It’s planting season in Oklahoma
Oklahoma’s wheat farmers are back in the fields planting their 2009 crop, reports Mark Hodges, executive director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission. As of Monday, 44 percent of the new wheat crop had been planted, leaving farmers on a pace of about 4 percent behind the five-year average for planted acres at this time.
Said Hodges:
This is not surprising as we have seen a shift away from grazing (grazing promotes earlier planting dates) as crop prices have increased and fertilizer price has increased.
Most of Oklahoma has not received significant moisture in the last 2 weeks plus, so surface conditions are drying out quickly as temperatures remain in the mid to upper 80’s.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported its final wheat harvest estimate for 2008 of 166.5 million bushels. That’s up a whopping 70 percent over last year’s 98 million bushels harvested statewide.
Jim Stafford
Business Writer
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