(Indianapolis, IN) - The 2024 winter wheat yield in Indiana didn’t break last year’s record but is 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 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.

 

“That’s the simplest way to explain it,” he said.

 

Brown, a wheat growing expert from between Indianapolis and Ft. Wayne, 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.