Wheat tour unveils strong 2024 crop in North Dakota

By Scout Nelson

An examination of hundreds of North Dakota wheat fields during this week’s annual three-day tour revealed a crop in overall good condition despite minor pest and disease pressure stemming from excessive rain.

The tour confirmed the crop most likely will be significantly larger than the drought-affected 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Based on 237 spring wheat field stops, scouts projected the 2024 North Dakota spring wheat crop at an average of 54.5 bushels per acre (bpa). This marks a 15% increase from the 47.4 bpa estimate from the 2023 tour and compares to 56 bpa in the USDA’s July 1 forecast.

The yield forecast based on 42 field stops in northeastern North Dakota on the tour’s final day was 61 bpa, compared to 50.6 bpa on the last day of the 2023 tour.

Reports from 10 cars of four scouts each, issued after the final, abbreviated day of field appraisals, echoed the findings of the previous two days. Wheat scab was the most discovered issue, though its presence was relatively small in most fields.

The estimated time until harvest is three to four weeks, with some fields potentially needing five to six weeks due to late planting.

Brian Walker of BW Consulting LLC moderated the tour’s daily discussions. “As a review of the goals when we set out on this tour four days ago,” he said, “we were looking to define the crop prospects as best we could, learn about agriculture generally and North Dakota specifically.

As always, it was amazing how everything looked across the many different crops in the fields. We also wanted to meet people from across the wheat and related industries, to network and to have some fun, which I think we did.”

The tour did not visit durum fields on day 3, as the concluding routes do not run through North Dakota’s prominent durum areas. Overall, the tour generated a durum wheat yield forecast of 45.3 bpa from 18 field stops, compared to 43.9 bpa in 2023.

The 2024 Hard Spring & Durum Wheat Tour was presented by the Wheat Quality Council. Dave Green, the executive vice president of the WQC, thanked Brian Walker of BW Consulting for leading the daily meetings and Rita Ott of General Mills for serving as the tour statistician.

Photo credit: gettyimages-ygrek