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With the constraints the COVID-19 pandemic put on travel and meeting in person, videos are more important than ever before. For the U.S. wheat industry, that importance has increased as the pandemic has prevented the industry from meeting face-to-face with its overseas customers. U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) currently has a range of video stories available on Vimeo, including features on U.S. wheat farmers, wheat production and technical milling topics.

Many of USW’s state wheat commission member organizations also have video stories about farmers and the wheat they grow, which we would like to highlight:

Arizona Grain Research & Promotion Council

Kansas Wheat Commission

Montana Wheat & Barley Committee

Oregon Wheat Commission

Washington Grain Commission

Both USW and its members have more videos they plan to publish later this year and USW will continue to share them here on the Wheat Letter blog and social media as they become available.

In the meantime, check out what our other members are doing on their websites and social media:

California Wheat Commission
Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee
Idaho Wheat Commission
Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board
Minnesota Wheat Research & Promotion Council
Nebraska Wheat Board
North Dakota Wheat Commission
Ohio Small Grains Checkoff
Oklahoma Wheat Commission
South Dakota Wheat Commission
Texas Wheat Producers Board
Wyoming Wheat Marketing Commission

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Originally published by Kansas Wheat. Excerpts reprinted with permission.

About 45 people from 13 U.S. states traveled on six routes across Kansas May 18 to 20, stopping at wheat fields along the routes to assess crop conditions and yield potential, as part of the 2021 Hard Winter Wheat Tour sponsored by the Wheat Quality Council.

What they found is perhaps a more productive crop than many had anticipated. The tour estimated an average yield potential of 58.1 bushels per acre, equal to 76.49 kilograms per hectoliter or 3.91 metric tons per hectare.

While an estimated 7.3 million acres of wheat were planted in the fall, the Kansas wheat crop varies in condition based on planting date and amount of moisture received. What Mother Nature has planned for the rest of the wheat crop year remains to be seen (harvest is likely 4 to 7 weeks away), but the tour captures a moment in time for the yield potential for fields across the state.

Calculating Yield in Muddy Boots

Every tour participant makes yield calculations at each stop based on three different area samplings per field. These individual estimates are averaged with the rest of their route mates and eventually added to a formula that produces a final yield estimate for the areas along the routes. The WQC held the hard winter wheat tour about 3 weeks later in May this year and more than half the fields were headed out. That allowed use of a different yield potential calculation than if the fields had not yet headed.

Recent rains across the central and southern Plains that gave tour scouts muddy boots helped improve crop conditions, especially for early seeded crops, and in northern and central Kansas that had not been stressed by dry conditions.

Day 1

On May 18, tour scouts made ­­­171 stops at wheat fields across north central, central and northwest Kansas, and into southern counties in Nebraska. The calculated yield average that day was 59.2 bushels per acre, which was 12.3 bushels higher than the yield of 46.9 bushels per acre from the same routes in 2019.

Calculating yield potential at the 2021 hard winter wheat tour

A scout in the 2021 Hard Winter Wheat Tour takes a measurement that will be used to help calculate the yield potential of this Kansas wheat field.

Day 2

The hard winter wheat tour continued May 19 with six routes covering western, southwest and south-central Kansas as well as some northern Oklahoma counties. The scouts made 164 stops in wet fields from rain received over the past several days. The wheat in southwest Kansas still looks rough, but crop conditions improved as the tour moved east.

The calculated yield from all cars this day was 56.7 bushels per acre. Tour participants remarked that those yields seemed high because the formula used to calculate yield potential does not take disease, weed nor pest pressure into consideration. Scouts saw some instances of wheat streak mosaic virus, stripe rust and Russian wheat aphid. Many of the fields with rust had been sprayed with a fungicide.

