Some Wheat Crops Being Harvested, Delays for Some
WYNNBURG, Tenn. – Farmers are scrambling to harvest winter wheat crops but say it is not something they will complain about. Ed Sumara has been a farmer for more than 50 years and said this spring was picture-perfect. “Somewhere or another we got through a very wet spring and very wet May and very cool and we are harvesting a phenomenal yield,” he explained. The farmers in Northwest Tennessee are still racing against the clock although it appears to be a perfect season. “I frankly thought it would take 6-7 days to harvest roughly 1,000 acres of wheat and now I’m thinking it’s going to take 14 days,” Sumara said. The reasoning Sumara said is because the winter wheat’s growing cycle was interrupted from last summer’s drought. “The corn did not utilize it and there’s a balancing act trying to determine how much to back down on the nitrogen on the current wheat crop to account for the nitrogen that’s left over from last year corn crop.” Farmers are expecting a record breaking yield averaging up to 80 bushels per acre. “If you talk to anyone in this area they are experiencing the same thing. We’ve heard from many credible sources say they are yielding over 100 bushels which is a blessing,” Sumara said. That figure is nearly double the state’s average.
