Disease, lack of rainfall take toll on crop yields

With most of the grain harvest complete and in grain bins, farmers are now moving on to garbanzos, according to local farming agents.

Stephen Van Vleet, WSU Regional Extension Specialist, Associate Professor of Agricultural and Natural Resources, based in Colfax, said the spring wheat was surprisingly good in most areas of the county, getting average yields.

He said that about 60 percent of the crops were lost in areas that went through hail storms.

Winter wheat yields decreased 15 to 30 percent, mostly because of disease, Van Vleet said.

“Rotation made a huge difference this year,” he noted....