INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The 2024 winter wheat yield in Indiana didn’t break last year’s record but is still the second highest in the state’s history.

Indiana winter wheat yields this year averaged 89 bushels per acre, which was three bushels per acre down from 2023, according to the Great Lakes Region of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) under USDA.

Phil Brown, owner of Midwest Wheat Consultants, said the primary reason for winter wheat’s recent outstanding performance in Indiana is cooler weather the past two years during the late grain fill period from May to June.

Brown said grain stops filling the heads on wheat for good during the season if temperatures reach at least 86 degrees for three consecutive days. He said the average grain fill period in Indiana this year was 19 days or two fewer days than last year, which makes a major difference in production.

Brown said cooler weather is why yields per acre of wheat are typically 165 to 175 bushels per acre in states like North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming where during the late grain fill period “it never gets hot.”

In Indiana, he said wheat growers each year rely on having at least a 12 to 15 day grain fill period.

“If it’s under 86 degrees for 15, 16, 17 days, that’s 20 percent more grain fill,” he said.

According to NASS, the 21.4 million bushels of winter wheat harvested in Indiana this year was 31 percent less than 2023 when the number of acres harvested was 335,000 compared to 240,000 in 2024, according to NASS.

The higher number of acres harvested in 2023 might have something to do with farmers attempting to take advantage of wheat prices soaring in response to a squeeze on worldwide supplies after Russia started the war with Ukraine. Wheat is a dominant crop in Ukraine, which had major disruptions in exporting its crop. 

Two years ago, Mark Parkman of Westville said he received about $11 per bushel for some of the wheat in the 600 acres he planted. Parkman said he planted about half as much wheat the following year, though, after prices began falling and reached as low as $5 per bushel. He said prices have since rebounded to about $6 per bushel.

He anticipates planting even fewer acres of winter wheat to harvest next year unless per bushel prices suddenly increase by another $1 in the coming weeks. “Right now, the prices are so bad it’s hardly worth growing,” he said. 

Brown said the rise in wheat yields per bushel also reflects a growing trend of best management practices being utilized in more of the fields. Brown said a good yield for wheat in Indiana was once about 50 bushels per acre at a time when most growers applied fertilizer just once and did nothing else to help the crop.

“When I first started farming 30 years ago, 35 years ago, if you got 45 bushels per acre you were doing good,” said farmer Jeff Mitzner of Wanatah.

He raises wheat along with corn, soybeans and beef cattle. 

Mitzner also credits better genetics in the seed and irrigation for the more consistent higher per acre yields. 

Brown said more farmers are also discovering how their bottom lines can be improved significantly from planting soybeans in the just harvested fields of winter wheat. He said winter wheat holds in moisture in the soil that helps freshly planted soybeans get off to a fast start.

In addition, wheat harvested in July has very long roots that put nutrients through decay back deep into the soil.

Brown said the late planted soybeans can still be ready for harvest in October, providing farmers with two crops from the same field and more profit than just a single crop of wheat, corn and soybeans.

“Wheat alone is competitive and good for rotation and all of the stuff but wheat double cropped beans is usually the number one crop on the farm,” he said.

Mitzner plants his soybeans in his wheat before the wheat is harvested to minimize the risk of planting his soybeans too late.

He can then harvest the wheat above the emerging soybeans without damaging the new plants.