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DENVER—Colorado harvested 108.2 million bushels of wheat this year for the state’s largest crop since 1980.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday that the total wheat harvest, which is mostly winter wheat, is almost 8 percent higher than production last year.
The 105.8 million bushel winter wheat harvest was also about 8 percent higher than last year’s harvest, thanks in part to a record average yield of 45 bushels per acre.
The USDA credits excellent growing conditions for the harvest, with a moist fall, followed by a mild winter, wet spring and mild temperatures in early summer.
Farmers are expected to benefit because the drought-damaged Russian wheat harvest has been pushing wheat prices up.
