Upbeat assessment on Kansas wheat harvest

Preliminary data offers a mostly upbeat assessment of the quality of this year’s winter wheat harvest in Kansas.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service and the Kansas Grain Inspection Service released on Friday its annual wheat quality report.

Some 13,780 samples from 48 Kansas counties showed an average test weight of 61 pounds per bushel. That is slightly better than last year’s crop. The 10-year average is 60.8 pounds per bushel.

The report says 77% of samples received its top quality grading, up from 71% a year ago.

Wheat having high protein levels typically gets better prices, and on that measure the Kansas crop this year fell short compared to previous harvests.

Protein content averaged 11.5% in Kansas. That is below the state’s 10-year average of 12.2%.