Wheat harvest finally started last week after the rain delays. Everyone always gets antsy to get it cut and out of the field.

Fields of this winter variety of wheat were planted last fall. The seed sprouts and grows until winter weather sets in, and then goes dormant. When the weather warms up in the spring it grows again to maturity when it sets seed in the head.

The moisture content of the seed must be below 14% before it can be cut. Then it’s a race to get it out of the fields before rain or thunderstorms delay or ruin the crop.

It was estimated by one farmer that his costs were $200 per acre this year. So to make money he needed to get 50 bushels from each acre and to sell it above $4 per bushel. (Right now the price is $3.73 at our local grain elevator so let’s hope for higher prices and high yields.)

Kansas has long been known as the “Wheat State”, and with good reason since Kansas is one of the nation’s leading wheat producer with records of wheat production actually pre-dating its 1861 statehood. There are indications that wheat was produced in the area as early as 1839.

On Aug. 16, 1874, a group of Russian Mennonite farmers arrived in south central Kansas with bags of hardy Turkey Red winter wheat. This variety of wheat, which had been grown on the steppes of the Ukraine, is generally credited with turning the Great Plains into the nation’s breadbasket.

If you’d like to read more about the history of our Kansas wheat harvest, please go to the Kansas State Historical Society website.

Family Tradition

When I was growing up, wheat was harvested with a small combine with no protection for the driver from the blowing dirt, chaff and sun, and we drove our pickup, or tractor and wagon, to the elevator to deliver the wheat.

The combine would auger the wheat into the truck, one of us kids would drive it to the elevator to unload it, and then we’d drive back to the field for the next load. Mom would fix meals and we’d bring it out to the field for Dad. The combine was shut off and we’d sit in it’s shadow to eat and rest together.

When my parents were children there were threshing crews that went around the neighborhood to thresh the wheat. Rarely did every farmer have their own threshing equipment as it was expensive and neighbors just shared equipment. Then women would fix meals for the whole crew that could stop and come into the farm home for a meal and rest before continuing the manual labor of harvesting in the hot sun.

Now days there are air conditioned combines and big semi trucks to cut and haul the wheat. Families still work together but it’s at a quicker pace. My dad stops to come into the house to eat lunch, but my brother and his help usually just eat a sandwich while still working.

Technology has changed wheat harvest just like it has changed everything else, but its still an important crop and family tradition. So please think of Kansas and our current wheat harvest when you eat your next meal. I’m sure it will have something made with wheat in it!