A wet fall and some late frost are to blame for a smaller wheat harvest this year in the Lawrence region.

A combine races an approaching storm this week on the outskirts of Hays. Severe weather in western Kansas has many farmers worried about the wheat harvest. Farmers in east-central Kansas also are expecting smaller harvests because of wet weather.

“It’s not going to be a very big harvest,” said Verlyn Gilges of Baldwin Feed Co. “A lot less acreage was planted this year because of the wet fall last year.”

Statewide, the wheat crop is projected to be 22 percent larger than last year’s harvest. But east-central Kansas, which includes Douglas County, will have a smaller harvest this year compared with past years.

East-central Kansas is projected to produce 8.7 million bushels this year, according to the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service. Last year, the same part of the state produced 11.35 million bushels, said Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service director Eldon Thiessen.

“Most likely, we would have seen a few more acres had it not been so damp in the fall,” Thiessen said.

He added that the late frost in the area didn’t help.

Gilges agreed that the frost was hard on this year’s wheat crop, and said it forced some farmers to pull out their wheat and use it for hay or plant milo and soybeans in its place.

The wheat harvest is expected to kick into gear in this region next week, Gilges said, but one farmer did bring in part of his harvest Thursday.

• Rains may not damage harvest (06-13-05)

Chris Hetherington, elevator manager for Ottawa Co-op Assn., said he had run one sample and expected more wheat next week.

Thiessen said 23 percent of the wheat crop was ripe earlier this week. That’s low compared with 58 percent last year and the average of 37 percent at this time of the year.

Just 1 percent of the wheat was ready for harvest in east-central Kansas as of Monday, he said.