Farmers

Kevin and Harold Schmeidler have been working their Ellis County field for years.  It's their livelihood, but times are tough.  "Some of the worst years that I've experienced, the last two years.  And I've been farming 57 years," Harold said. America's farmers are some of the hardest hit by today's rising gas prices.  "A lot of farmers aint in the fields much.  You can see that people are cutting back," Kevin said. The Schmeidlers use around 8,000 gallons of fuel each year.

The Sedgwick County Fire Marshal's Office is requesting farmers in the area burn their wheat stubble before Saturday. The conditions are favorable over the next few days, but it is dry. The fire marshal's office says things are only going to get drier making field burning more dangerous the longer it's put off. Officials say if farmers don't have time to get it done before Saturday, they should disc firebreaks randomly throughout...

It’s something farmers say cannot be stopped, but some environmentalists say it needs to be limited. A debate over dust and the possible pollutants in it has sparked the interest of the Environmental Protection Agency. In an effort to regulate dust, the EPA continues to see what impacts farming dust has on the environment and the possible health risks the dust can cause. They plan to see how the dust lines up with The Clean Air Act. The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to set National Ambient Air Quality Standards every five years.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas and Nebraska regulators have signed an agreement letting farmers drive trucks across the state line without having a commercial driver's license. The two states already let farmers drive trucks under certain conditions without commercial licenses. The agreement announced Friday by the Kansas Corporation Commission means they don't have to worry about straying into the neighboring state. Farmers must have valid driver's licenses and use the trucks only to transport agriculture products, supplies or machinery to or from their property.

WHITING, Kan. (AP) - The Kansas Rural Center says it wants to help farmers in the state transition to organic production. The center notes that Friday was the deadline to sign up for funding this year from the Natural Resources Conservation Service's organic initiative. Kansas has received more than $1.4 million for the initiative in 2010. The initiative can provide up to $20,000 per year to help farmers and ranchers transition to methods or improve conservation benefits on existing organic farms.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Dismal prices at country elevators have put a damper on the wheat harvest because a glut of last season's crop is still sitting in storage. Kansas State University economist Dan O'Brien says a report from the Kansas City Board of Trade shows major delivery terminals are 41 percent full with the earlier wheat crops. That is more than double what is usually available this time of year. Farmers in central Kansas are seeing average cash prices ranging from $3.60 to $4 a bushel.

The promise of tropical rains from Hermine had farmers in South Central Kansas hustling to finish the corn harvest. "We worked late last night, and started early this morning," said Mike Patry on his farmstead Wednesday evening,  "trying to get it in.  And we did. " Most finished by mid-afternoon, which gave them time to get ready for fall harvests.  Combines cleared, motors checked, and eyes turned towards the sky. "We knew from watching the weather man, we knew what was probably coming.

It was a harvest to remember for farmer Ward Nelson…an emotional one considering his circumstances. The farmer from the tiny town of Smolan looks forward every year to the summer harvest. Nelson says he loves operating his combine machine and enjoys the hard work it takes all year to get a good harvest. This season Nelson is not on his combine as usual tending to his 500 acres of wheat. The farmer recently had neck surgery and doctors told him he needed to recover before he could tend to any hard work.

May Day 2013 is feeling a lot more like a snow day. "If we had snow it'd be a good time to go sledding, it's cold enough, but don't have the snow to go with it," says farmer Spencer Ring. The Delano Farmer's Market kicked off Wednesday night, without many customers. "I see people wondering wether or not they want to get out of their vehicles," says Cameron Hendricks with Holmes-Made Salsa. "You just deal with it, it's Kansas. I got a sunburn yesterday painting my garage and today I'm freezing," said customer Barbara Kramer.

Curt Hoobler and his daughter Shelly know farming. Yet neither has seen many winters start off as dry as this. "The further West you get the more worried farmers are," said Shelly, who works as an agronomist. Without enough moisture in the ground Hoobler says the dirt his fields can heave up - damaging the roots and damaging profits come next spring. "Every time we miss our chance of rain it just becomes a bigger concern. " Those same dry conditions can be found across Kansas.

As you stare into the wheat fields near Andale, there's a different crop that catches the eye. "It's easy to get excited about a crop that's this beautiful," says Larry Reichenberger. "All my neighbors are gathering up their grandkids to come out here and take pictures. " Reichenberger is talking about his lovely field of yellow flowers.  But these aren't Kansas sunflowers, they're part of his new canola crop. "We just got tired of growing five bushel soybeans," says Reichenberger.

