Fargo, N.D. (Reuters) — Yield potential for spring wheat grown in the northern U.S. Plains was projected as the highest on record, with the crop benefiting from timely planting and cool weather, according to results from an annual crop tour.

Scouts on the Wheat Quality Council’s three-day tour of North Dakota, the top spring wheat state, and adjacent areas in Minnesota and South Dakota projected an average hard red spring wheat yield of 49.9 bushels per acre, exceeding the tour’s 2014 forecast of 48.6 bushels and the tour’s prior five-year average of 45.2 bushels.

The forecast was the biggest on record, with figures dating back to 1992. Previously, the 2014 projection was the biggest ever.