EXPERTS SAY TOP QUALITY WHEAT TO YIELD LOW PRICES

SIKESTON -- As wheat fields across Southeast Missouri go up in flames, area farmers are celebrating a stellar harvest of the golden grain.

Pat Turman, an agronomist with the University of Missouri Extension Center in New Madrid County, said that she expected this year's wheat harvest to be much better than last year's harvest.

"Last year we had that freeze that dropped the yields," she said. "It's definitely better than last year."

Last year, an untimely March freeze damaged the winter wheat, causing decreased harvest yields.

Turman estimates this season's average yield in New Madrid County to be around 60 to 65 bushels.

Yields are also high in Scott County, according to Warren Cork, Scott County extension agent.

"There have been very positive yields across Scott County," Cork said.

Disease and other problems were also less problematic this year, which helped to boost wheat yields.

David Bowman, a grain merchant at Cargill in Sikeston, said he had dealt with very little diseased grain so far this season.

"There's higher yield and better quality so far," Bowman said.

According to Cork, an ideal growing season is culminated by a cool, dry May. If there is too much rainfall and not enough sunshine, wheat becomes damp, which increases the possibility for disease.

Even though there were some problems with rust, a fungal disease common in wheat, late in the growing season, much of this year's harvest has remained unharmed.

"It probably reduced the yield in some fields, but it's variety-specific," Cork said of the fungal disease.

This year, rust attacked only certain varieties of wheat, reducing the yield in specific fields, but not damaging the harvest much as a whole.

While the wheat harvest may be one of the best in recent

years, the prices that farmers are receiving for grain are certainly not golden.

"Prices aren't too good," he said. Turman agreed.

"Oh, they're not good," she said. "They've started going back down, I think. None of the prices are going to be good this year."

Prices are currently around $2.35 a bushel, a price David Reinbott, farm management extension agent in Scott County, calls "historically low."

There is some optimism that prices will rise because of weather problems in Kansas and other states where rain has devastated the spring wheat crop.