Nebraska's 2018 winter wheat crop is forecast at 44.6 million bushels, down 5% from last year's crop, according to the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Based on June 1 conditions, the average yield is forecast at 45 bushels per acre, down 1 bushel from last year.

Acreage to be harvested for grain is estimated at 990 thousand acres, down 30 thousand acres from last year. This would be 93% of the planted acres, compared with last year's 91% harvested.

Nationally, winter wheat production is forecast at 1.20 billion bushels, up 1% from the May 1 forecast but down 6% from 2017. As of June 1, the United States yield is forecast at 48.4 bushels per acre, up 0.3 bushel from last month but down 1.8 bushels from last year’s average yield of 50.2 bushels per acre.

Hard Red Winter production, at 650 million bushels, is up 1% from last month. Soft Red Winter, at 316 million bushels, is up slightly from the May forecast. White Winter, at 232 million bushels, is up 2% from last month. Of the White Winter production, 21.8 million bushels are Hard White and 210 million bushels are Soft White.