Wheat production up, yields lower

In the Illinois Crop Production Report released by USDA-NASS Thursday, the winter wheat harvested area in 2018 is expected to be up nine percent from the previous year.

The area is forecast at 510,000 acres. Meanwhile, the winter wheat yield forecast is 73 bushels per acre, down three bushels from 2017. Production is expected to reach 37.2 million bushels, four percent higher than the previous year.