The midwestern U.S. state of Kansas is one of the country’s top grain-producing states. But farmers there are having to kill or plow over their winter wheat crop after a bad growing season. Farmers plant winter wheat in the autumn and it grows during the winter and early spring. Harvest time is in the summer. By the month of May, farmers have a good idea about the health of the wheat plants. This year’s crop has suffered from the extremely dry and cold winter that Kansas experienced. The weather hurt the grain and kept it from growing well. As a result, farmers are choosing to kill, plow over or give up on their wheat fields. That information comes from a recent survey of industry experts and visits to Kansas farms by Reuters reporters. Some farmers will make an insurance claim to get a little bit of money. Others are letting cows walk their fields and eat the plants.
