Farmers in Kansas Give Up on Wheat after Drought, Cold

The midwestern U.S. state of Kansas is one of the country's top grain-producing states. But farmers there are having to kill or plow¹ over their winter wheat crop after a bad growing season.

Farmers plant winter wheat in the autumn and it grows during the winter and early spring. Harvest time is in the summer.

By the month of May, farmers have a good idea about the health of the wheat plants.

This year's crop has suffered from the extremely dry and cold winter that Kansas experienced. The weather hurt the grain and kept it from growing well. As a result, farmers are choosing to kill, plow over or give up on their wheat fields. That information comes from a recent survey of industry experts and visits to Kansas farms by Reuters reporters.

Some farmers will make an insurance claim to get a little bit of money. Others are letting cows walk their fields and eat the plants.

Much of the wheat produced in Kansas is used for making bread. This year, many bread makers² will have to look for other wheat sources.

In nearby states, farmers who planted wheat in late 2022 are also reporting problems. Farmers across the U.S. plan to abandon 33 percent of their winter crop. That is the highest percentage in over 100 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

About 19 percent of the winter wheat fields in Kansas will not be harvested this spring. That is up from 10 percent last year and two percent in 2021.

Farm experts who recently visited Kansas say the percentage could grow even higher.

Justin Gilpin is chief executive³ of the Kansas Wheat Commission⁴. He said the percentage of abandoned fields could come close to 1989. That year, farmers gave up on 28 percent of their wheat.

"You have a wheat crop that didn't come up," Gilpin said.

Gilpin noted⁵ that there is a great demand for hay. Hay comes from the stems⁶ and leaves of plants such as wheat. The wheat is cut, dried and sent to farms for animals to eat. Some farmers are cutting the plants early, making hay and then selling it to animal farms.

In Kansas, farmers are expected to produce only 191.4 million bushels of winter wheat this year. That would be the smallest wheat harvest since 1963. But the Wheat Quality Council, an industry group, believes the amount will be even lower.

Those in the wheat business are not sure of the numbers yet because they do not yet know how many fields will be abandoned.

People who work for insurance companies are going around Kansas, looking at fields, and deciding how much they will pay the farmers for their lost crops. Other farmers with dead wheat are thinking of planting sorghum⁷, which could still grow this year even in dry conditions.

The wheat-growing problem is not only in Kansas. In the neighboring state of Oklahoma, farmers are also worried about their harvest. In the northern part of the state, close to Kansas, some farmers will only harvest about 35 percent of the wheat they planted last year.

Clay Schemm owns land in western Kansas. He said planting wheat in the autumn and then seeing it fail to grow is "kind of like watching a loved one go through a terminal illness."

The bad wheat season also hurts the businesses in the area, such as hotels and restaurants. When farmers decide not to harvest their wheat, fewer laborers⁸ come to the area to help. As a result, not as many people eat at restaurants or stay in hotels.

Kansas State University's College of Agriculture also suffers. It normally gets about $1 million from the Kansas Wheat Commission for programs and research. However, that money comes from wheat sales. If less wheat is sold, less money comes in.

"We may not be able to do as much," said the College of Agriculture's leader, Ernie Minton. "It slows down the whole lifecycle of wheat research."

Words in This Story

survey –n. an activity where many people are asked the same question in an effort to gather data about what most people will do or think

insurance –n. an agreement in which a person makes regular payments to a company and the company promises to pay money if the person is injured or dies, or to pay money equal to the value of something (such as a house or car) if it is damaged, lost, or stolen

bushel –n. a unit for measuring an amount of fruit and grain that is equal to about 35.2 liters in the U.S. and to about 36.4 liters in the U.K.

abandon –v. to give up on something

terminal –adj. a kind of disease that is not curable

sorghum –n. a kind of tropical grass that is grown for food

1 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

2 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

4 commission   

n.委托，授权，委员会，拥金，回扣，委任状

参考例句：

• The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
• The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成，其中包括两名妇女。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 stems   

n.（花草的）茎( stem的名词复数 )；词干；（高脚酒杯的）脚；烟斗柄v.遏制[阻止]（液体的流动等）( stem的第三人称单数 )；封堵；遏止

参考例句：

• The present wave of strikes stems from discontent among the lower-paid. 当前的罢工浪潮起因于低工资雇员们的不满情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her interest in flowers stems from her childhood in the country. 她对花卉的兴趣产生于她在乡下度过的童年时代。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 sorghum   

n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西

参考例句：

• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
• They made sorghum into pig feed.他们把高粱做成了猪饲料。

8 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言