March 28, 2024

Another strong year of ‘I’ wheat

WASHINGTON — Illinois matched last year’s record average wheat yield at 79 bushels per acre in 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported in its small grains summary Sept. 30.

The Prairie State had 650,000 planted acres and 560,000 harvest wheat acres for a total production of 44.24 million bushels.

Indiana’s average wheat yield was 4 bushels below last year’s record to 81 bushels per acre. The state had 290,000 planted acres and 240,000 harvested acres for a total production of 19.44 million bushels.

Nationwide

U.S. winter wheat production for 2022 totaled 1.10 billion bushels, down 14% from the 2021 total of 1.28 billion bushels.

The nation averaged 47 bushels per acre, 3.2 bushels lower than 2021. Area harvested for grain was estimated at 23.5 million acres, down 8% from the previous year.

The U.S. all wheat production totaled 1.65 billion bushels in 2022, up less than 1% from the 2021 total of 1.65 billion bushels.

All wheat area harvested for grain totaled 35.5 million acres, 4% below the previous year. The U.S. all wheat yield was estimated at 46.5 bushels per acre, up 2.2 bushels from the previous year.

Tom Doran

Tom C. Doran

Field Editor