More Harvest Preview

Glenn wheat nearing harvest.

One of the varieties to be harvested soon in the Lompoc area is Glenn, a Hard Spring Red Wheat developed by North Dakota State University in 1997, with parentage from two varieties created there.

NDSU Hard Spring Red Wheat testing fields

By 2005, extensive field tests confirm a high yield, higher protein, greater resistance to shattering, and improved disease resistance when compared to existing varieties.  It also rates superior in milling and baking properties.

North Dakota leads the nation in the spring wheat harvest, and more than a million acres planted in Glenn is a major reason why.

 Glenn has substantial awns.  As the plant enters boot stage, the awns can be seen first, emerging just in front of the important flag leaf.  Then the immature kernels begin to show.

A side note on the risks of product development – in the category of “you can’t please everyone.”  One goal of modern wheat breeding is that the ripe wheat does not shatter (fall to the ground) before harvest.  Farmers report that Glenn is so good at holding onto its kernels, that threshing is more difficult, often leaving many ‘whitecaps.’  

"Whitecaps."  Kernels of Glenn not fully threshed.

A Minnesota wheat farmer wrote:  “I agree excellent quality wheat but doesn't thrash worth a #####.   [Good yield, but] why give away 3 to 8 % of it as dockage?”