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<\/p>\nYields for bushels of wheat in Lebanon County are expected to be average to below average this year, according to crop tests conducted by agricultural officials on two area farms on Wednesday, June 10.<\/p>\n
On a positive note, the quality of the yield, however, appears to have the potential to be a bright spot for the 2026 harvest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While there\u2019s still time for the yield figures to change with the harvest still a few weeks away, the tour of fields in Lebanon, Berks, and Lancaster counties gives a snapshot of the expected harvest for the region, according to agricultural officials with Penn State Cooperative Extension from several counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An army of cooperative extension agents and representatives from agribusiness, including Snavely\u2019s Mill in Lititz, were gathering data to estimate the harvest for this growing season. Wheat is harvested near the end of June\/early July in the Lebanon Valley, according to Bethel Township farmer John Light, who was the participant at the northern end of the county.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019re gonna estimate the number of spikelets on the head and then the number of seeds per spikelet,\u201d said Del Voight, extension agronomy agent for Lebanon County. \u201cIt\u2019s a physical process, so we\u2019re getting the number of spikelets, the number of seeds per spikelet, and the number of heads per acre. And then we know through a calculation that\u2019ll convert that to seeds per acre, and then we can estimate a bushel based on how many seeds per bushel there is.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\t\tCooperative extension agents and other ag officials split into three teams and count wheat spikelets, which resemble pods, at the John Light farm in Bethel Township during the 2026 wheat tour of farms in Lebanon, Berks, and Lancaster counties.<\/p>\n
Heidi Reed, agronomy agent for Lancaster County, gave an assessment from the two fields visited in Lebanon County.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo yield seems to be, I think, a little bit below average. Part of that, I think, is because maybe people were being a little more cautious about inputs potentially, And I don\u2019t have all the details top of mind for those fields,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n
Other factors are potentially lowering projected yields, she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut also we were so very dry early in the spring like around, you know, when the wheat would have been tillering and jointing. And so I think that has limited our yield potential,\u201d Reed said. \u201cIn terms of quality, it\u2019s much, much better than last year. Last year was horrible for a head scab of wheat or Vom (Vomitoxin), which is what the millers call it. So the millers should be happy, I think, with the quality, but the farmers might not be so pleased with the quantity coming off the field. But it looks like average quality, maybe average yield or slightly below average.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fluctuating spring weather \u2013 which has reportedly also devastated crops like apples across the region \u2013 also negatively impacted the wheat during the growing season.<\/p>\n
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\t\tWheat spikelets are the fundamental structure to the plant. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey were mentioning that one frost that came in. We had a frost early in April and then it got really hot and then on April 19th, another drop in temperatures. So right when that crop was starting to come out could have affected a little bit \u2013 at least the development of the spikelets.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A wheat spikelet is the fundamental structural and reproductive unit of the wheat head.<\/p>\n
While in the fields, agents act like detectives, looking for clues that will help them determine the overall health of the plant. Observation of the plant itself is also an indicator, and that information is written down to be shared to have a record for this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The discussions get very technical, very scientific as they observe the plants and take notes. Here is a brief snippet of one of many conversations to occur in the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s blotch.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blotch?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. The bloom blotch.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen is this kind of like, also, net (blotch) or more like a headscarf?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the net blotch. Because a lot of these, I think, came from, you know, the powder and mildew or the saporous stuff.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, and then that jumps up. But I don\u2019t see the\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had some that were cut off, we saw some yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aphids, the bane of any farmer\u2019s existence, were also discussed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found some aphids, but we also found some lady beetles eating the aphids, so the natural enemies (of aphids) are out here,\u201d said Voight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was also mention of a plant predator that slices the stems in half.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAn army worm should do that. We saw that in every field yesterday, just random plants here and there,\u201d said Voight. \u201cYou\u2019ll know if you have them. They usually cut the heads all off. They climb off the stalk and do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\t\tHelen Sleat, agronomy research assistant with Penn State Cooperative Extension, left, and Cady Snavely of Snavely\u2019s Mill, Lititz, count and calculate wheat spikelets during a wheat tour at the Glenn Krall farm near Cornwall.<\/p>\n
Voight told a story from years ago of a York County extension agent who dealt with the ravenous insect with a local producer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHis windows were open at night and he could hear this chomping. When he went out it was army worms, clipping off every head in his barley (field). He has pictures of it. It\u2019s like an invasion,\u201d Voight related to the assembled group.<\/p>\n
Voight told LebTown that the tour, now believed to be in its 15th year, comes at the request of flour producers like Snavely\u2019s Mill.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re one of the big buyers in the area,\u201d Voight said, \u201cand it (the harvest) has to meet their milling standards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snavely\u2019s employee Christian Andersen said they sell flour to mostly the snack food industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do a lot of pretzels, but we ship to cookie manufacturers, candy manufacturers, bread manufacturers, people that do pre-mixes and ship it all over the world,\u201d said Andersen about the flour purchased regionally, including from Lebanon County producers. He has a dual role as a transportation manager and future wheat buyer, he noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\t\tGroups cover a wide swath of land to get better potential yield total counts when calculating possible yield totals during the annual wheat tour of farms in Lebanon, Berks and Lancaster counties.<\/p>\n
John Light, whose test farm is in the 700 block of North Lancaster Street, Jonestown, and was the first to be sampled in Lebanon County, estimated his harvest might be 80 bushels per acre.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When that estimate was set at 79 bushels, based on samples from three different areas of the field, Lebtown asked why he would participate in the study when he already had a good idea of what his yield would be.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve known Del for a long time, and it\u2019s more about trying to learn something (new),\u201d Light said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have as many sets of eyes as they do. And\u00a0like I said, I\u2019m no expert. They are.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other Lebanon County farm visited was the Glenn Krall operation in the 200 block of Tice Lane in Cornwall Borough. Voight said the agents were visiting farms in the northern and southern sections of Lebanon County and in three counties altogether to gauge several factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to catch different climate types,\u201d Voight said. \u201cSo the climate here (south side) is different than when we were at Lights and then northern Berks is different with the mountains and valleys there. And then Lancaster is completely different too.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\t\tExtension agents Del Voight and Helen Sleat examine the total plant, from stem to spikelet, to ascertain the health of the wheat prior to harvest, which occurs in the Lebanon Valley around the end of June through the first week or so in July.<\/p>\n
Questions about this story? Suggestions for a future LebTown article? Reach our newsroom using this contact form and we\u2019ll do our best to get back to you.<\/p>\n
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Already a member? Log in here to hide these messages<\/a><\/p>\n You know us because we live here too. LebTown\u2019s credibility comes from showing up, listening, and reporting on Lebanon County with care and accuracy. Support your neighbors in the newsroom with a monthly<\/a> or annual<\/a> membership, or make a one-time contribution<\/a>. Cancel anytime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yields for bushels of wheat in Lebanon County are expected to be average to below average this year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[3108,93,51892,51893,2615,37794,51894,51895],"class_list":["post-166135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lebanon","tag-featured","tag-lebanon","tag-lebanon-county-extension","tag-lebanon-county-farms","tag-shareimmediately","tag-wheat-harvest","tag-wheat-tour-2026","tag-wheat-yields"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116770815868276508","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}