The winter wheat harvest is wrapping up near Ellsworth, Kansas, but yields have fallen well short of expectations. Kenneth Lund, a custom harvester from Litchfield, Minnesota, said this year’s crop is the poorest he has seen in nearly three decades. “It’s probably been the thinnest and worst crop I’ve seen in 27 years of doing this,” said Lund. “Most of the yields have been in the mid-20s. You’d see some 30s, every once in a while a 35, but for the most part it’s not very good.” The lack of wheat farther west is also changing harvest plans. “My next stop would have been Colorado or western Nebraska, but there is no crop,” said Lund. “Right now we’re searching for work around the Pierre, South Dakota, area.”
