The Delmarva Jordbruk Chronicles:
Status Of Market
Wheat Farming In Delaware

April 16, 2021

Wheat being harvested at the Horsey Turf Farm in Laurel, Sussex County.
(This photograph was provided courtesy of Delmarva Drone Services, 2017.)

Wheat is grown throughout the Delmarva Region, including in all three counties in Delaware.  Though small in size, the State ranks as the 30th largest producer of winter wheat in the United States.  The grain is planted as both a cover crop to maintain land and is harvested as a grain used for animal feed as well as a key ingredient of bread and other food products.  There has been a decline in planting of wheat in recent years in the Delmarva Region as well as throughout the United States.

According to the 2019-2020 edition of the Delaware Agricultural Statistics Bulletin, 3.6 million bushels of winter wheat was produced in Delaware in 2019;  this harvest was a reduction in volume from recent years.  The Delaware Department of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) cooperate in the publication of this Bulletin.  Unless otherwise cited, statistics detailed in this news column are from that publication.

Planting of winter wheat begins in Delaware in the second week of October and goes through the third week of November annually.  The most active time for planting is from the third week of October through the first week of November.  Harvesting of winter wheat starts during the fourth week of June and ends during the third week of July each year.  Much of the annual crop is harvested from the last week of June through the first week of July.

The number of acres planted with winter wheat has varied during recent years.  A total of 70,000 acres were planted with winter wheat in Delaware in 2015.  Ground planted with the crop increased to 75,000 acres in both 2017 and 2018, yet the number of acres planted with winter wheat decreased to 60,000 acres in 2019.

Harvested acres of winter wheat have also varied in recent years.  From a high of 65,000 acres of winter wheat harvested in both 2015 and 2016, the number of acres fell to 60,000 acres in 2017 and then to 45,000 acres in 2018.  Year 2019 saw an increase from the previous year to 50,000 acres of winter wheat harvested.

In the past 50 years, acres of winter wheat harvested in Delaware reached a low of 17,000 acres harvested in 1978;  the largest harvest included 79,000 acres of winter wheat in 2008.

While acreage planted and harvested has varied, the yield per acre of winter wheat has seen an overall increase from 2015 to 2019:  65 bushels per acre yield in 2015 increased to 72 bushels per acre yield in 2019.  The highest yield, though, was 73 bushels per acre in 2017.

Overall volume of winter wheat harvested has decreased in recent years.  In 2015, 4,225,000 bushels of winter wheat was produced, while in 2019, as noted above, 3,600,000 bushels were produced.  The highest production level in recent years, though, was in 2017;  4,380,000 bushels were produced in that year.  Each bushel weighs approximately 60 pounds.

The price per bushel of winter wheat has increased from $4.60 per bushel in 2015 to $4.95 per bushel in 2019.  During that five year period, the lowest price per bushel was $4.04 in 2016. 

The overall value of production of winter wheat decreased by more than $1.5 million in recent years.  In 2015, the value of winter wheat produced in Delaware was $19,435,000;  in 2019, the value was $17,820,000.  The highest value of overall production of winter wheat in the last five years was $20,279,000 in 2017, while the lowest amount was $15,656,000 in 2018.

To put these statistics detailing winter wheat farming in the First State in perspective, according to a report released by USDA on June 30, 2020, national statistics indicated that “All wheat planted area for 2020 is estimated at 44.3 million acres, down 2 percent from 2019.  This represents the lowest all wheat planted area since records began in 1919.  The 2020 winter wheat planted area, at 30.6 million acres, is down 2 percent from last year and down 1 percent from the previous estimate.”

According to the Census of Agriculture issued by the NASS of the USDA, there were 292 farms with 48,573 acres planted in Delaware in 2017.  Of those farms, 90 farms included 100 to 249 acres harvested with winter wheat, 70 farms were composed of 50 to 99 acres harvested with winter wheat, and 49 farms included 250 to 499 acres of harvested winter wheat. Ms. Shareefah Williams, Maryland and Delaware State Statistician with the NASS of the USDA, noted a Census of Agriculture is undertaken by the Federal government every five years.  The most recent year for this census was 2017.

The Delmarva Jordbruk Chronicles is a news column that details agriculture in Delaware
and the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia. “Jordbruk” is Swedish for “Agriculture.”
Please contact Richard McDonough at delmarvajordbruk@protonmail.com.

© 2021 Richard McDonough