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Nebraska farmer says goodbye to wheat

U.S. winter wheat acres are down sharply from a year ago.

One of the biggest decreases is in Nebraska, where wheat acres are down 20 percent from 2016 at 1.1 million acres, a record low for the state.

Southwest Nebraska farmer Roric Paulman tells Brownfield there’s no wheat planted on his farm for the first time in 37 years—even though he had record wheat yields in 2016.

“The challenge there is, as rents and land costs have moved up—even the taxation piece—there’s nothing left after you raise a 100-bushel irrigated crop at $3.00,” Paulman says. “There’s just no way—that’s a recipe for disaster.”

Even then, Paulman says, it was a tough decision.

“There’s obviously a lot of research going on with the Wheat Board and that’s a foundation crop for Nebraska. So how do we continue to be a part of that,” he says. “It’s a difficult decision for us. I didn’t think I’d ever say never, that I wouldn’t grow a crop.”

Nationwide, just over 32 million acres were planted to winter wheat, down ten percent.  Hard red winter dropped 12 percent and soft red winter acres are six percent lower.

AUDIO: Roric Paulman