By: David Van Sanford

I began to travel west from Lexington to look at the small grains plots and fields in early April. After a very warm March, crop development was well ahead of normal until the hard freeze in the middle of the month damaged some early barley and wheat varieties. Undaunted, our crew applied extra nitrogen fertilizer to wheat breeding lines and varieties at heading to boost grain protein and hopefully increase gluten strength. Winter was not done with us though: a severe freeze in early May led to many empty wheat heads in plots and farmers’ fields in the central part of the state, where temperatures as low as 27 degrees were recorded. Wheat, barley and rye plants show remarkable resilience though; late tillers are filling grain as we speak. We anticipate having wheat, barley and rye grain to share with bakers, maltsters and distillers to measure end use quality and potential value to the local grain economy.

See pictures below: