Editor’s note: From May 31 through harvest Farm Progress is tracking crop conditions in Missouri and Kansas. Check back every Friday for the latest or follow along the #Grow24 journey on Facebook and Twitter.

The heat is on in Kansas and Missouri making for a hot wheat harvest but bringing needed growing degree units to corn.

Amazing! That is the word Kansas farmer Alex Noll, used to describe the transition from wheat to planting his double-crop soybeans.

Noll began and wrapped harvest on his wheat acres this week at his Jefferson County farm. That is a full two weeks early, he notes. 

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Alex Noll harvest wheat under sunny skies in northeast Kansas. He reports excellent yields for the 2024 crop. Photo by Alex Noll

He started on wheat Monday night. “We cut and run it through the dryer, switched over to plant beans and finished at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning,” he says. “By that night we had 1.2 inches of rain.”

It was just the right amount of rain at the right time, he adds.

Missouri waits on wheat

North-central Missouri farmer, Renee Fordyce was excited that first cutting hay was mowed and put up without getting wet.

She says that for farmers in the area during this time of year, getting hay harvested and out of the field in a timely manner is a challenge. But the dry weather made conditions ideal in 2024.

When it comes to corn, the heat is helping their strip till acres to take off. “It is looking great,” she says.

Related:Farmers head to fields after rain delays

Fordyce is a little behind her Kansas counterpart when it comes to wheat harvest. It is roughly a week away, she notes.

NEW HEIGHTS: A little rain shower and plenty of heat is pushing corn well above knee-high at Renee Fordyce’s farm in north-central Missouri, and its not even the 4th of July. Photo by Renee Fordyce

“We received a nice, easy 7/10 of an inch of rain Wednesday,” Fordyce adds, “which was a blessing to break the heat.”

National crop insights

Feedback from the Field by Farm Futures is an open-sourced, ongoing farmer survey of current crops and weather conditions across the Heartland.

If you would like to participate at any time throughout the growing season, click this link to take the survey and share updates about your farm’s spring progress. These are reviewed and uploaded to the FFTF Google MyMap, so you can see others’ responses from your own state or around the country.

Crop conditions

USDA-NASS crop condition report (as of June 17)

Kansas:

Missouri:

Want to know how these weather and crop reports may impact markets? Check out the Morning Market Review.

Related:Severe weather plagues Midwest farmers