Aside from some late durum wheat in north central North Dakota that is still ripening, much of the wheat in North Dakota not harvested before the early September rains, particularly south of Highway 200, will suffer from sprout damage and lower quality, says Michael Peel, NDSU extension small grains specialist.
Some sprouts are already evident in standing wheat.
Peel says he heard one report of a wheat producer in the Logan County area who was only offered a sample grade price for sprout damaged wheat. Peel and other crop scientists at NDSU are hoping to quantify how different red and white, hard and soft wheats are affected by sprout damage, in a controlled research environment. But the deluge will make it more difficult to make study conclusions. States Cooperatives, St. Paul, MN., two producer-owned cooperatives, have approved the terms of a consolidation, as proposed in May, that will unite the two cooperatives into a new company called United Country Brands. The combined boards of directors met in Denver, Colo., Sept. 7 and 8, and will meet again on Sept. 22 to approve and sign the formal documents that will enable the cooperatives present the consolidation to their memberships for final approval.