HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) Over the past two years, the breadbasket of America has planted less and less wheat.
Acres planted to wheat in 2017 and 2018 neared 100-year lows, with the 7.7 million wheat acres in 2017 hitting the lowest point in 60 years. Low prices and a wheat surplus moved farmers away from the Kansas staple. In 2018, those problems combined with a delayed fall harvest and unfavorable weather to push wheat acres to what could be the lowest point in a century.
Also this fall in addition to low prices, we had very wet weather which delayed planting, and for many farmers, they simply could not plant wheat, Lane County wheat farmer Vance Ehmke told The Hutchinson News .