This Year’s Wheat Crop Could Be the Worst In Oklahoma’s History

  • Logan Layden
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luke chan / Flickr

Parts of southwest Oklahoma are in their fourth year of drought, and the panhandle isn’t faring much better. Combine that with a late freeze in April, and it could spell the worst wheat harvest in the state’s history.

The Oklahoman‘s Brianna Bailey interviewed a Tillman County farmer who thinks less than 10 percent of this year’s crop will end up being harvested:

In 35 years of farming, Cassidy said this year’s wheat crop is one of the poorest he has ever seen.

“I thought that last year was the worst year. I thought that that was as bad as it could get, until this year,” said Cassidy, who also co-owns a grain elevator with his brother in Frederick.

Joe Neal Hampton, president and CEO of the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association, told the paper he’s never seen a worse wheat crop in his 43 years of experience.

The Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association projected at its annual meeting Wednesday that Oklahoma’s wheat harvest would be about 66.5 million bushels this year. The estimate is based on reports on crop conditions from farmers around the state. That compares to a yield of 105.4 million bushels in 2013, and a 154.8 million bushels in 2012.