Winter Wheat Test Results for South Dakota, 2002

The winter wheat variety recommendations for 2003 are listed in table 1. Comments: The dominant issue facing South Dakota agriculture in the 2002 crop season was the lack of moisture in the fall of 2001 and the winter and spring of 2002. Limited moisture led to a large deficit in subsoil moisture in many cropping regions of the state. This in turn resulted in many acres of winter wheat and other small grains being harvested for hay. The average winter wheat yield in the South Dakota Crop Performance Testing (CPT) Program was 39 bu/A for year 2002 and 48 bu/A for the 3-year period (2000-2002). Compared to 2001, this was a drop of 7 bu/A in both the 1- and 3-year CPT yield averages.