Comeback Crop? The Push for More Wheat Acres

While the moisture situation has improved in some areas of the Plains, such as Texas, most of the hard red winter wheat belt is still in a drought. However, base prices for crop insurance were set last week for both classes of winter wheat and might provide enough financial incentive to entice farmers to plant in the dust.

In 2022, success or failure, Arkansas farmer Matt Miles is attempting a feat few would dare — soybeans to soybeans to wheat, three crops in one year on the same field.

Unlike corn and soybeans, wheat with genetically modified traits has not caught on in global markets due to consumer resistance. As a result, researchers are using gene-editing tools to incorporate new traits into wheat. Gene editing is different from genetic modification because it involves changes to genes already present within an organism, either shutting it down or enhancing it, as opposed to genetic modification, which typically inserts a gene from another organism into a new one.

Extremely dry conditions persist in the middle of the country. Meteorologist Matt Yarosewick lets us know if any relief is on the way.