2023 sees hot, dry harvest in the area

Jul. 30—A small platoon of heavy machinery mobilized north of Grangeville last week, launching an assault on fields of ripened winter wheat, also known as the annual grain harvest.

The machines — four red combines and two monstrous trucks — advanced around a large plateau in a synchronized parade, leaving behind a corduroy pattern of yellow wheat stubble. Within a few weeks — with any luck — most of this part of the Camas Prairie will be swathed clean and the grain will be in the bins.

Harvest on the Prairie and the Palouse is just getting underway, while down in the lower elevations of north central Idaho and southeastern Washington wheat harvest is about halfway complete.

Mark Heitstuman, Washington State University extension educator at Asotin County, said the ongoing drought is bound to have an effect on this year's wheat yields but it's too early to make a prediction.

"Harvest is definitely going and the dry weather is going to affect yields, but I don't have a good sense of that yet," Heitstuman said. "It's probably going to be an average year."

Doug Finkelnburg, University of Idaho-Nez Perce County extension educator, said earlier that yields in the Lewiston-Clarkston area are about 20% below average because of drought. The area experienced several days of triple-digit weather earlier this month, just as the harvest was getting started. That's expected to also take a toll on the spring crops that rely on late spring to early summer moisture to thrive.

Audra Cochran, the UI extension educator in Lewis County, said the dry weather has helped farmers get a bit of an early start in the higher elevations. Harvest just got going last week, so it's too early to judge the quality of the crop, she said.

"It's pretty hit and miss," Cochran said. "Nezperce looks pretty good on the Prairie but Craigmont and Winchester don't look as good. Without having any yield data it's hard to say how it's going to shake out across the region. The unusual seasonality of the weather has really had an impact on what the crops are going to look like."

High temperatures and the lack of consistent moisture has affected a variety of crops in the Pacific Northwest, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported. Forage crops have had little re-growth and in some areas cattle have been turned out to graze fields that should have had a second cutting of hay. In central Washington growers have started the peach harvest and late-maturing sweet cherries have passed through the packing houses.

Pear growers moved bins into orchards to prepare for the Bartlett harvest and locally grown cucumbers, summer squashes, peppers, sweet corn and melons are appearing at farmers markets and roadside stands.

Cochran said the bluegrass harvest on the Prairie was a little lighter than normal this year because of the heat and lack of rain in May.

Some Camas Prairie farmers have put in garbanzo fields this year. That's a crop that is more common to see on the Palouse.

Heitstuman called garbanzos "the legume of choice" because of its popularity in Mediterranean dishes such as hummus and salad bars.

Garbanzo beans "have a good root system and will pull up some of that nitrogen (from deep in the soil) and will fix nitrogen on their own," Heitstuman said.

Farmers usually follow a garbanzo crop with a wheat crop to benefit from that nitrogen-rich soil. And, at 35 cents a bushel, Heitstuman added, garbanzos are more profitable than lentils or peas, which are also nitrogen-adding plants.

The U.S. Drought Monitor has upgraded all of northern Idaho and southeastern Washington in the moderate drought range. That outlook is expected to persist for the time being, the monitor reported.

Although rain would have been appreciated earlier in the season, now is not the time to make up for past lapses, Cochran said.

"Even though we saw a little bit of rain up here (last Monday night), which is good for the fire season," she said, "it's not so good for harvest. I think farmers are hoping for a quick and easy harvest with minimal breakdowns."

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.