Day 3

The official hard winter wheat tour projection for total production in Kansas is 365 million bushels or 9.94 million metric tons (MMT). This number is the average of estimated predictions from tour participants who gathered information from 350 fields across the state. Based on May 1 conditions, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) predicted the Kansas crop to be 331 million bushels, with a yield of 48 bushels per acre, or 9.1 MMT. The NASS estimate is 18% more than its 2020 estimate at the same time.

The NASS estimate for the Nebraska wheat crop is 36.7 million bushels, or just under 1.0 MMT, up 8% from last year. The Colorado crop is estimated at 64.5 million bushels (1.76 MMT). Oklahoma’s production is estimated at 110.74 million bushels (3.1 MMT).

Tour participant discussions from each day of the 2021 hard winter wheat tour are posted at https://www.youtube.com/c/KansasWheat.

Read more about the 2020 virtual tour and the 2019 tour from U.S. Wheat Associates (USW).

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The new U.S. winter wheat crop is rapidly developing and U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) will publish its first “Harvest Report” for marketing year 2021/22 on Friday, May 14.

USW Harvest Reports are published every Friday afternoon, Eastern Daylight Time, throughout the season with updates and comments on harvest progress, crop conditions and current crop quality for hard red winter (HRW), soft red winter (SRW), hard red spring (HRS), soft white (SW) and durum wheat.

Anyone may subscribe to an email version of the “Harvest Report” at this link. USW includes links in the email to additional wheat condition and grading information, including the U.S. Drought Monitor, USDA/NASS Crop Progress and National Wheat Statistics, the official FGIS wheat grade standards and USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report. Harvest Reports are also posted online on the USW website here.

The weekly Harvest Report is a key component of USW’s international technical and marketing programs. It is a resource that helps customers understand how the crop situation may affect basis values and export prices.

USW’s overseas offices share the report with their market contacts and use it as a key resource for answering inquiries and meeting with customers. Several USW offices publish the reports in the local language. Additional links to Harvest Report are available on USW’s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages.

USW wants to thank and acknowledge the organizations that make “Harvest Reports” possible, including:

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Each of the six U.S. wheat classes brings unique advantages to the increasingly competitive global wheat market.

First, and perhaps the most important, is consistency in quality and supply. Although each new crop year brings different challenges and opportunities, high-quality U.S. wheat is always available to the global market.

Second, each class of wheat provides the ingredients needed to produce so much of the world’s food. U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Vice President of Global Technical Services Mark Fowler makes the point this way: “Our six U.S. wheat classes give our customers the opportunity to optimize taste, texture and appearance of thousands of food products made with flour or semolina.”

Every region, country and culture have wheat-based food products that are uniquely their own. The United States has the right wheat class and quality to make every one of those products more appealing and valuable.

In the video below, Mark Fowler talks about each of the six wheat classes grown in the United States, their definition, uses and their functional characteristics.

Learn more about the six classes of U.S. wheat here or leave a question in the U.S. Wheat Associates’ “Ask The Expert” section.

Interested in more USW video content? Visit our video library at https://vimeo.com/uswheatassociates.


Read more about other classes of U.S. wheat in this series.

Hard Red Winter
Hard Red Spring
Hard White
Soft White
Soft Red Winter
Durum

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U.S. wheat farm families grow six distinct classes of wheat across the diverse landscape of the United States. Those farmers take great care in producing the highest quality wheat in the most sustainable ways possible to honor their family legacies and to ensure greater value for their customers at home and abroad. Behind the world’s most reliable supply of wheat are the world’s most dependable people.


Hucke Farms: Angie and Will Hucke are third-generation farmers and ranchers from Geraldine, about 40 miles (65 km) east of Great Falls in Montana’s “Golden Triangle,” where they grow winter wheat, spring wheat, hay barley and occasionally rotate in yellow peas. Previously, Angie had a corporate job and opted to leave that lifestyle to return to the family farm. Part of returning to the family farm meant being involved in their community and raising their son, Arrow (11), and daughter, Jetta (9) in an environment where they learn about “hard work, taking pride in a job well done and learning that work can be fun.” This year, Arrow drove the grain cart – his first time helping with harvest, and it was clear how excited and proud he was. Both are very involved in 4-H, rodeo, and helping with chores on the farm.

