Kansas Conservation Series: Wheat Harvest Impact During Drought

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. is continuing his conservation series highlighting Kansans’ voluntary efforts to take better care of the environment. Stories will be released throughout the 2023 Farm Bill legislative process.

“While we hold hearings for the 2023 Farm Bill, I want to highlight how hard Kansans work every day to protect our environment and conserve precious resources that our Ag economy needs to thrive. Kansas farmers, ranchers, growers, and producers are finding unique and practical ways to preserve our land and protect our water and air. Their efforts are worthy of everyone’s praise,” said Senator Marshall.

A few weeks ago, Fox Business highlighted the impact on wheat farmers across Kansas and how scorching temperatures, parched soil, and low water supplies are putting Kansas’ vital wheat production at risk because of the relentless drought. This is leading some farmers to intentionally kill their crops so they’re able to get more from insurance. Kansas farmers are expected to abandon about 19% of acres planted last autumn. 

Fox Business interviewed Kansas wheat farmer Kent Winter about the struggle of the drought on his farm. 

“There’s a huge industry here with the flour, with the bread making, of everything involved with wheat that’s been going on for generations here in Kansas,” he said. “So, it’s part of the genetic makeup of Kansas.”

“It should be almost up to my waist now in normal moisture conditions, and here we are now it might come up halfway between my ankles and my knee, the tallest of it.”

“We get up every day eat, breathe, and think farming and agriculture, and what our next move is. What’s plan B, what’s Plan C? But when you don’t get the moisture, it erases Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D. We are totally dependent on the moisture here, on the precious rain that we hope to receive. And when we go way below our normal rainfall, it really throws a wrench into the works.”

You may click HERE or on the image above to watch Kent’s full Fox Business segment.