Between freeze damage, disease pressure and low commodity prices, wheat farmers in Louisiana are having a tough time in 2026.
“This year has not been very nice to us,” said Boyd Padgett, LSU AgCenter wheat specialist.
The state’s 12,000 acres of wheat were dealt major setbacks by a pair of lateseason freezes in February and March — a vulnerable stage for the crop, which by then had already begun to form grain heads.
“Everything was rocking and rolling,” Padgett said. “It was looking good, and then come St. Patrick’s Day, we got hammered.”
While the damage is apparent, its effect on yield won’t be clear until combines enter fields in the coming weeks. Padgett is sure, however, that this year’s harvest will bring disappointment for many.
“A lot of the heads, you can grab them, and they feel like a sponge,” he said. “It’s kind of depressing. We have a crop that we’re probably going to sustain significant yield losses. Prices are down. You can’t cash flow it even with good yields, so we’ll see what happens. It’s not good.”
On top of those problems is an outbreak of a disease called leaf rust. Padgett said he hasn’t seen it this bad in decades.
“The severity of leaf rust is tremendous,” he said.
Despite the difficulties 2026 is throwing at growers, there are a couple of bright sides: Incidence of fusarium head blight, a disease commonly known as scab that has long been a concern, is down. And all of the challenges are providing valuable data to AgCenter scientists about management strategies as well as which varieties can stand up to weather extremes, diseases and other crop stressors.
“It’s horrible for a producer, but for a breeder, it’s great,” said AgCenter small grains breeder Noah DeWitt. “When you have 800 lines and you have to figure out which one or two of those is going to be a variety in five years, it’s fantastic pressure for that.”
At an April 16 field day at the AgCenter Macon Ridge Research Station, visitors got to see some of the many experimental lines being evaluated for possible release alongside commercially available varieties. Some of the test plots were filled with wheat plants that were green and healthy. Others — including some that DeWitt once had considered frontrunners for release as varieties — were brown as a result of freeze damage.
