09/26/05 Idaho growers have good wheat harvest

Idaho farmers are bringing in the wheat crop and from all reports it's going to be a very good harvest. Last year the wheat crops in Idaho were worth 332 million dollars, second only to potatoes. Dryland farmer Hans Hayden just finished cutting his wheat south of Pocatello. HAYDEN "We had a wonderful winter wheat crop and the spring wheat crop was about average or a little below. The winter wheat crop with all the rain we had we ended up with the highest yield that we're ever had." Like 80 bushels per acre on average with 100 bushels not uncommon. He's not alone. Boyd Schwieder farms near Idaho Falls, both dryland and irrigated wheat. SCHWIEDER "My irrigated of course is about average. This spring we had timely rains and cool weather and the wheat had a chance to mature and stool out like it's supposed to. So it provided us with a good crop this year." In the north where most of the crop will go to the export market it's a similar story says Grangeville's Jim McDonald. MCDONALD "A little bit above average, in some areas 25 percent above average. We had some hailstorms that kind of wiped out some areas but overall the production is higher than it has been in the past. The quality is exceptionally good; test weight is very, very good." Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott