RICHMOND—Grain buyers, mill representatives and Virginia Cooperative Extension staff got a firsthand look at Virginia’s wheat quality and yield potential during an annual spring tour on May 30.

Organized by Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, in partnership with Extension, this year’s tour participants visited 12 farms across the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. Buyers, end users and others in the industry reviewed wheat production practices, estimated yield quality, sampled test weights and checked for signs of disease.

This is the ninth year that Virginia fields were included in the multi-state Mid-Atlantic wheat tour, which also surveys farms in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Designed to offer stakeholders an idea of what to expect from this year’s crop to assist with purchasing and milling decisions, the tour also promotes relationships between buyers and farmers.

“We try to bring the industry people together, get the buyers out to the farms to see what they have the chance to buy, and show off all the good work our members have been doing since October,” said Robert Harper, VFBF grain division manager.

He noted that this year’s tour revealed adequate conditions and minimal disease. The yield is estimated to average 60-65 bushels per acre in the Middle Peninsula and 70-75 on the Northern Neck.

Projected yields are down from last year’s record-high ones because a vast majority of wheat farmers cut back on their acres this season while others left the market entirely due to lack of potential profitability—continuing a 30-year trend in Virginia.

“The surprising part was how dramatic the drop in acres was as producers responded to the low futures price and grappled with the difficulty of growing milling-quality wheat in Virginia,” Harper explained.

Last year, growers contended with excessive rainfall leading up to the June harvest, which resulted in lower-quality wheat—taking a “significant amount of price off the table.”

The tour showcases the costs and challenges associated with raising wheat as a “pat on the back” to growers.

“Our hope is that by doing our small part of bringing people together around the wheat crop, that maybe we can generate enthusiasm among the producers to keep producing it,” Harper added.

Virginia farmers expect to harvest 7.19 million bushels of winter wheat this year, according to the Virginia field office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service. That forecast represents a 33% decrease when compared to the 2023 harvest. Wheat growers seeded 155,000 acres last fall; 100,000 acres will be harvested for grain, and the other 55,000 acres will be used as cover crop or will be cut for silage or hay.

Media: Contact Harper at 804-290-1105.