KANSAS CITY — Participants in the Wheat Quality Council’s Kansas wheat tour gathered at the offices of Sosland Publishing this afternoon. The wheat tour, on the basis of 587 field visits, forecast the average wheat yield in Kansas at 33.2 bus per acre. It would be the lowest Kansas wheat yield since 33 bus per acre in 2007 and compared with 38 bus per acre in 2013.

Fifty-six of the 75 tour participants provided wheat production forecasts, and the average of these was 260.7 million bus, which would be down 58.5 million bus, or 18%, from 319.2 million bus in 2013. It would be the smallest Kansas crop since 255.2 million bus were harvested in 1996.

General tour observations were that harvest was about six weeks away and that all areas required moisture, especially the drought-stricken western part of the state. One participant said normal or above-normal moisture would be required in the next few weeks for today’s yield estimates to hold up. Tour scouts also suggested abandonment in the western part of the state would be higher than normal.