Ag Alert. June 21, 2023

Farmers see impacts of wet winter in state wheat yields

“Other than too much water, it’s been a pretty good growing season,” Perry added. Carter said most of the wheat grown north of Stockton, such as in the Sacramento Valley, is marketed to mills to make flour. She said San Joaquin Valley growers, due to their proximity to dairies, tend to green chop their wheat earlier to make livestock feed. This al- lows them to double-crop, as they can grow corn, for example, immediately af- ter wheat harvest. California farmers also planted less durum wheat this year—20,000 acres

compared to 35,000 in 2022, according to USDA. Most of the state’s durum pro- duction is in the Imperial Valley, where growers completed their harvest in May. Marketed as Desert Durum because it is grown under irrigation in the desert val- leys of California and Arizona, the wheat commands a premium and is used to make semolina, the flour in pasta. Carter said San Joaquin Valley grow- ers used to grow more durum wheat, but there’s “not much incentive” anymore after Miller Milling in Fresno—their

By Ching Lee Ample rain this year has allowed some California farmers to produce more wheat, even though statewide acreage dropped, with some fields lost to flooding and the deluge last fall and winter. Farmers say prospects for the crop still appear positive even as prices have moderated from their all-time high in the spring of 2022 when the Russia-Ukraine war disrupted grain exports. Wheat remains largely a rotational crop for California farmers, who take advantage of autumn rains to germinate fields. Hard hit by drought in recent years, they planted less wheat for the current crop year—some 355,000 acres, down from 385,000 acres in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But they intend to send more of the crop to mills—from 115,000 acres com- pared to 105,000 acres in 2022—with the rest harvested primarily for livestock feed. Claudia Carter, executive director of the California Wheat Commission, said she thinks final harvested acreage of the grain will fall between 100,000 to 120,000. She said she has heard several thousand acres have been lost due to flooding, spe- cifically in the Corcoran area and some in the resurrected Tulare Lake bottom. Some of the crop losses will be offset by higher yields on other farms, especial- ly those in the Central Valley that grow dryland wheat in which no irrigation is used. Roughly 30,000-plus acres of wheat throughout the state are grown using just rainfall, she estimated. “This year was an exceptional year for them,” Carter said, referring to dryland growers. “They’re really happy. We have some farmers (who) made comments like this is one of the best years they have had in a long time for dryland wheat.” Steven Parsons, who grows dryland wheat in Tulare and Kern counties, said his yields so far appear to be above aver- age, whereas lack of rain in recent years failed to make much of a crop, if at all. In following his normal rotation, he had not planned on planting more wheat last fall. “I wish we would’ve put more in, but the rain started and stopped us,” he said, noting he was able to plant 90% of what he had planned. Because his fields are in the hills, with good drainage, he said he did not experience some of the flooding issues that some other farms did. With harvest in the San Joaquin Valley still in the early stages, Parsons said he has not yet tested his crop but noted there “may be some quality issues of lower pro- teins in the grain.” He said the hot spell in May could have been a factor. Higher protein levels are desired by mills that produce wheat flour. Because he farms on heavier soils, Sacramento County grower John Perry said too much water in his fields dam- aged his crop. He is still about a week away from harvest, but he said the dam- age is “going to show up in the yields.” He estimated yields on a third of his crop will

be below average and two-thirds will be average to below average. With plenty of rain this season, Perry said he did not need to irrigate, which saves him money, whereas he had to irrigate twice last year. But he said, “We would’ve much rather incurred the cost to irrigate versus having the excess mois- ture that damaged the plant.”

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June 21, 2023 Ag Alert 3