Location: Geraldine, Mont.
Classes of Wheat Grown:  Hard Red Winter (HRW) and Hard Red Spring (HRS)
Leadership: Angie Hucke: President, Miss Rodeo Montana, Inc; Vice President, Geraldine Action Committee; emergency medical technician (EMT); and 4-H leader. Will Hucke: Captain, Geraldine Volunteer Fire Department; Board Member, Chouteau County Livestock Protective Association; high school girls basketball coach; and 4-H leader. Arrow Hucke: Vice President, Willing Workers 4-H Club; and Treasurer, Geraldine Middle School. Jetta Hucke: Reporter, Willing Workers 4H Club.


View other videos and stories in this “Stories from the Wheat Farm” series:

The Next Generation in Kansas
Loving the Work in Ohio
Committed to Stewardship in Washington
Living with Purpose in North Dakota
A Passion for the Land in Oklahoma
Committed to Wheat Quality in Oregon

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By Claire Hutchins, U.S. Wheat Associates Market Analyst

Persistent dryness is both a blessing and a curse to winter wheat farmers across the U.S. Plains states. Dry conditions accelerated the autumn row crop harvest, which allowed for quick planting and of hard red winter (HRW) wheat, but critically low subsoil moisture levels in states like Kansas and Colorado may leave producers more vulnerable to unpredictable winter weather. According to USDA, 41% of the crop for harvest in 2021 is in good to excellent condition, below some analysts’ average expectations of 53% and 15 points below this time last year.

Here is a look at winter wheat planting and development conditions by state.

Texas. HRW planting progress is right on schedule with 72% of the crop in the ground. While dryness persists in the Texas Panhandle, overall crop condition is in line with last year at 37% good to excellent. HRW planted area in the state is expected to increase for the 2020/21 crop. “We can attribute the increase in planted acres to improved prices and more favorable planting conditions,” said Darby Campsey, Director of Communications with the Texas Wheat Producers Board.

Kansas. Here, the HRW crop is 92% planted, 4 points ahead of this time last year. “Mid-September rains helped the early planted crop to emerge and come up pretty strong,” said Kansas State University Wheat and Forage Specialist Romulo Lollato, “but the crop planted after Oct. 5 is more hit or miss.” Kansas producers took advantage of dry autumn weather and a quick row crop harvest to accelerate rotational winter wheat planting. According to Justin Gilpin, CEO of the Kansas Wheat Commission, favorable harvest weather could increase Kansas winter wheat planted area year-over-year.

However, increased dryness throughout the state, particularly in the west, could challenge early winter wheat development. Excessive dryness at planting delays emergence and could delay every phase of crop development, said Lollato. Delayed crop development may push grain filling into hotter conditions, which has the potential to challenge test weight and yield. Producers are hoping for a mild winter and a cool spring with plenty of precipitation to boost the state’s yield potential. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the short term weather forecast in Kansas calls for moderate to heavy precipitation in southern Kansas, which would help early HRW development.

NOAA’s Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF) predicts beneficial rainfall in southern Kansas, western Oklahoma and Northern Texas over the next few days.

“Pray for rain” in Colorado. About all the eastern third of Colorado, where most of the state’s winter wheat is grown, is under extreme drought. Two snowstorms between September and late October have been the “saving grace” for Colorado wheat producers. As of Oct. 25, USDA pegged Colorado’s HRW at 78% emerged, on track with last year and the 5-year average. “When you’re in a serious situation like this, any moisture is highly needed,” said Brad Erker, Executive Director of the Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee. However, only 24% of the state’s HRW is in good to excellent condition compared to 59% last year on extreme dryness. If drought persists through the winter, Colorado’s crop could suffer yield and test weight losses. Producers are hoping for solid winter precipitation which could revitalize critically low soil moisture levels and protect farmland from serious wind erosion.