May Day 2013 is feeling a lot more like a snow day. "If we had snow it'd be a good time to go sledding, it's cold enough, but don't have the snow to go with it," says farmer Spencer Ring. The Delano Farmer's Market kicked off Wednesday night, without many customers. "I see people wondering wether or not they want to get out of their vehicles," says Cameron Hendricks with Holmes-Made Salsa. "You just deal with it, it's Kansas. I got a sunburn yesterday painting my garage and today I'm freezing," said customer Barbara Kramer.

Hummus sales are up and so are the prices for chickpeas. Farmers in the heart of tobacco country are trying to grow chickpeas, a move that reflects booming demand for the seemingly more-healthful snack. Sabra Dipping Co., who manufactures and packages hummus, wants to cultivate a commercial crop in Virginia to reduce its dependence on the legume's main U.S. growing region-the Pacific Northwest-and to identify new chickpea varieties for its dips and spreads. For hummus maker, Sabra, a secondary source of supplies could help protect the company and others if a chickpea shortage happened because of crop failures in Washington or Idaho.

From drought conditions to fields too muddy to plant, Kansas farmers like Kent Winter are happy to wait out the rain this spring.  So far all the rain has come at just the right time for Central Kansas crops.  But that could change if things don't dry out and warm up, at least for a little while. "We'll take the moisture any way we can get it.  And it's just a matter of trying to play the hand that we're dealt as best we can," said Winter, who farms wheat, milo , alfalfa and corn in Western Sedgwick County.

Plants and vegetables remain stocked at stores and greenhouses as gardeners wait for spring. The average annual late freeze for the Wichita-area is April 15. Three days later, it is unusual to see temperatures dip below zero. Gardeners may have been anxious to get their plants in the ground after two years of an unseasonably warm early spring. Some who have already planted their gardens are worried about the chilling temperatures. For farmers, the cold could be deadly for the wheat harvest just weeks away.

Dozens of farmers gathered in Garden Plain Thursday for an auction. They are investing in their futures, while the future of their crops remains unknown. "It's tough some days, I'll tell you that," said Farmer Mark Wells. Life as a farmer can sometimes be a gamble. "We've had a two day auction and the weather has been difficult to deal with, but it's just one of those things that went along with farming," said farm owner Beverly Rausch. When your livelihood depends on the weather, you have to be understanding.

Many farmers and gardeners went to bed Tuesday night, worried about how the ice would impact their gardens and plants. But one local farmer says she's actually relieved about the freeze. Sarah Beck says it's actually good for her crops. She may be one of the few people in Kansas who was praying for a storm. "Our trees, thank God, are covered in ice," she said. Click here to view storm shots The Harvey County farmer says this much needed moisture is a blessing in the storm.

It started with a simple question, 'Why not?'  Now a Hutchinson woman's question is connecting farmers, ranchers and other members of the agricultural world online. It's called FarmTime . "It's been a lot of fun, actually," said Angie Bergmeier. FarmTime is a social networking site specifically for farmers. "When I say farmers, I'm talking about ranchers, all the people in the agriculture world," said Bergmeier. After watching everyone connecting on Facebook and Twitter, Bergmeier came up with the idea for FarmTime because of what she was hearing from farmers around her. "They talked about how they used to go to the coffee shop and how they used to communicate all the time.  Well, they just don't have time to do that anymore," said Bergmeier.  "And I was just thinking, why not create a social network site for farmers?"

Sumner County authorities say a farmer shot and killed a man in a rural part of the county.  The shooting happened around 5:30 Monday night in the 800 block of east 140th St. South.  That's near the town of South Haven. The Sumner County Sheriff Department says a man didn't pay a toll on the Kansas Turnpike. When state troopers approached the vehicle, the driver got out of it and ran. Officials warned farmers in the area to look out for that man. Later in the evening, a farmer, who was armed with a shotgun, spotted the man on his property.

"Monsanto's not been very popular in the farming community," said Curt Hoobler, a Kansas farmer. Farmers like the high tech seeds Monsanto provides, but not all the rules that come with them.  One farmer from Indiana is taking his case against those rules to the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday.  He says he should be able to save seeds from one crop to plant a new one.     Curt Hoobler has farmed in Kansas for more than 35 years.  He...