Kansas is on track for its smallest wheat harvest since the 1950s.
A USDA report projects just 196 million bushels this year, down from nearly 347 million last year. Drought, freeze damage, and rising input costs are squeezing farmers statewide.
Nationally, the picture is just as grim — Hard Red Winter wheat, usually the largest class of U.S. production, is forecast to have its smallest crop since 1957.
Some fields have already been written off entirely by crop insurance and won’t even be harvested.
