By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Wheat harvest is running full-throttle in the county with loaded trucks waiting in line to deliver their golden grain to elevators.

Dick Tippin, grain coordinator at Cooperative Grain in Hillsboro, said farmers started delivering wheat to the elevator a week ago. Business was especially busy after the weekend.

“Altogether it’s been about 516,000 bushels,” Tippin said Tuesday. “We’re probably getting close to halfway through the harvest.”

Storage space won’t be a problem because Cooperative shipped out a lot of grain before harvest, he said.

Wheat quality looks to be good, with test weights running 59 to 60 pounds per bushel, but some farmers got lower yields than they would like, he said.

“I’ve heard yields from 30 up to 60 per acre,” he said.

Prices continue to fluctuate, as prices always do. Tuesday’s price at Hillsboro was $10.90 a bushel, down 64 cents from the Monday price.

Tippin speculated the price drop might have been in response to reports that Russia was loading Ukrainian grain for shipment to Syria.

A predicted shift to cooler weather over the next several days also might be a factor, he said.

“There were some guys who locked in $13 wheat, and they’re bringing it in today,” he said.