Tribune ? Farmers in western Kansas are reporting a bin-buster harvest as they expect one of the best crops in years.

As prices have remained at some of the highest harvest-time levels, Pat Peterson said no farmers are complaining with the extra loads.

“Most every bin in the county and every elevator should be full,” said Peterson, general manager of United Plains Ag, which has a location in Tribune. “Everyone I’ve talked to says this is one of the best crops they’ve seen, for the bushels and the dollars.”

This comes after a multiyear drought that had hurt the wheat harvest. Piles are growing across western Kansas as farmers bring in some of the best wheat in a decade.

Total capacity at the cooperative’s five locations is around 7.1 million bushels, Peterson said. The last time the cooperative had wheat on the ground was in 1999.

“I can tell you we are nearly jam-packed,” he said. “These are the problems we love to have.”

The next challenge will be emptying the elevators before fall harvest, which has the makings of a bumper crop as well, said Gary Friesen, general manager for Scott Cooperative.

For Garden City Co-op, this wheat harvest will rank in the top three, said John McClelland, general manager of the southwest Kansas cooperative. Its best harvest came in 1999.

The company’s Ulysses location, however, could see a record breaker this year.

“We’re having an absolutely great harvest,” McClelland said. “It’s resulting in a great economy.”

Still, he noted the elevator probably would take in 20 percent to 25 percent more wheat this year than the 10-year average. But despite the high yields, low protein plagues some of the wheat crop, Peterson said.

While western Kansas fields are yielding 40 to 70 bushels an acre, wheat farmers in many other areas of the state are having a year to forget.

In Douglas County, early hopes for a bumper crop were shattered when an arctic blast hit the region in April.

As of Tuesday, the area’s wheat harvest is nearly finished, said Bill Wood, the county’s agriculture agent for K-State Research and Extension. Yields have ranged from 10 to 35 bushels an acre, he said, with many producers seeing results in the 20s. Douglas County fields typically produce an average of more than 40 bushels an acre.

Loads arriving at the Baldwin Feed Co. have test weights from 45 to 55 pounds a bushel, said Steve Wilson, owner and manager. The standard for high-quality wheat is 60 pounds a bushel.

Farmers in south-central Kansas call the wheat harvest one of the worst ever.

According to the Kansas Wheat Commission, south-central Kansas farmers, plagued by rain for the past week, still are trying to get the crop binned.