A disease not yet identified has affected wheat crops in Beaufort County.

On April 1, a press release sent out by Rod Gurganus, director of Beaufort County Cooperative Extension, said Dr. Ron Heiniger, a cropping system specialist based in Plymouth, had identified the disease as Soilborne Wheat Mosaic Virus, a virus that was previously believed to be a problem across many areas of the state.

However, not only has that particular virus been ruled out in Beaufort County, but other damage previously believed to have been affected by the virus, has proved to be attributed to other diseases and problems, according to Gurganus.

“It’s a matter of importance, but not everybody is being affected by this,” Gurganus said. “Actually, we were thinking we were on to something affected wheat across the state, but we’ve found there are different diseases happening in other areas. This problem is not the same as the one in Kinston and Robeson County and other areas.”

Gurganus said wheat samples have been sent to N.C. State University for diagnosis. The disease is reducing the number of tillers, the seed-bearing part of a wheat plant, which can potentially have a huge effect on yield, and in turn, profit for farmers.

“(The disease) is basically causing the wheat to be stunted and some of the growth to die,” Gurganus said.

Crops across Beaufort County have been negatively affected by an excess amount of rain and a lack of cold weather. Excessive rain, especially a two-week span from Sept. 24-Oct. 4, 2015, created problems for farmers in Beaufort and Hyde counties. The wet field conditions meant wheat was planted later than normal, as well as trouble with the harvest of soybeans and cotton around Thanksgiving.

Unseasonably wet conditions continued up until March, playing a big role in the patches of diseased wheat that are being found, according to Gurganus.

“It has everything to do with the rain,” Gurganus said. “We had a lot of crops that were standing in water, and that’s when the problems started showing up. Not everybody has this. It’s not everywhere, but on certain farms, it’s widespread.”

Gurganus said farmers and agricultural officials are not certain how the disease will affect yield and profit from wheat crops this year. With colder temperatures projected for this week, wheat crops could face more detriment. Then again, the colder weather has the potential to affect the spread of disease, depending on the disease itself, the crop and the specific weather conditions, Gurganus said.

“It’s really hard to tell those things until we know what the weather is going to be until harvest,” Gurganus said. “It’s not a good thing for farmers or the wheat. It’s bad; it’s just a matter of how bad. This wheat crop has been under assault since Day 1. At this point, there’s nothing that can be done. As the weather conditions change, that sometimes changes a lot of things. You can get to a point where the disease progress starts, or it may get too hot or too dry or too cold and the disease can stop. We’re thinking the damage was most likely done earlier in the year (due to rain).”