HUTCHINSON, Kan. — With rain in the forecast for the start of next week, many farmers will try to get their wheat harvest to the elevator in the next couple of days.

The hot, windy weather should get farmers back in the field after rains and high humidity slowed the harvest just as it was getting started. Lee Burgess with Central Prairie Coop in Sterling says that cutting should ramp up today with highs forecast near 100.

Few reports of yields have come in, but Burgess says he’s heard anywhere from 5 to 50 bushels per acre. Test weights continue to hold up at around 58 to 60 pounds.

The latest forecast from the Kansas Ag Statistics Service has the total harvest at 270 million bushels, down 19 percent from last year. Average yield is forecast at 37 bushels per acre.