Winter Wheat Weather Woes

Winter Wheat Weather Woes

Well Monday the wheat futures market rallied strongly — on the continued tension the Ukraine as well as due to the weather issues in the U.S. Southern Plains.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey shares more on what is happening weather wise in the Southern Plains that may affect that region's winter wheat crop.

Rippey: "This is important as we consider the freeze thats occurring on April 14th and 15th, as headed wheat cannot withstand temperatures much below freezing at all. Again that would be reflected in next week's report as this event continues to unfold across the Southern Plains into the Mississippi Valley and parts of the mid-south."

Rippey mentions that there is some a silver lining to this bad news and that is that for the most part the nation's winter wheat crop is behind the five year average so the freeze won't be as detrimental as it could be.

Rippey: "Winter wheat headed on April 13th — just 5 percent of the national crop and that is one point ahead of where we were last year - 4 percent headed on April 13th. In terms of areas affected by the freeze on the 14th and 15th. We saw heading at 16 percent in Texas on April 13th — fortunately that is behind the five year average of 28 percent. Four percent of the crop headed in Oklahoma — five year average there is 21 percent. So if one thing is working to the producers' advantage during this April 14th and 15th cold wave it is that the crop development is somewhat behind schedule."

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