The nation’s winter wheat
growers have learned through experience to be prepared for more trouble ahead.
Much of the nation has been in a deep freeze for the past several days. Hard
red winter wheat growers in Kansas and Oklahoma are already not expecting to
have a large crop this year. They’ve been battling lower prices because of a
large supply of wheat around the world as well as a recent drought. Ken Wood, a
producer from Kansas, says the temperature dropped to minus-eight degrees on
the morning of January first. “This will be the third or fourth crop that
doesn’t hold a lot of promise,” Wood says. “We’ve had about three years where
things have been really tough.” Several wheat farmers have told Politico that
wheat is resilient enough to have “nine lives.” Kim Anderson of Oklahoma State
University Extension says it’s also early enough in the season that most
farmers can still hold out hope for a decent winter wheat crop. “In the long
run, it’s really April and May that we have to worry about,” she said.
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