Praying for Rain: A Monthly Wheat Update

 

Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

My January wheat update has a little bit of all three.

 

I "shoulda" taken a photo of the dusting of snow we got while it was on the wheat. I "coulda" done it when we got an arctic blast and a dusting of snow a couple of different times before my January 21 wheat update photo. However, on one of those times, we were taking off for Houston. And on the other? I was feeling a little under the weather, and it was just too tempting to stay in the warm house. Maybe I "woulda," had it not been for a few extenuating circumstances.

But I did make it out for our January 21 update ... even though it was pretty chilly then, too (as Randy demonstrated in the photo)!

The colder weather has made the wheat look less green than it did in my previous reports. However, when you think about it, wheat is still kind of miraculous. Wheat is essentially a grass. Think about how your lawn looks in the winter. And yet, wheat still has its green hue.

The big news for the month is probably that we didn't get any appreciable moisture. And that's reflected in the drought monitor:

It's been a dry stretch for most of the state. The latest drought monitor expanded the moderate drought into much of western and central Kansas. Only eastern Kansas has escaped the drier conditions.

We'll see how this week's snows impact the next drought map. We only got an inch or so here on January 25, but western Kansas got even more snow than forecast - up to 2 feet in a few places!

My December update wished for moisture. I guess I'll wish again. Randy was answering questions for a telephone survey. The questioner asked "What could producers do to produce a better wheat crop? Randy told him, "Pray for rain." 

Sunrise glow, taken toward the northeast over a wheat field

 That's good advice.