Soft White Wheat Harvest kicks into gear in TD and east; Kernels full so far
No shrivel in these kernels of soft white wheat delivered to the Mid-Columbia Producers on Tuesday, July 16. While rain today, July 17, may have stymied operations, once things dry out a bit, it looks that harvest is in full swing.
By Tom Peterson
Amy Kaser was all smiles on Tueday at Mid-Columbia Producers TD Elevator as Kaser Family Farms started cutting the first of 2,000 acres this summer.
The Dalles, Ore., July 17, 2024 — Soft white wheat harvest is off and running in Wasco County as Mid-Columbia Producers came close to a record day of wheat deliveries in The Dalles on Monday, according to The Dalles Terminal Operator Cody Darnielle.
The annual harvest is a major cash crop for the four-county area including Wasco, Gilliam, Sherman, and Morrow counties, which produces close to half of the 50 million bushels of wheat in Oregon.
Darnielle reported that 150 deliveries were made on Monday, July 15, in The Dalles as harvest is moving into full swing.
Bryan Olsen, the mechanic at Schanno Ranches, said they started cutting wheat near 8-Mile Road on Tuesday, noting he jumped from fighting fire into driving a wheat truck.
The first loads of wheat came in on July 8th as fields at lower elevations in the region were cut, Darnielle added.
“This is an average start, about what it usually is,” he said of combines getting rolling.
Regionally, harvest around Mikkalo in Gilliam County at an elevation of 1,740 feet started earlier this week, but wheat near Condon at more than 1,000 feet higher still shows a green tinge, proving too early to cut, said Randy Anderson.
Tanner and Evan Rietmann chatted with Allan Peterson near Ione on July 10th as the brothers started harvesting. A new 40-foot header had been recently installed on the combine in the foreground to speed up the process.
Harvest started in Morrow County in the first week of July around Ione, and some production reports show more than 50 bushels per acre.
In June, The United States Department of Agriculture estimated Oregon winter wheat production was expected to total 50.1 million bushels, up 23 percent from last year. According to agency stats, the Harvested area is at 715,000 acres, down 10,000 acres from the previous year. Yield is forecast at 70.0 bushels per acre, up 2.0 bushels from the May 1 forecast and up 14.0 bushels from last year.
The Dalles Terminal Operator Cody Darnielle and Katherine Kramer work on entries as wheat trucks are weighed, dumped and and total pounds are documented.
And while the prospects for yields is up, the current price for soft white wheat stood at $5.78 per bushel this morning, July 17, way off prices of $7 plus dollars a year ago and more than $11 in 2022.
It appears world supplies are holding general wheat prices hostage as the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates from the USDA on July 12 show the world supply at 1,059 metric tons just down 3 metric tons from last year.
