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Western Kansas farmer says recent snow might be enough to save his wheat crop

A Southwest Kansas farmer is hoping a recent snowstorm will revive his winter wheat crop before it suffers from winterkill.

Gary Millershaski tells Brownfield his fields received 5-10 inches of snow over the weekend, which should help his crop emerge. “First week of February, if my wheat isn’t green down the row, I hope it’s at least sprouted and starting to grow, which is a really weird wish for the first of February.

He says in non-drought years his wheat crop typically is emerged by mid-September.

Millershaski says the plant 3,000 to 4,000 acres of winter wheat each year, but he didn’t plant as much due to the drought. “We did back off a little bit this last fall because we knew it wasn’t going to come up. We probably only got up 25 to 30 percent at max last fall.”

But, USDA’s latest report showed Kansas farmers planted about 200,000 more acres than a year ago.