BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Mother Nature may wreak some havoc this fall with growers looking to get in their winter wheat crops.

Wheat ranks third in Illinois and Missouri behind the top row crops of corn and soybeans, but next spring’s wheat crop could take a hit now because of a late-beginning harvest – something rain across much of southern and central Illinois and Missouri the past weekend has delayed even more.

"Things are starting to look a bit dicey now, and we’ll start seeing some serious concerns with producers during the next two weeks, if conditions don’t change," said Kyle Brase, president of the Illinois Wheat Assoc. and a fifth-generation grower near Edwardsville.

Robert Bellm, a crop systems educator at the University of Illinois’ Brownstown Agronomy Research Center, noted timing is becoming critical. "A lot depends on where we’re at with bean harvest and field conditions," he said. "The bean crop tends to be lagging a bit in maturity, which delays harvest and pushes back wheat planting."

When corn and bean prices escalated into this decade, wheat seedings in Illinois declined significantly. From a high of about 1.2 million acres planted in 2007, wheat seedings nosedived to about 330,000 acres in 2009. That year also saw significantly late corn and bean harvests, and dozens of growers went without a winter wheat crop that year.

Last fall, growers planted approximately 750,000 acres of wheat, down from about 875,000 acres planted the fall before. Yields, however, are continuing to improve each year, Brase noted. This spring, wheat growers posted their second-best yield, at 67 bushels per acre.

Based on the latest USDA National Agricultural Statistics Survey report issued last week, wheat seedings are down significantly. Through Oct. 5, just 9 percent of the wheat crop has been planted, compared to the five-year average of 21 percent.

"We still have some time to go in the month, so I don’t think anyone is hitting the panic button yet, and keep in mind that wheat is one of the more manageable crops we have," Brase said.

"It also is a very forgiving crop. A producer who gets in late still has options in the spring of adding nitrogen to make things work fine."

Southern Illinois wheat producers usually plan for the second week in October as the best planting time, and most don’t want to plant wheat into November because of reduced chances to establish a good stand prior to winter dormancy.

"If it gets later than that, yield potential declines," Bellm explained. "A lot of farmers, if they haven’t planted by the end of October, probably will abandon plans to do so."