Oklahoma wheat farmers are bringing in one of their earliest and poorest harvests in years, after an unusually warm winter pushed crop development weeks ahead of schedule and left fields with thin, light test-weight grain.

The winter of 2023-24 ranked among the warmest on record across the Southern Plains, according to the Oklahoma Mesonet. Warmer-than-normal temperatures through February and March accelerated winter wheat out of dormancy, and a hard freeze in late April caught plants that had already progressed well beyond their usual stage for that date.

"The wheat just never really went dormant," one southwestern Oklahoma producer told KGOU. "It started growing in January, and by the time the freeze hit in April, it was way too far along."

Harvest began in southern counties in late May, roughly two to three weeks earlier than the typical start. Combines moved north through June, but yields came in well below the five-year average, with many fields making 15 to 25 bushels per acre against a normal 30 to 40. Test weights ran light in the driest areas, forcing some grain to be discounted at the elevator.

The state's wheat crop was already under stress before the freeze. Drought covered much of western Oklahoma through the winter, and the U.S. Drought Monitor classified large sections of the Panhandle and the southwest in severe to extreme drought during the growing season.

The warm winter also raised disease and insect pressure. Stripe rust moved into southern Oklahoma fields in early spring, and warmer soils favored early aphid activity, adding stress to already drought-weakened plants.

The result is a crop that Oklahoma wheat farmers will remember as one of the most disappointing in recent memory. Statewide production is expected to fall well short of last year's total, and the early harvest window left many growers finishing fields weeks before they normally would.

For farmers, the season is a reminder of how much a warm winter can cost. A crop that never fully goes dormant loses its natural protection against late spring freezes, and every week of accelerated development moves heading dates into a riskier part of the calendar.

Agronomists advise growers to watch variety selection and planting dates for next season. Choosing later-maturing varieties and avoiding overly early plantings can help spread the risk of a late freeze, even if it cannot eliminate it.

The next signal for the state's wheat outlook will come with the USDA's final production estimates later this summer, which will put a firm number on how much the warm winter cost Oklahoma's wheat belt.