Jennifer M. Latzke

2 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Jennifer M. Latzke

I was about 8 or 9 years old when my dad took a shortcut while working on a split-rim tractor tire in our farm shop. He was in a hurry and didn’t have a tire cage, and he’d done this a million times — he had a million reasons for his actions that day. Unfortunately, his luck ran out, the tire exploded, and he suffered a catastrophic injury to his hand. Fortunately, this was in the mid-1980s, and the local emergency room, just 25 minutes away, was fully staffed.

2 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Jennifer M. Latzke

SORGHUM INVESTMENT: The state of Kansas has earmarked a $1 million public commitment for the Collaborative Sorghum Investment Program through an appropriation in the fiscal 2026 budget. Jennifer M. LatzkeAccording to the Kansas Sorghum Producers Association, the state of Kansas has earmarked a $1 million public commitment for the Collaborative Sorghum Investment Program (CSIP) through an appropriation in the fiscal 2026 budget.

2 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Jennifer M. Latzke

The yard sticks are put away for another year, and the Wheat Quality Council’s Hard Winter Wheat Tour is in the books. The final tour estimate: 338.5 million bushels for the Kansas wheat crop. There’s a lot that can happen between May 15 and when harvest is likely to kick off in four weeks, though, that could affect that tour prediction.

3 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Jennifer M. Latzke

That’s what organizers have historically called the Wheat Quality Council’s Hard Winter Wheat Tour. For three days cars, vans, and some pickup trucks filled with 67 wheat farmers, wheat industry professionals, and K-State Extension specialists have crossed the state measuring 449 wheat fields, and comparing crop conditions. The tour tabulated estimated yield potential of the crop, as of May 12-15, to be 53 bushels per acre, across the tour routes.

3 weeks ago | farmprogress.com | Jennifer M. Latzke

At a GlanceDrilled in first week of October in dry conditions. Timely rains through fall, snows this winter, and more timely spring rains have given the crop a boost. Wheat Streak Mosaic found in varying degrees in neighboring fields in the county, first time ever. In a field just outside of Stafford, Kan., along the Day 2/Black Route, John Hildebrand stands in waist-high flowering wheat. The prettiest wheat he’s seen in a couple of years, he says.