Heavy snow threatens wheat crop in US state
Print Edition
A blanket of heavy, wet snow covering most of North Dakota, the top United States wheat state, threatens to delay planting of spring wheat in another blow to a US farm belt already facing billions of dollars in damage from flooding.
Farmers from Missouri to South Dakota have seen their corn and soybean fields flooded by swollen rivers as winter snow melts, a sign of what may be in store for North Dakota when temperatures warm.
鈥淗ow quickly the flooding and devastation came to Nebraska and Iowa was an eye-opener, especially for our producers who are close to rivers,鈥 said Jim Peterson, marketing director for the North Dakota Wheat Commission.
Farmers in the world鈥檚 No. 2 wheat exporter planted the fewest acres to winter wheat in 110 years, hampered by rainy conditions. Now heavy snow is threatening the seeding of spring wheat, which represents up to a third of total US wheat production each year.
Planting of spring wheat, a high-protein class of wheat that is often blended with lesser grades of grain to improve milling quality for breads and pizza dough, typically begins in April in North Dakota.
But soils still frozen in some areas to a depth of 150 centimeters, and deep snow that threatens to melt and flood the Red River Valley, in eastern North Dakota, are likely to delay seeding. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration this week named the Red River basin among the US areas at greatest risk of major flooding this spring.
Spring wheat can still yield well if planted late, but farmers prefer to seed it early, ahead of corn and soybeans, to cut the summer heat stress risk.
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