Wheat tour to examine extent of damage from drought, disease

Farmers and other agriculture industry leaders plan to fan out across Kansas in the coming days to examine the extent of damage to winter wheat from drought, disease and winterkill.

The Wheat Quality Council’s hard red winter wheat tour this year has already drawn a record number of expected participants with more than 90 people signed up.

This year’s four-day-long trek kicks off on Monday afternoon with a meeting in Manhattan in northeast Kansas. The following morning attendees split up in various cars and take various routes to Colby in northwest Kansas.

On Wednesday the group takes different routes across western Kansas before ending up in Wichita.

Then on Thursday, they head to Kansas City, Missouri, where they announce the group’s forecast for the state’s 2015 wheat crop.