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows abnormal to exceptional dryness in predominant winter wheat growing regions from northern Texas to the U.S.-Canadian border.

Nebraska. As of Oct. 25, the state’s winter wheat planting campaign for harvest in 2021 was complete. “Dry conditions were a ‘double-edged sword’ for Nebraska. It helped with a quick row crop harvest and allowed traditional wheat areas to be planted quickly. But some producers waited to plant due to extremely dry conditions,” said Royce Schaneman, Executive Director of the Nebraska Wheat Board. An early row crop harvest, favorable weather and strong marketing conditions could lead to increased Nebraska HRW acreage year-over-year.

According to USDA, only 43% of the state’s winter wheat is in good to excellent condition, compared to 61% this time last year on persistent dryness through the late summer and autumn. Recent snowfall in the west helped alleviate drought concerns, but more is needed in the coming months. Producers are hoping for much needed snow across the state to help boost soil moisture levels and protect the crop through the winter.

Good news from South Dakota. Relative dryness in South Dakota is a welcome change compared to last year’s overly wet field conditions. “Going into the fall, following this year’s incredible harvest, there were tremendous weather and price incentives for producers to plant more winter wheat compared to last year,” said Reid Christopherson, Executive Director of the South Dakota Wheat Commission. Most of the state’s winter wheat went into the ground ahead of recent, beneficial snowstorms. As of Oct. 25, 80% of the state’s winter wheat is emerged and 77% of the crop is in good to excellent condition. Looking ahead, producers in southern South Dakota expect mild to warm temperatures that would help with soil moisture absorption and strong early crop growth before the winter.

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) will continue to monitor Great Plains winter wheat development in the coming months.

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Variable growing conditions greatly influenced the 2020 U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat crop. In areas with favorable growing conditions, record yields resulted in lower protein but excellent test weights and kernel characteristics, while regional swings in temperature and moisture led to lower yields with higher protein. The result is a crop that has generally outstanding kernel characteristics with flour, dough and bake quality attributes equal to or better than last year and many of the 5-year averages. Overall, the 2020 HRW crop can be characterized as clean and sound with good milling and processing characteristics, providing customers with an exceptionally good range of quality and value.

U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) has posted the full 2020 Hard Red Winter Regional Report on its website here, as well as the 2020 California Hard Red Winter Regional Report here.

USDA estimates the 2020 HRW planted area was again near historic 100-year lows, continuing the trend of recent years. Total HRW production is estimated at 17.9 MMT (695 mil bu), a 4.8 MMT (174 mil bu) decrease from 2019. Growing conditions varied among the HRW production regions.

  • The western Central and Southern Great Plains experienced insufficient moisture, freeze events and high temperatures during key stages of crop development, resulting in lower yields and kernel size, but higher protein.
  • The eastern Central and Southern Great Plains experienced favorable growing conditions resulting in record yields and very good kernel characteristics, but lower protein.
  • The Northern Great Plains and Pacific Northwest also experienced variable growing conditions. Washington, Montana and South Dakota harvested crops are equal to or better than average with very good kernel characteristics and protein. However, Oregon experienced a significant reduction in yield due to unseasonably dry weather.

With very few exceptions disease and insects were not a major issue for the 2020 HRW crop.

Here are highlights of data from the 2020 HRW wheat crop.

 

Wheat and Grade Data:

  • Grade – the overall average is U.S. No. 2 or better.
  • Test Weight average of 61.4 lb/bu (80.8 kg/hl) is above 2019 and the 5-year averages.
  • Dockage, total defects and foreign material averages are all equal to or similar to 2019 and the 5-year averages.
  • Wheat Protein (11.9%, 12% mb) and shrunken and broken (1.1%) are above 2019 and the 5-year averages.
  • 1000 Kernel Weight averages at 31.2 g, which is less than 2019 but higher than the 5-year average.
  • Wheat Falling Number – Average of 369 sec, indicative of sound wheat.

