Day 9, Kansas Wheat Harvest Report

This is day 9 of the Kansas Wheat Harvest Reports, brought to you by the Kansas Wheat Commission, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, Kansas Grain and Feed Association and the Kansas Cooperative Council.

Kansas wheat farmers have been facing a challenging wheat harvest due to persistent rains on mature wheat. While test weights have suffered because of this, the 2025 crop has shown stronger yields than the past three drought-stricken years.

Officially, the Kansas wheat harvest is 82 percent complete, behind 90 percent complete last year but ahead of 77 percent average, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service crop progress report for the week ending July 6, 2025. 

Josh Debes, a wheat farmer in northern Barton County, is among those still navigating the final stretch of harvest. Rainfall over the past week has forced Debes to chase dry fields across the county in hopes of finishing before another rain delay sets in. His wheat crop, already stressed by drought and a high incidence of wheat streak mosaic virus, is now facing quality declines due to the rain.

“We started with test weights at 60 pounds per bushel on our better fields,” Debes said. “But test weights have dropped since the wheat has been rained on.” Equally stressful has been a constant stream of equipment breakdowns that have kept one or both combines out of fields when Mother Nature has opened up a window for cutting.

Despite the setbacks, Debes expects to harvest  more bushels this year than in either of the past two years, when extreme drought nearly wiped out his wheat entirely. “Morale is low, but at least we’ve got bushels to sell to cover the costs of getting this fall’s sorghum crop in the ground,” he added.

Jeff Boyd, CEO of Garden City Coop, reported that wheat harvest in their trade territory is 90 to 95 percent complete. Rains over the holiday weekend have slowed progress, and it may be another two days before combines can roll again in Finney County. Recent storms have also caused lodging in some fields. 

Harvest began June 14 at their Hooker, Oklahoma, location. Boyd noted that test weights are averaging around 59 pounds per bushel, and protein levels are coming in at 11.8 percent. Overall, Boyd expects an average to above-average crop in terms of total bushels, with quality landing around average. Yields have ranged widely from the 30s to the 80s, with some of the strongest wheat coming from Finney and Lane counties. Yields have tended to decrease further north. The wheat streak mosaic virus complex has impacted yields and test weights in certain areas, while unusually high humidity has caused threshing issues with some varieties.

In Atchison County, Jay Armstrong wrapped up his Soft Red Winter wheat harvest on July 2 with a farm-wide average of 119 bushels per acre. Only 4.2% of wheat grown in Kansas is SRW, according to USDA/NASS’s winter wheat variety survey for 2025. While Armstrong reported good — but not exceptional — quality and test weights, the biggest challenge this season was getting the crop out between frequent rain delays. His harvested acres have already been planted to doublecrop soybeans.

The 2025 Harvest Report is brought to you by the Kansas Wheat Commission, Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, Kansas Grain and Feed Association and the Kansas Cooperative Council. To follow along with harvest updates on social media, use #wheatharvest25. Tag us at @kansaswheat to share your harvest story and photos.