The U.S. Drought Is Turning Wheat Into Hay
- Northern Plains farmers harvest before kernels can fully form
- New threat for supplies already set to shrink with fewer acres
Hard red winter wheat stands in a field during harvest in Zurich, Kansas, on June 29, 2017.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The stunted wheat plants on Robert Ferebee’s parched North Dakota farm were in the worst condition he’d seen in almost three decades. Rather than wait until late July or early August to harvest the crop, Ferebee decided last month to cut his losses and his fields.
A drought across the northern Great Plains has forced growers like Ferebee to conclude that their wheat would be more valuable as cattle feed than baker’s flour. They are collecting the crop early -- in some cases before grain kernels have fully formed -- to avoid further damage, and then bundling the tillers and leaves into hay-like bales rather than sending them through a thresher.