California's 2011 Durum wheat harvested acreage is estimated at 145,000 acres. The yield is forecast to be 3.30 tons per acre, resulting in total production of 479,000 tons. Durum wheat progressed well throughout the growing season. Cooler weather was seen in the Durum growing areas, but this did not have a negative impact on the crop. Harvest of Durum wheat was underway in Southern California. No significant disease or pest pressure was reported.
California's wheat other than Durum harvested acreage is estimated at 460 thousand acres for 2011. The forecast yield is 2.40 tons per acre, bringing the total production to 1.1 million tons. The wheat growing season in California has been characterized by cooler weather in addition to above average rainfall.
Growers in southern California have started harvesting. The cooler weather has set harvest slightly behind normal. The next production forecast will be issued July 12, 2011.
Field Report / Khaled Bali, Farm Advisor Imperial County:
Wheat harvesting in the Imperial Valley started around the second week of May and is still going on. UCCE mini-grant plots at UC Desert Research & Extension Center were harvested on May 18, 2011. Yield varied from 3.08 tons/ac to 4.50 tons/ac (average 3.79 tons/ac with average moisture of 7.6%). Protein levels varied from 13.61 to 15.68 (average 14.39%).
Field Report / Steve Wright, Farm Advisor Tulare and Kings County:
Currently most of the wheat and triticale silage has been harvested and I am hearing of average to above average yields. Harvest was set back 7-10 days. Wheat for grain is drying down slowly which should result in high grain yields for the San Joaquin Valley. The big unknown will be the impact on yield on stripe rust infected varieties and protein content on all varieties. (Comments sent 6/3/11)
Field Report / Kent Brittan, County Director and Farm Advisor for Yolo, Solano and Sacramento counties:
We had good turnout at our recent field days, particularly in the Delta and the Montezuma Hills. The cool, wet spring created perfect disease conditions so local growers had a lot of questions about rust and septoria this year. Now we are finally getting the hot weather we need for harvest, which should begin in the next 1-2 weeks.
Field Report / Steve Orloff, Farm Advisor /County Director Siskiyou County:
As with the rest of California, the intermountain area has experienced an abnormally cool and wet spring. The weather conditions delayed planting of spring wheat but nearly all fields have been planted by now. Most stands look good but some have variable emergence due to only partial emergence from soil moisture and full emergence after irrigation. The winter wheat fields (planted last fall) look very good overall but some fields have some yellowing from too much standing water.
Project update:
The mini-grant projects are progressing but there is really nothing real exciting to report yet. Regarding the nitrogen fertilization for grain yield and protein project, we established three field trials: one at the West Side Field Station in Fresno County, one in Scott Valley in Siskiyou County and one at the Intermountain Research and Extension Center in the Klamath Basin. All the fertilizer applications at the different timings were made at the Fresno County site. There are no visible differences in appearance due to the treatments (color, plant height or overall appearance) but pending yield and protein measurements will tell the full story. The intermountain sites have both been planted and received the preplant N application, and the tillering application at the Scott Valley site. Both these trials have unfertilized control plots with no preplant N and there is already a visible difference in these plots.
European Union Durum Team to Visit California and Arizona
Next week, the California Wheat Commission and Arizona Grain Promotion Council will host a group of millers, traders and representatives of pasta manufacturing companies from the European Union (EU). Organized by U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) the group is traveling to the United States to familiarize themselves with the marketing system for U.S. durum - from field to storage to milling and pasta manufacturing. Team members will meet with growers, researchers, traders and others in the wheat industry.
Members of the team are from Germany, Belgium, Italy and Spain and represent some of the largest durum mills, pasta plants and trading companies in the region. The milling companies represented grind more than 40 million bushels of durum each year. The four countries combined import about 13 million bushels of U.S. durum each year.
"Europe is a strong market for our high quality Desert Durum® and, with another good harvest just concluding, we look forward to discussing ways to expand our business relationships," said Brawley, CA, durum producer Roy Motter, who is vice chairman of the California Wheat Commission.
"Arizona's durum industry is part of a unique, identity-preserved high quality durum development and production niche in the southwestern United States," said Al Simons, executive director of the Arizona Grain Research and Promotion Council. "Arizona's Desert Durum® breeders, growers and handlers are looking forward to demonstrating the value of our crop."
While the focus of the visit is on education and gaining important contacts in the industry, the group will also be very interested in the progress of the 2011 crop. The group is also visiting North Dakota and Montana.
USW is the industry's market development organization working in more than 100 countries on behalf of America's wheat producers. The activities of USW are made possible by producer checkoff dollars managed by 19 state wheat commissions and through cost-share funding provided by USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. For more information, visit www.uswheat.org.
New Commission Website Launched
We invite you to visit our new website and let us know what you think. Original, updated, and new information has been incorporated into the newly designed site, which is organized by 3 main target audiences: Growers, Industry, and Consumers. This major project has been managed by Cymantha Fredrickson, Assistant Director.
