FARM SCENE: Farmers harvesting earlier, predicting low yields

OMAHA, Neb. - The message on the answering machine at Abdal Grain Co. near Superior is humorous, sad and true.

''You have reached Abdal Grain, the boys are outside ... doing a dry rain dance,'' says the message read in a lively, almost laughing voice.

''As soon as it starts raining they will call you back.''

Temperatures of 100 degrees or more combined with gusty winds and little or no rain last week has taken its toll on Nebraska's winter wheat crop, which is predicted to yield only half of what it did last year.

Todd Jensen, branch manager at Abdal Grain, said they usually do business in the neighborhood of 100,000 to 200,000 bushels of wheat.

Jensen, who runs the grain elevator with his family, said he expects only about 20,000 or 30,000 bushels this year.

About 75 percent of the area's wheat has been used for grazing or hay, which hurts his business, he said.

Farmers from southwest, south central and eastern Nebraska are predicting drastically reduced yields and many are starting their winter wheat harvests more than two weeks early, agriculture officials said.

The most recent winter wheat ratings showed that winter wheat rated ''very poor'' increased from 11 percent to 17 percent in the last week, and wheat rated ''poor'' jumped from 19 to 29 percent.

''We had three days of over 100 degrees, and winds that howled from 30 to 50 mph,'' said Randy Peters, who farms in the McCook area. ''It was just really detrimental to everything. Even wheat that was looking good that last week, it really took a toll.''

Peters said he expects his yields to be a third of what they were last year, when he had an ''excellent'' wheat crop.

Nebraska's 2000 winter wheat crop is forecast at 73.5 million bushels, based on June 1 conditions - that is down 15 percent from last year's crop, according to the Nebraska Agricultural Statistics Service.

---

TIFTON, Ga. (AP) - Viral diseases that threaten flue-cured tobacco are a major topic for crop specialists and cigarette company representatives touring farms and research plots in south Georgia.

J. Michael Moore, a tobacco specialist with the University of Georgia Extension Service, said tobacco mosaic virus, a disease that damages the leaves and lowers the value of the tobacco, is worse than usual this year.

''This is a very common virus, but to have it so early ... is unusual,'' he said Wednesday on the first day of the annual Georgia Tobacco Tour.

The tour began with a visit to a Berrien County tobacco farm where the 100 people in the group saw potential new varieties of tobacco and heard about research to curb another serious tobacco disease, tomato spotted wilt virus.

The tour provides scientists, chemical companies and tobacco buyers an opportunity to check the quality of the crop, to check the performance of new varieties and to share research information.

Because of the drought, the outbreak of diseases and uncertain market conditions, farmers say 2000 will be one of the worst crop years ever. The $150 million crop is considered vital to the economies of many small south Georgia towns.