Rains Benefit State's Wheat Farmers

Thursday, May 10th 2007, 11:26 am

By: News On 6

ENID, Okla. (AP) -- Heavy rains that have caused flooding in some parts of Oklahoma are being considered a blessing by wheat growers, who are expecting a plentiful crop this season. A recent survey put the state's estimated wheat production at 164 million bushels this year, well above the five-year average of 131 million bushels and substantially better than the 71 million bushels harvested in 2006.

"In the low-lying areas, producers are looking at good yield potential," said Roger Don Gribble, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service northwest area agronomist.

Although leaf rust and persistent leaf moisture may have some effect on a plant's growth, producers are expecting a much better crop than in previous years.

"It's kind of good and bad, but at this point, the good outweighs the bad," said Tim Bartram, director of the Oklahoma Wheat Growers Association.

Harvest in Kingfisher and Blaine counties is expected to begin before the end of the May, with harvest in counties north of Enid beginning sometime in June.

Bartram said wheat producers in the southwest part of the state, who were wiped out in last year's drought, are excited with what they forecast as one of the best crops of hard red winter wheat they've seen in many years.

"Around Altus and Hobart, some of the old-time farmers have said it looks like the crop of a lifetime," Bartram said.

Heavy rains also have replenished livestock ponds that shriveled during drought conditions last year and have boosted the production of hay and other forages, said Jack Carson, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

"Livestock producers have had a real challenge to meet their forage needs over the winter, but the grasses are really growing and that makes things a lot more pleasant to live with for the livestock producers," Carson said.

"We've got water in the ponds, the lakes are filling back up, and that's not only beneficial to agriculture but to the communities that rely on these lakes for their water supply."