Many of us here in rural Nebraska remember wheat harvest.
It was usually about a two week period that came around the first week or two of July . . . each and every year.
Everyone on the farm and often people from the towns were involved in the affair.
Trucks or anything that could carry wheat filled the county roads and were often lined up in a procession at the local elevator waiting to unload.
My . . . how things have changed here in rural Nebraska.
I know there was a wheat harvest as I saw a few fields of wheat before they were cut and those same fields displayed large round bales of straw waiting to be picked up after the harvest.
Growing wheat is sort of a rare thing in 2021 for farmers in southcentral Nebraska. This reporter took a look at the harvested acres numbers from the U.S.D.A. Farm Service Agency and did a little comparison.
For the year 2020, Nuckolls County reported 6,780 acres of wheat harvested. To some, that may sound like a lot of acres, until you compare that with some historical figures:
2013 – 28,800 harvested acres
2008 – 42,100 harvested acres
1998 – 35,000 harvested acres
1988 – 39,500 harvested acres
In surrounding counties, wheat acres for 2020 are equally scarce. Webster County had the most in this area as they reported 11,900 acres; Clay County reported only 950 acres and Adams County had 1,880 acres.
Generally, wheat acres planted in 2020 is approximately 15 to 20 percent of what was planted a few years ago.
In speaking to farmers over the past several years, it isn’t that they don’t like to plant wheat. Many have expressed a great likeness for wheat in the rotation of their crops.
The deciding factor for most farmers is the price. It is not worth their investment as the price in recent years has been so low. The Farm Service Agency reported the 2020 price as $5.56/bu. and for 2021, $6.53/bu.
Those prices are much better than the $3 or $4 price range wheat has been selling at over the past few years.
WHAT CHANGED: While looking up information on the wheat this reporter also looked at the acres of the other major crops in this part of Nebraska. Interesting changes have taken place in Nebraska agriculture. Consider the following changes: (Nuckolls county figures)
Corn: 1988 – 32,000 harvested acres; 2020 – 132,300 acres.
Soybeans: 1988 – 17,100 acres; 2020 – 74,500 acres.
Milo: 1988 – 61,000 acres; 2020 – 3,360 acres.
The same pattern follows suit in surrounding counties. The trend is away from wheat and milo and towards corn and soybeans. Factors driving the changes seems to be better crop genetics for corn and soybeans, especially drought resistance. Price also drives the change.
TOTAL ACRES: The last comparison this reporter did was to look at total acres of planted crops. In the thirty plus years between 1988 and 2020 approximately 70,000 acres of land has been planted to crops that were not planted in 1988. Compare the two years:
1988 – 149,600 acres.
2020 – 216,940 acres.
To say nothing changes in rural Nebraska is wrong. A person just has to know what to look for.
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