Winter Wheat Crop Update

Wheat has been cultivated for more than 10,000 years, making it the oldest and most consumed cereal crop. There are six classes of wheat grown in 42 US states and nearly every region of six continents around the world on millions of acres. The vast majority of wheat seed planted in our direct area, as well as the state of Kansas, is winter wheat; hard and some soft red. The reason? Summers typically have a hot and dry climate, so we are better situated for winter wheat. Winter wheat must go through a dormancy period, known as vernalization: a period of exposure to cool temperatures to trigger reproductive development in the spring. While we had a relatively warm and dry early winter, soil temperatures still show that wheat entered vernalization. Although our recent snow was very dry, it still provided good insulation for the still dormant wheat.