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 earlier than normal. Lack of spring rainfall caused poor stands. Above normal temperatures and lack of moisture caused earlier than normal development. St. Paul - Average seeding date, lack of rainfall, and hot weather reduced test weight and yield of later maturing genotypes. No diseases evident in the yield nursery. Crookston - Early seeding but very severe drought and poor stands. Wet weather encountered at harvest although not in the nurseries. Morris - Early seeding but lack of rainfall in spring caused minor stand problems. Rainfall in June and July allowed excellent growth, storms caused some lodging. A light infection of bacterial leaf blight occurred before heading but did not develop because of dry conditions. North Dakota Early seeding followed by severe drought caused poor stand establishment. Severe drought continued most of the spring and summer, but a cool, wet harvest season caused considerable sprout damage. Fargo - Poor stands caused the nursery to be abandoned. Langdon - Did not report. Dickinson.- Early seeding, followed the most severe drought in the past quarter century caused very poor crop growth. No diseases present. Williston.- Early seeding followed by very severe drought caused very poor crop growth. No diseases present. Carrington - Seedbed moisture adequate from late irrigation in 1979. Flood irrigation, 3" of water each, was applied June 25 and July 8. Hail caused 5-10% shattering loss. Minot - Early seeding but severe spring and early summer drought. Poor crop development. South Dakota Seeding was early to normal with dry conditions in early spring Severe drought conditions prevailed until early summer rains in the more southern locations but the northern locations experienced severe drought most of the growing season. Brookings and Selby had hail storms at a time such that earlier lines were damaged more than later maturing lines. Montana Early to normal spring seeding was followed by severe drought in eastern Montana. Rainfall increased in late August and early September with little beneficial effect on spring wheat and simply delayed harvest in eastern Montana. Idaho Good growing conditions prevailed with stripe rust prevalent. Washington Growing season was relatively cool with above average rainfall. Stripe and leaf rusts developed both before and after heading. Early planted wheats sustained less damage. Wisconsin Unusually warm from early June to mid July, with periods of moisture stress. Frequent rains in late July and August resulted in some germination of kernels in standing grain. No disease or pest problems encountered. CONCLUSIONS Other Spring Wheat: The nation's output of other spring wheat is estimated at 370 million bushels (10.1 million metric tons) compared with 426 million bushels (11.6 million metric tons) in 1979, down 13 percent. Harvested acres totaled 14.6 million acres (5.99 million hectares) compared to 15.1 million acres (6.11 million hectares) harvested a year ago. The average yield per acre in 1980 at 25.3 bushels compares with 28.2 bushels per acre realized in 1979. Very severe spring drought was experienced in the northern production areas and warmer than normal temperatures. The severe drought remained most of the summer in North Dakota, Eastern Montana, Northwestern Minnesota and northern South Dakota. Rainfall came too late in the growing season to help the small grains but had a severe effect on harvest. Delayed harvest and sprout damaged durum and other spring wheat resulted from these conditions, especially in northern North Dakota and Northwest Minnesota. The severe drought reduced stand, hastened crop development and caused considerable acreage abandonment.