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Drought pushes Kansas wheat production near historic low

Kansas could harvest its smallest wheat crop since the 1960s.  

Southwest Kansas farmer Gary Millershaski says the total hasn’t been finalized, but the results so far are shocking. “We came in roughly at 194 million bushels, which is one of the lowest in many years. You look at our inputs this year and the expenses are going to overcome what the prices are bringing for the yields we got.”

According to the USDA, the smallest crop was in 1963 at 185 million bushels.

Millershaski says drought and abandonment were the biggest challenges in his area. “It was devastating. Abandonment was 20 to 80 percent probably. What they cut wasn’t anything to brag about.”

But, he tells Brownfield, there were some areas northeast of Garden City that received enough moisture to produce average yields. “They had caught a lit bit more snow, and if you were a good farmer and took care of your ground in the off-season, that would’ve paid tremendous.”

USDA’s latest projection has Kansas production at 196 million bushels, a decrease of 43.4 percent.