Wichita ? The start of the Kansas wheat harvest may be just days away in southern Kansas, with 22 percent of the crop statewide now turning color, the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service said Tuesday.

The first place combines will likely roll is in south-central Kansas, where already at least one farmer has brought in a wheat sample for testing to the Kiowa grain elevator.

Had it not rained Tuesday, that field would have been ready to cut Wednesday, said Alan Meyers, manager of the OK Co-op Grain in Kiowa.

Harvest around the Kiowa area could now start as soon as Friday or Saturday, assuming the rest of the week is dry, Meyers said.

About 71 percent of the wheat in south-central Kansas has turned color, KASS reported in its weekly crop weather update.

Meyers is anticipating an average or slightly better harvest.

“It could be better, but it could be a whole lot worse,” he said.

It is a sentiment shared by elevator operators and farmers across the state – many of whom had prepared for what had looked like a bumper harvest just a month ago. But late spring freezes, little rain and an infestation of stripe rust have all since taken a toll.

“Most thought we would have a bin-buster harvest this year early on, but as we get closer to the actual harvesting of the wheat there are those that think it is going to be a much smaller harvest,” said Tom Tunnell, executive director of the Kansas Grain and Feed Assn.

Preparations for that expected bountiful harvest began months ago – elevators emptied out grain bins and prepared for ground storage of the anticipated overflow.

“Now it looks like they wouldn’t need that much space,” Tunnell said.

The latest wheat condition update issued Tuesday by KASS documents the deteriorating crop. About 19 percent of the state’s wheat crop is now rated in poor to very poor condition.

Another 40 percent ranked as fair, with 35 percent rated as good and 6 percent as excellent.

Everyone is anxiously awaiting the Agriculture Department’s release on June 9 of the production forecast for Kansas, said Justin Gilpin, project coordinator for the Kansas Wheat Commission.

In its first official production forecast of the season, KASS predicted in May that the Kansas winter wheat crop would top last year’s harvest by 34 percent. Its forecast of 422.4 million bushels was based on crop conditions on May 1.