 

Flour and Baking Data:

  • Laboratory Mill Flour Extraction average is 73.5%, lower than the 2019 and 5-year averages of 74.5% and 75.4%, respectively.
  • Flour Ash levels of 0.49% (14% mb) is comparable to last year but lower than the 5-year average.
  • Alveograph W value of 261(10-4 J) is significantly higher than last year and the 5-year averages.
  • Farinograph peak and stability times, 5.3 and 10.3 min, respectively, are higher than the 2019 and the 5-year averages. Average bake absorption is 63.1%, also above the value for 2019 and the 5-year average.
  • Loaf volume averaged 859 cc, comparable to last year’s and the 5-year averages.

Buyers are encouraged to review their quality specifications to ensure that their purchases meet their expectations.


View other summaries of the 2020 U.S. wheat crop:
Hard Red Spring
Hard White
Soft White
Soft Red Winter
Durum

View the full 2020 U.S. Crop Quality Report and other related resources here.

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U.S. wheat farm families grow six distinct classes of wheat across the diverse landscape of the United States. Those farmers take great care in producing the highest quality wheat in the most sustainable ways possible to honor their family legacies and to ensure greater value for their customers at home and abroad. Behind the world’s most reliable supply of wheat are the world’s most dependable people.


The Padget Family: Padget Ranches sits on the arid Columbia Plateau above the John Day River in Oregon, where Darren Padget’s family has farmed since 1910. Today, Darren farms with his wife Brenda and their son Logan, as well as his dad Dale, a retired wheat farmer who participated in his 68th wheat harvest in 2020. Their dryland wheat and summer fallow rotation currently produces registered and certified seed on 3,400 acres annually.

Location: Grass Valley, Ore.
Classes of Wheat Grown:  Soft White (SW)
Leadership: Darren Padget: 2020/21 Chairman, U.S. Wheat Associates; Commissioner, Oregon Wheat Commission; Past President, Oregon Wheat Growers League; Past Chair, National Association of Wheat Growers Research and Technology Committee; Past Officer, Mid-Columbia Producers Board of Directors.


View other videos and stories in this “Stories from the Wheat Farm” series:

The Next Generation in Kansas
Loving the Work in Ohio
Committed to Stewardship in Washington
Living with Purpose in North Dakota
A Passion for the Land in Oklahoma
Embracing the Agricultural Lifestyle in Montana

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The 2020 Desert Durum® crop will again deliver the valuable milling, semolina and pasta quality traits that customers have learned to expect and appreciate.

Desert Durum® is a registered certification mark owned jointly by the Arizona Grain Research and Promotion Council (AGRPC) and the California Wheat Commission (CWC). The mark certifies or is intended to certify that grain so named is at least 90 percent wheat grain produced under irrigation in the desert valleys and lowlands of Arizona or California.

Before providing details on the new crop Desert Durum® quality, here is a look back by AGRPC Executive Director Allan B. Simons at how this unique and valuable commodity evolved into the identity preserved product it is today.

Historical Perspective

Arizona and California farmers grew durum wheat widely in the decades before 1980. However, the varieties available at the time generally possessed such mediocre milling and semolina flour qualities that this “desert durum” suffered a rather poor reputation among both domestic and foreign semolina millers and pasta makers. Therefore, much of this production was consigned to livestock feed.

Somewhat better quality durum varieties were being grown and even exported by the early 1980s. However, a cross between several northern durum varieties and two high-producing desert varieties, performed by a private cereal breeding firm in 1976 serendipitously produced a line possessing such superior color and pasta quality traits that it was introduced to a major Italian pasta company in 1980/81. The Italian firm began importing this durum, first in containers before moving to cargo ship holds. The variety was awarded a plant variety protection certificate in 1982 and occupied significant crop acreage in Arizona and the Imperial Valley of California by 1983. This variety, with its very desirable qualities, represented the first in a long and continuing line of high-quality durum varieties adapted to the southwestern U.S. deserts now known as Desert Durum®. These varieties are developed and released by Arizona’s private breeding programs to be sold both domestically and overseas.

