Farmers in Kansas, the biggest U.S. producer of wheat used to make bread, are abandoning their crops after a severe drought and damaging cold ravaged farms.
They are intentionally spraying wheat fields with crop-killing chemicals and claiming insurance payouts more than normal, betting the grain is not worth harvesting, Reuters found on a three-day tour of the state. Other growers are turning over dismal-looking fields to cattle for grazing.
Kansas farmers are expected to abandon about 19% of the acres planted last autumn, up from 10% last year and 4% in 2021, according to the report. But farmers, grain traders and representatives of major food companies who traversed the state on an annual crop tour last week warn of an even greater percentage of unharvested acres.
Uncertainty over the size of harvest largely centers on how many acres will be abandoned, grain buyers and tour leaders said. Some farmers with dead wheat will plant sorghum in another attempt at crop production this spring. At least 60% of the crop is expected to be abandoned around Lakin, in southwestern Kansas, said Gary Millershaski, a farmer and scout on the tour.PureField Ingredients, operator of a wheat protein facility in Russell, Kansas, will need to buy wheat from other parts of the state due to high abandonment in western Kansas, said Evan Backhus, commodities manager.
Parts of Oklahoma are suffering too. In six northern counties, an estimated 65% to 70% of the crop will not be harvested, said Mike Schulte, executive director of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission.
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