Officials predict record wheat shortage for Kansas

MANHATTAN (KSNT)- There has been an abundance of rain in this past week, but has it been enough to save the state’s wheat after last month’s drought?

The Kansas Wheat Commission is starting it’s Wheat Tour across the state Tuesday, May 16 and top leaders tell KSNT 27 News that they expect the smallest crop in 60 years. The commission will embark on a two day tour across the state, making over 500 different stops at different wheat fields across Kansas, to determine what this year’s crop may look like.

Due to the drought, they expect to find a small crop, and even many abandoned fields, leaving them to predict a potentially record low wheat crop.

“I think unfortunately it’s going to be a very small Kansas wheat crop. USDA projects the number at 191 million bushels, we’ll see if the wheat tour agrees with that, but it’s probably going to be the smallest wheat crop in Kansas since 1963,” said KS Wheat Commission Vice President of Research and Operations, Aaron Harries.

This wheat shortage may lead to a shortage of flour, and the supply chain as a whole will not function the same without the large amount of wheat that will be missed from the normally large supplier Kansas usually is. Wheat farmers in the viewing area may have faired better and could benefit from higher wheat prices.

Even though the drought could prove detrimental to most of the state’s wheat, some fields in Northwest Kansas may have been saved by last weeks rain.