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Kansas farmer abandons all winter wheat acres

Western Kansas farmer Jim Sipes says he’s abandoned 4,000 acres of his winter wheat crop due to on-going drought.

“All of our wheat for the first time in my farming career was a complete loss, zeroed out on appraisal about four weeks ago.”

He tells Brownfield the crop never emerged for the second year and now he’s left with a major decision. “We’re needing to do something to cover the ground. Right now, we’re looking at grain sorghum as an option. It’s not a real good option because I know I need two full crops to make my operation work.”

Sipes says the region received up to 3 inches of rain last week and that might help get the sorghum crop off to a good start. “If that doesn’t work, then we’ll plant it back to wheat a third time to get it to cover.”

Portions of the state have been in exceptional drought for more than a year with multiple years in a classification of drought, according to the US Drought Monitor.