On The Farm: Wheat Intake | Video

Rene Thibault | 8/15/2012

While many crops have suffered from long drought periods across the mid-section of the country, one crop here in North Dakota has thrived. The state’s wheat crop beat the heat to have one of the best crop yields in years.

As summer crop time comes to an end, harvest season begins. Farmers have their combines out harvesting their different crops. And so far, wheat is leading the way. “Winter wheat bushels were big, spring wheat bushels at the beginning we saw some better yields, and as we get into it more we`re getting into that 40 to 50 bushel range”, said Jeremy Burkhart, the Grain Division Manager for SunPrairie.

At Sun-Prairie, around 50 farmers truck in their wheat and storing it in bins. The SunPrairie Grain Elevator Complex has two lanes for trucks to drive through to dump their wheat. And with such an increase, many other storage facilities are filling up fast according to Burkhart, “Winter wheat bushels were big this year. A lot of these guys are hauling into town to cash it out. And we ended up having to go cash on winter wheat just because no one could handle it. All the elevators around got full”.

Winter wheat has lead the way in 2012. Yields are more than double the usually averages. Seventy-five to one hundred bushels of wheat are coming off one acre of farm land. And like everything else in farming, it was due to the weather, “We just had a lot of rain to begin with and the winter wheat already had a head start on every other crop, it beat the heat basically”, said Burkhart.

And beating the heat was a very good thing now that more than 87 percent of the state is experiencing drought conditions. Governor Jack Dalrymple signed an order just yesterday, stating an agricultural emergency for the state. But here in the Peace Garden State, wheat has managed to thrive.

North Dakota is covered in farms of every kind. Farming is a way of life here, and it can be a hard life to live when you have to rely on Mother Nature so often. But this year, she decided to smile down upon the wheat producers.

COMMENT ON THIS STORY