Area wheat farmers fared much better this year than growers across much of the rest of Kansas, which just had one of its worst wheat harvests on record.

Douglas County wheat farmers had crops in the 50- to 60-bushel-per-acre range, said Steve Wilson, of Baldwin Feed Co. in Baldwin City. He called that an “above-average” harvest for the area.

“You don’t have to go too far west to get away from the good wheat, though,” he added.

Douglas County wasn’t plagued by the kind of severe drought conditions that hurt the wheat crop in western Kansas.

Leroy Russell, agriculture agent for K-State Research and Extension in Shawnee County, said yields in the area have been in the 40-to-70-bushel-per-acre range, compared to a 28-bushel-per-acre average statewide.

“We’re much better here, except that it got so wet and weedy that we haven’t been able to get it out in places and we got too many hailstorms and high winds,” he said. “But at least we didn’t have the drought here that totally wiped out the crop.”

Eighty-nine percent of the winter wheat in the east-central district of Kansas, which includes Douglas County, was harvested as of Monday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Area farmers now look forward to their upcoming corn and soybean harvests. Forty-nine percent of the corn crop and 56 percent of the soybeans in Kansas are considered to be in good condition, USDA reported.

“Everything’s looking pretty decent out there for corn and beans right now,” said Wilson. “Rains are beneficial right now. But the fall crops still have a chance to do real well.”

Farmer Danny Abel said that while he was underwhelmed by his wheat crop this year — he said it was in the 30- to 40-acre-per-bushel range — he is more hopeful for his corn and soybeans. But Mother Nature must cooperate.

“The crops are looking good right now,” he said. “But if we don’t get rain they’re going to start to go backwards real fast.”