FARGO, N.D. (Reuters) — Yield potential for spring wheat grown in the northern U.S. Plains is projected to be the highest on record, according to results from an annual crop tour.

Scouts on the Wheat Quality Council’s three-day tour of North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota found a crop that is benefiting from timely planting, good moisture and cool weather.

They projected an average hard red spring wheat yield of 49.9 bushels per acre, exceeding the tour’s 2014 forecast of 48.6 bu. and its previous five-year average of 45.2 bu.

The forecast was the biggest in the history of the tour, which dates back to 1992. Last year’s projection had been the biggest up to that point.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the actual harvest yield last year was 47.5 bu. per acre.

“We had good moisture since the spring, and cool weather,” said Ben Handcock, executive director of the Wheat Quality Council.

“It made bigger heads and bigger kernels than usual, which makes bigger yields.”

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Source:  Reuters