Delayed Planting, 2019 Wheat Crop, and News from the Industrial Hemp Conference
Planting Season Was Everything But Easy!
Planting season this year was a real challenge for our customers! Cool temperatures in April, May and excessive rainfall has shortened and delayed the planting schedule to the point where some of the corn and cotton acres were not planted. Crops that did get planted are struggling from lack of heat units and growth has been delayed. This delayed growth could bite us at the end of the season as cotton needs every day we can muster in Kansas to develop before frost comes in September or October. Rainy weather has generated better commodity prices but, added a lot of additional stress to farmers that are already struggling to maintain adequate income in their operations. A few of our customers have already had their hard work erased from hail, rain and wind storms. In looking for a silver lining we may see markets improve for all commodities, enough to offset lower yield potential from delayed growth. Having farmed myself for years I have a great deal of respect for how farmers take the hard punches and keep on going!
What Can We Expect From The 2019 Wheat Crop!
As mentioned in the first article the rainy spring and early summer has created challenges for most crops. However, Kansas wheat has benefitted from excess moisture and yields could now be above average for our trade area. Yes, there are certainly challenges as the rain does not seem to want to stop and warm harvest weather is slow to arrive. Early harvested wheat in southern counties have been showing some low protein readings and test weights in the mid to upper 50’s. Although rain can add yield at the wrong time it can bleach out ripened wheat and lower the test weights resulting in lower yields. Weed pressure is going to be an issue if we continue to receive rainfall every few days delaying harvest. Lodged wheat may have to be left and cut at later date.
Notes From Industrial Hemp Conference!
A few of us recently attended a conference on industrial hemp in Pratt Kansas. The three basic uses for industrial hemp are CBD oil, seed and fiber. U.S dollars generated from hemp are projected to rise from $1 billion in 2018 to $2.6 billion in 2020. It appears that Kansas hemp will be slow to develop in 2019 as there are some real production hurdles to clear. Seed stock is not available in Kansas and producers will need to go out of state to find limited seed. We currently lack processing facilities in Kansas so planting hemp will be risky and may have to be trucked out of state to distant plants. Although hemp planted for fiber can be planted with current seeding equipment, hemp grown for oil requires intensive hand planting of seedlings. Equipment to harvest the various forms of hemp will be in short supply in Kansas for 2019. The license needed to grow Industrial hemp cost producers $1,000.