COMMENTS ON GROWING CONDITIONS Most cooperators furnished brief descriptions of growing conditions and they are summarized here in Table 1 and in Uniform Regional Durum Wheat Nursery, Table 1, to aid in data interpretation. Minnesota Seeding was delayed from one to four weeks later than normal. Harvesting was delayed by a cool, cloudy, wet August. St. Paul - Early seeding date, heavy leaf rust infections obtained but little damage due to early seeding. Harvested before cool, wet weather. Crookston - Cool, wet August delayed harvest and effected grain filling. Good vegetative growth. Morris - Delayed seeding, severe leaf rust development, some leaf blight and severe storms lodged grain. Cool, wet August. North Dakota Seeding was delayed at all locations due to cold, wet spring. Fargo - Excellent early growth with severe soil moisture stress at the end of growing period and reduced test weight of late maturing genotypes. Severe leaf rust and foliar disease development. Langdon - Excellent growth and yield despite Tate seeding. Some leaf rust and foliar disease development. Dickinson - Cold, dry spring delayed seeding. Low soil moisture prevailed until the middle of June with high temperatures the second week of June. Adequate precipitation occurred the rest of the growing season. Williston - Cold, wet spring delayed seeding. Soil moisture conditions were adequate at seeding. Precipitation was below normal with above normal temperatures the rest of the growing season. Carrington - Cold, wet spring delayed seeding. Approximately a total of eight inches of water were applied at heading and soft dough. Minot - Later than normal seeding was followed by both temperature and moisture stress. South Dakota Seeding was delayed two to four weeks by cool, wet spring weather. Dry conditions prevailed in the central part of the state until near heading. Montana Spring was cooler and wetter than normal. The growing season was drier and warmer than normal. Idaho Good growing conditions prevailed. Washington Good growing conditions prevailed. Wisconsin Good growing conditions but relatively low precipitation in July. Canada Seeding delayed about one month later than normal. Ripening was quite erratic. CONCLUSIONS Other Spring Wheat: The Nation's output of other spring wheat in 1979 is estimated at 426 million bushels (11.6 million metric tons), up 2 percent from both last year and 1977 and is the second highest of record. Harvested acres totaled 15.1 million acres (6.11 million hectares) compared with 13.9 million acres (5.63 million hectares) harvested a year ago. The average yield per acre for 1979 at 28.2 bushels compares with 30.0 bushels per acre realized in 1978. Acres seeded amounted to 15.6 million acres (6.31 million hectares), 9 percent more than the 14.3 million acres (5.77 million hectares) seeded last year. Northern areas experienced a cool, wet early spring resulting in delayed planting but warmer and dryer conditions later in the spring allowed good progress. Rain and humid weather slowed harvest in early September but favorable conditions returned and enabled farmers to catch up by the end of the month. In Washington, spring wheat matured rapidly because of the hot, dry weather, and harvest progressed speedily after August 1. North Dakota's spring wheat harvest was slowed by damp weather until mid-September but warm weather allowed farmers to complete harvest near the normal date. Montana wheat developed a little behind normal with a very hot, dry summer taking its toll on the crop. Durum Wheat: Producers harvested 107 million bushels (2.90 million metric tons) of durum wheat during 1979, 20 percent less than last year's production of 133 million bushels (3.63 million metric tons), but well over the 80.00 million bushels (2.18 million metric tons) produced in 1977. A total of 3.93 million acres (1.59 million hectares) were harvested this season compared with 4.02 million acres (1.63 million hectares) a year ago. The 1979 yield of 27.1 bushels per acre is down 6.0 bushels from last year's record high 33.1 bushels. Seeding of the 4.04 million acres (1.64 million hectares) was delayed in northern areas by cool, wet weather but conditions improved during May and rapid progress was made. Hot, dry weather in some of the major producing areas of the North caused emergence problems but conditions were generally favorable during July. In North Dakota, harvesting got underway on August 1 and good harvest weather enabled farmers to complete harvest by about the normal time.