Grain cutting getting underway

DAYTON–“On a dry year, harvest starts about two weeks early, on a wet year, about two weeks late,” commented Jacob Forsman, manager of the Dayton office of Northwest Grain Growers, on the occasion of small-grains harvest barely being underway as of the fourth week of July.

“This year is a slow start,” Forsman said.

But the good news is that this will be a “big crop,” Forsman added, noting that the crop size will be about the same as the 2020 year.

“We’re seeing good test weights, lower protein levels than usual and yields are above average,” Forsman said.

Legumes–peas and garbanzo beans–are doing just as well, he said.

Northwest Grain Growers began receiving wheat at its Lyons Ferry terminal on Tuesday, July 19.

“A lot of people won’t be starting until the first week of August,” Forsman said. Harvest is expected to be still going through around mid September.

Above-average rain fall in April, May and June, with accompanying cooler temperatures, contributed to the increase in crop production. Rain during April through June was 10.89 inches–222% of normal, says Joe Solomon, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Pendleton. There were 2.54 inches in April, a month in which normal is 1.86 inches. During May it rained a whopping 4.57 inches, again when the month’s typical rainfall is 1.80 inches. June was almost as wet with 3.78 inches compared to average of 1.24 inches, Solomon said.

The Dayton Chronicle’s 2022 Profiles in Farming Special Edition starts on page 5.