The University of Minnesota wheat variety trials had good results, bad results and ugly results. “Across both North Dakota and Minnesota, we broke records for yield,” said Jochum Wiersma, Extension small grains specialist. “We also had more disease, especially fusarium head blight, than we’ve seen in years.” Pre-harvest sprouting was found in both production fields and the variety trials. Another unpleasant surprise was stem rust. “Some of the individual varieties really fell through the cracks and you can see how devastating stem rust can be when you lose 50 percent of the yield.” Wiersma was part of the Prairie Grains Conference program.
