Wheat

(SALINA, Kan.) It's a crop that's almost synonymous with Kansas, but farmers across the State are planting less wheat. The reasons include both wet weather and market value. Salina farmer Joe Kejr fights the wind to plant his spring corn. This year he has more room for those spring crops because he's planting about 20% less wheat than usual. "The rotation that we normal do would have been from beans to double crop wheat back into that," Kejr said. What Kejr is doing isn't unique; farmers across the State are by passing wheat in their rotations and planting more spring crops like corn and soybeans.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - Cool, wet weather has held back the development of the Kansas winter wheat crop. Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that only 8 percent of the wheat is now jointed, compared with an average of 17 percent last March. About 88 percent of the acreage has broken dormancy. Twelve percent of the wheat is rated in excellent condition, with 58 percent rated good and 25 percent fair. Just 5 percent of the crop was in poor to very poor condition.

While much of the state's farmers saw good wheat yields this year, rains hurt the south central Kansas crop.  Some think think the region's planting trends are about to change in a big way. Mick Rausch says he's switched about a third of his crop near Garden Plain away from wheat, and he sees a lot of other farmers doing the same. "There's people in here who've planted wheat for 30 years," says Rausch, "and they keep telling they're not going to plant hardly any wheat.

Fireworks could be to blame for a wheat field fire in northern Sedgwick County Monday afternoon. The fire started in the 13000 block of East 69th St. North. Fire crews say they found evidence of fireworks close to the field. An arson investigator is looking into whether fireworks were the cause. "We have witnesses who said they saw people lighting fireworks in this area but none that saw the fire start," explains Division Chief Eddie Fajardo. The landowner says he's lucky he has already harvested his wheat, but relies on the stubble to retain moisture and keep the field from eroding.

"This field doesn't look at bad as some. " But the fields around Mark Bergkamp's Sedgwick County farm are still far from the lush, green wheat fields you expect to see this time of year. "Now is kind of the peak water use time. It needs the moisture when its starting to head and flower, so we really need the rain now. " Bergkamp says he's accepted this year's harvest will be anything but a bin buster. "At the very very best, it probably won't even be average. " All you have to do is look at a many of the fields in western and central Kansas and you can see the plants are struggling.

Firefighters battled a wheat stubble fire near Bentley in Sedgwick County. The fire burned about 60 acres near 93rd Street North and 151st Street West. No one was hurt and no buildings or structures were damaged. Investigators say a group of teens were driving through the field in a pickup which started the dry field on fire. Temperatures at the time of the fire were about 95 degrees with a steady wind. Sedgwick County Wheat Field Fire.

Harvest time is often the busiest time of year for farm families.  So, when Raymond Rosenhagen, a community leader and farmer in the Cheney area, died unexpectedly two weeks ago, the community decided to pay him back for his years of public service. Today, Rosenhagen's friends gathered at the family farm to honor him. “Some of the neighbors in the area gave me a call.  Said, uh, 'Hey, we're interested in helping Raymond cut his wheat.  What can we do?'”  Tim Rosenhagen, a family cousin and organizer of Tuesday's events, explained how it all got started.

Kansas farmlands were scorched last summer by extreme heat, and no moisture. There were massive crop losses and ranchers had to sell off herds due to rising costs of feed and water. This spring, the rains have returned. But it may be too late to help your next grocery bill. "You come on out in the wheat and there is good moisture," said Sumner County Farmer Scott Van Allen. Van Allen likes what he sees this season. Timely rains have kept his 2,500 acres of wheat healthy so far, much different than last spring.

Tobey Watt has been farming with his father, Roger, for more than 20 years. This past summer has been a tough one for Kansas farmers. Watt said that he lost half of his milo corn crop due to the lack of rain and high temperatures. "It's very frustrating," said Watt. "It's just like when you study for a final exam in a college course and for some reason there's some questions that you didn't study and you don't answer those questions right. It doesn't matter how hard you work.

