In west-central North Dakota, farmers can start planting spring wheat as early as March 15. Near Hazen, farmer John Weinand says there’s not enough moisture for the wheat to sprout. “I have thought about planting, but may wait a little.” Weinand says the winter wheat is struggling to survive in dry conditions. “Even though I think it made it through the winter, the winter wheat could drought out in awhile, because we’re not getting any water. About half of the winter wheat I planted around September 1 came up alright, but some of it never actually made it out of the ground. It was too dry and we got some snow in October, but I just checked the crop. Some came up and some didn’t.”
