Drought Wrecks Kansas Wheat Crop, Leaving Farmers With Little to Sell

Kansas wheat farmers are facing an unusual paradox this year: higher prices for their crop have collided with dramatically lower yields due to drought, leaving many of them with little grain to sell.

The state's hard red winter wheat has been hit particularly hard, with the Kansas Wheat CEO Justin Gilpin noting that the cash price had reached $9.42 per bushel as of September 1, up nearly 59% from a year earlier.

However, the USDA's August Crop Production forecast estimated the Kansas wheat crop at just 191.4 million bushels, 45% below last year's production.

The drought has forced farmers to abandon about 900,000 planted acres, and harvested fields averaged only 33 bushels per acre, compared with 51 bushels last year.