Amelia Schatz on Kansas Wheat Conditions

According to Ross Janssen, Chief Meteorologist for Storm Team 12 in Wichita, the precipitation in Dodge City last month was 0.02 inches, tying the 1909 record for the driest April on record.

What’s even worse than a continuing multiyear drought is the loss of hope being felt throughout central and southern Kansas for a crop that, in January and February, was one of the better-looking wheat crops they’d seen in the past ten years.

The condition of the crop has been deteriorating rapidly, especially over the past few weeks, going from 57 percent good to excellent on February 25 to only 31 percent good to excellent by April 28, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

It has suffered from lack of moisture for much of the growing season, especially during the spring green-up. The Kansas wheat crop is also ahead of schedule, with one-third already headed, well ahead of 9 percent last year and 6 percent average. A March 26-27 freeze event took a toll on it, as there was not enough snow cover, and the plants were more advanced than they typically are at the end of March.