Nebraska's winter wheat seedings for the 2012 crop are expected to total 1.4 million acres, according to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, Nebraska Field Office. Seedings are down 8 percent, or 120,000 acres, from last year and the smallest winter wheat planted acreage since records began in 1909.

Topsoil moisture supplies were mostly adequate in western counties as the planting period began. As of January 1, 2012, winter wheat crop conditions rated 74 percent good and excellent, compared to 42 percent good and excellent a year ago.