<p>A combine owned by Pendleton farmer Tim Hawkins harvests wheat Wednesday off of Highway 37 north of Pendleton.</p>

Wheat harvest is in full swing in northeast Oregon and prices are staying above $8 per bushel, helping keep growers optimistic for this year.

Early in the week, soft white wheat for August delivery topped out at $9 per bushel, then dropped 40 cents in two days, but by Friday was back up to $8.85 per bushel, according to Pendleton Grain Growers.

Jason Middleton, PGG Operations Director, said the swings in price mostly accounted for hedge funds and profit taking. It also means the prices have just about reached their peak.

The weather premium from the dryness in the Midwest is already built into the market, he said.

Local growers are having a decent harvest, but not as impressive as last years mostly due to the lack of spring precipitation and the thunderstorms at the start of harvest.

We had more rain last year and it was timely. This year we didnt have that, Middleton said. Diseases are a little more prevalent than last year. Some of the fields looked decent, then once they got out there and start cutting it just isnt there.

Disease and frost have also done some damage to this years crop on top of lacking precipitation, but when the season is over this year should be average to above average, Middleton said.

Tim Hawkins, Pendleton-area dryland wheat grower, has experienced above-average yields this year with areas averaging 60 bushels per acre yielding as much as 80.

When a weeks worth of thunderstorms hit in mid-July, farmers ready to harvest wheat had to shut down until the area dried out.

The week with the thunderstorms, I was trying to harvest on Butter Creek and out of seven days, we were only able to cut 1.5 days and the 1.5 days was spaced out over five days.

Since that week, the sun has shone with weather mostly in the 80s, which has been ideal conditions for harvesting, Hawkins said.

Hopefully my luck holds out, Hawkins said.

In Morrow County, hail came with the storms and ripped through certain areas near Heppner and Lexington, but wheat grower Eric Orem said his crop was just outside the reach of the weather. Orem said his crop is below average in some areas and above in others.

I think overall at the end we will be slightly above average, Orem said. We did see a little bit of damage from rust this spring, a little damage from frost on a few cold days in May and some from drought just before the spring rains came.

Contact Anna Willard at awillard@eastoregonian.com or 541-564-4536.