On a gloomy, wet day a few Kansas farmers are out in their fields preparing to plant spring crops.  But others find this a good day to attend the Great Bend Farm and Ranch Expo , as their wheat crop heads down the stretch. "If we get lucky it could be great," Kingman County farmer Mitch Clouse says. Mitch and his father, Pete, say it could be great because the wheat is two, three, in some cases four weeks ahead of schedule. A warm winter and spring helped it thrive. Although, there could be trouble on the horizon.

Kansas farmlands were scorched last summer by extreme heat, and no moisture. There were massive crop losses and ranchers had to sell off herds due to rising costs of feed and water. This spring, the rains have returned. But it may be too late to help your next grocery bill. "You come on out in the wheat and there is good moisture," said Sumner County Farmer Scott Van Allen. Van Allen likes what he sees this season. Timely rains have kept his 2,500 acres of wheat healthy so far, much different than last spring.

Kansas wheat fields get a once-over by groups trying to predict the size of this year's yield.  It was the Kansas Wheat Commission's annual wheat tour. The group includes 70 people--some are buyers for major bakeries, some are commodity brokers, some work for milling companies.  They spread out across the state and pick random fields to conduct measurements. This year, the group is recording total crop failure for some fields in Western Kansas because of persistent drought.  Meanwhile in Central and South Central where there's been more rain, the wheat is looking good.

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.

A new report shows that Sumner County is the top winter wheat producer in Kansas.  The Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reports that Sumner county growers cut almost eighteen million bushels this year. McPherson county is second with about eleven million bushels, followed by Reno County with more than ten million.      The highest yields are in Crawford County.  Farmers there averaged more than sixty one bushels of wheat per acre.  That breaks the record of 50 bushels per acre set back in 1997.

Tobey Watt has been farming with his father, Roger, for more than 20 years. This past summer has been a tough one for Kansas farmers. Watt said that he lost half of his milo corn crop due to the lack of rain and high temperatures. "It's very frustrating," said Watt. "It's just like when you study for a final exam in a college course and for some reason there's some questions that you didn't study and you don't answer those questions right. It doesn't matter how hard you work.

Firefighters battled a wheat stubble fire near Bentley in Sedgwick County. The fire burned about 60 acres near 93rd Street North and 151st Street West. No one was hurt and no buildings or structures were damaged. Investigators say a group of teens were driving through the field in a pickup which started the dry field on fire. Temperatures at the time of the fire were about 95 degrees with a steady wind. Sedgwick County Wheat Field Fire.

The field was harvested by the friends and family members of a man named Mike Weber. He died of cancer this past winter, and they decided to harvest it as a way of saying thank you. "He always took everybody else's feelings and thoughts before his own," said his brother Jerry. "He was an awesome person, he died way too young we lost him just way too young because there was a lot he could still give back to the community," said his sister Jane Duvall Mike's friends say he would be the first to organize similar cuts for friends who experienced a loss, and would help without having to be asked twice.

Harvest time is often the busiest time of year for farm families.  So, when Raymond Rosenhagen, a community leader and farmer in the Cheney area, died unexpectedly two weeks ago, the community decided to pay him back for his years of public service. Today, Rosenhagen's friends gathered at the family farm to honor him. “Some of the neighbors in the area gave me a call.  Said, uh, 'Hey, we're interested in helping Raymond cut his wheat.  What can we do?'”  Tim Rosenhagen, a family cousin and organizer of Tuesday's events, explained how it all got started.

After a dry winter and summer, Kansas wheat farmers expected a poor crop when harvest time came around this year.  But, they've been pleasantly surprpised. "Well you hope for 60. that's what you hope for, I think they call that the benchmark weight," said Stan Michael from his Kiowa farm. " It's a lot better than I thought it would be, you know the yield so far for me is in the mid 40's and test wheat has been 62, 63 pounds so better than I was expecting. " Farmers are cutting about three weeks early this year.

On a gloomy, wet day a few Kansas farmers are out in their fields preparing to plant spring crops.  But others find this a good day to attend the Great Bend Farm and Ranch Expo , as their wheat crop heads down the stretch. "If we get lucky it could be great," Kingman County farmer Mitch Clouse says. Mitch and his father, Pete, say it could be great because the wheat is two, three, in some cases four weeks ahead of schedule. A warm winter and spring helped it thrive. Although, there could be trouble on the horizon.