hard red spring wheat and 35.9 bpa for durum.

Dave Green, Wheat Quality Council executive vice president and tour organizer, told DTN as he arrived for the evening tour wrap-up meeting: "We went to the middle of the state, and it was as bad of a route as I've ever had to take. The average of all our fields was around 16 bpa. I've not heard yet what the other routes saw, but it was pretty dismal."

Green followed the blue route, which went north of Bismarck, to Turtle Lake and then east through McClusky and on to New Rockford and then, to Devils Lake, the final stop of Day Two.

"It's ripe," he said of the wheat he saw, noting that much of it will likely be cut within the week. "The tiller counts are reduced, but that's not the big problem. They just are small heads; the wheat is very short and it doesn't have a lot of kernels. We only saw two, 20 bpa wheat fields today on our route. It's as dry as advertised."

He said wheat he viewed on the tour Wednesday looked to be of good quality, there's just not much of it. "The wheat (kernels) I saw look good. It's not shriveled. It looks like it is going to be fine," he said.

Phil Volk, chairman of the North Dakota Wheat Commission, drove the red route Wednesday, going north of Towner before heading east to Devils Lake. "We shelled out some kernels in some of the fields there, and they looked good. We saw more green fields up that way and especially over in Souris and Bottineau where they are at least six weeks away from maturity. If the green areas we saw today on our route get a rain, they could add some yield potential," Volk said.

Volk farms 2,000 acres of wheat in Benson County and said they are split by the drought. "Our fields near Minnewaukan got 2 inches of rain, while our fields 25 miles east of Rugby did not and are drought-stressed. There are some hilly spots that have wind erosion and will be difficult to try to harvest. We will harvest enough there for our seed wheat, and the bottom line is that we want our foreign customers to see that we will do our best to get them the best wheat possible, even with the drought conditions."

Volk added, "We all have to work through this together even though the vision we may have had when we planted this spring and even three or four weeks ago, has changed."

Green stressed again that the worst fields he saw Wednesday are as bad as any he's ever seen on this tour. "I did not see 1988, that was one of the two or three years I've missed. So, I was not here for the 15 bpa crop. But as far as my history on the tour, the totals I've seen today (on the blue route) were the worst I've seen," he said.

The tour will work its way back to Fargo on Thursday and have the final crop tour discussion around 1:30 p.m. CDT at Northern Crop Institute (NCI), Fargo.

Mary Kennedy can be reached at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter @MaryCKenn

(c) Copyright 2021 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.

Mary Kennedy

• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• © 2024 DTN, all rights reserved. "DTN" and the degree symbol logo are trademarks of DTN. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.
• Magazine Home
• Columns Home

• MyDTN ™
• The Progressive Farmer

Recommended Browsers:

• Internet Explorer 10 or above
• iPad 2 or above
• iPhone 4 or above
• Google Chrome for Android
• Join Our Community
• Start your free MyDTN demo

Please correct the following errors and try again:

• Remember Me

US wheat farmers face bleak crop economics as grain oversupply hits

• Medium Text

FEWER WHEAT FARMS

Get a look at the day ahead in U.S. and global markets with the Morning Bid U.S. newsletter. Sign up here.

Reporting by Heather Schlitz; Additional reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Marguerita Choy

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Markets Chevron

Gulf markets subdued on geopolitical tensions, US rate cut concerns

Most stock markets in the Gulf were subdued on Sunday amid geopolitical strife and uncertainties surrounding U.S. Federal Reserve policy.

Spring turkey season opens in North Dakota

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - North Dakota’s spring turkey season opened on April 13 for both the youth spring season and the regular spring season.

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is offering 8,137 wild turkey licenses for the 2024 spring hunting season, 725 more than last year. Thirteen of the 22 hunting units have more spring licenses than last year and eight remain the same.

First-time spring turkey hunters 15 or younger are eligible to receive one spring license valid for any open unit. To be eligible, the youth hunter must be 15 or younger on opening day of spring turkey season and has never received a spring turkey license in North Dakota.

The spring turkey season continues through May 19.

You can find our more on the N.D. Game and Fish website .

Related Content:

• ND spring turkey season preview: populations doing well, increase in tags
• Applications now available for spring wild turkey hunting season

Copyright 2024 KFYR. All rights reserved.

Vehicle crashes into Minot memory care facility

Cramer and Hoeven vote against FISA reauthorization legislation after fourth amendment protections rejected

Police called in to North Dakota state forensic examiner’s office before her firing

Citing family emergency, Rick Becker briefly pausing campaign events

Judge denies motion to dismiss murder charge in Anita Knutson killing

Latest news.

First News at Six - Sportscast 04/20/24

First News at Six - Weather 04/20/24

NDGF tells how Sage Grouse search for love, and if the effort has increased dwindling numbers

NDGF explains how sage grouse search for love, and if the effort has increased dwindling numbers

CPKC Steam Locomotive to stop in Minot