By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

A wheat harvest that began with the grain often testing more than 63 pounds per bushel is finishing with weights under the normal 60 pounds in some areas.

Mike Thomas, manager of the Cooperative Grain and Supply elevator in Marion, is getting fed up with the rains that keep coming to delay the harvest.

After Friday night’s storm, he said, Marion received 0.2 of an inch Saturday evening, effectively slowing harvest activity on Sunday.

Despite clouds and a few sprinkles in mid-afternoon Monday, it was a good day for harvesting, Thomas said, until it rained again in early evening.

Thomas said warm wind and 50 percent humidity allowed some farmers to begin combining by 7:30 in the morning.

Trucks coming into the elevator early Monday afternoon were bringing in dry wheat testing 60 to 61 pounds. It started raining at 6:30, bringing harvest to a halt.

“We took in 60,000 bushels before the rain,” Thomas said. “If we had had another four hours of dry weather, we might have taken in 100,000 bushels.”

Farmers around Marion reported receiving ¾ to 1 inch of rain. The rain may reduce test weights further.

“If we could string together three days of harvest, we could get something done,” Thomas said.