Arizona Desert Durum® variety trial plots.

About half of annual Desert Durum® production in Arizona and California has been exported for many years, with Italy as the perennial leading export destination. One reason for Italy’s continued purchase of Desert Durum® is its valued semolina quality traits, allowing Italian pasta makers to maintain quality standards as they deal with typically variable grain quality from other sources.

Arizona wheat growers possess very little grain storage capability, so most of the annual Desert Durum® crop is grown to be “identity preserved,” a program by which the grower plants certified seed purchased from the grain handler that will eventually purchase the crop. The grain crops are harvested, delivered and stored by variety for future shipment to fill existing or future customer orders. Also, the handlers continually remind growers of the critical need to maintain production practices needed to achieve the expected quality standards for Desert Durum®. Grain handler representatives annually discuss varietal traits, production conditions, prices, shipping realities and other factors with customers. They also work with U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) representatives to support and inform potential Desert Durum® buyers.

Sustainability Metrics

Some domestic and overseas customers of Desert Durum® have adopted certain “sustainability metrics” for their grain purchases that tend to cast an unfavorable reputation on small grains production in some environments. One of their negative metrics determines that wheat grown with substantial irrigation possesses a relatively high “water footprint,” defined as the quantity of water needed to produce a unit of grain.

The AGRPC recently commissioned a University of Arizona study that reviewed a wide range of the topic’s literature and production practices and environments that influence the metric. The study concluded that Arizona’s durum wheat production, as currently practiced, has a water footprint that is lower to much lower than evidenced in many other durum production regions. Furthermore, the report observes that the water footprint values stated or calculated for durum wheat production under Arizona’s conditions are over-stated on many sustainability websites. The report can be accessed on the following website under “2015 Project Reports”: https://agriculture.az.gov/arizona-grain-research-and-promotion-council-previously-funded-research-projects.

2020 Crop Quality

Desert Durum® crops in both Arizona and Southern California are grown under weather conditions and management practices that promote consistently favorable grain, milling, and semolina traits. These crops are seldom negatively affected by adverse weather events. The result is grain of consistently large low moisture kernels possessing very high hard amber durum counts and which yield high semolina extraction rates.

Desert Durum® production acreage in 2020 was somewhat greater than in 2019. The combined results of Desert Durum® surveys conducted by the AGRPC and CWC reveals the following crop data. The average grade is No. 1 Hard Amber Durum (HAD). Test weight is 62.3 lb/bu (81.1 kg/hl). The average hard vitreous amber kernel content (HVAC) is 99.0%, a high average typical of Desert Durum®. Average damaged kernels are 0.2% and total defects are 0.6%. Desert Durum® is characterized by its low kernel moisture content and this year’s average is 6.9%. Protein content average is 14.5% (12% mb).

Semolina and Processing Data. The semolina extraction rate average across varieties is 71.1%. The semolina b* value is 32.7, higher than 2019 b* value of 29.2. Wet gluten is 34.7% and gluten index is 87. Semolina Mixograph score is 7 and Alveograph W value is 294 (10-4 J), both of which indicate high strength. Pasta color b* value is 43 and score is 9.6. Pasta cooked firmness is 7.4, higher than 2019.

Whole wheat durum pasta.

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U.S. wheat farm families grow six distinct classes of wheat across the diverse landscape of the United States. Those farmers take great care in producing the highest quality wheat in the most sustainable ways possible to honor their family legacies and to ensure greater value for their customers at home and abroad. Behind the world’s most reliable supply of wheat are the world’s most dependable people.


The Peters Family: Peters Farms is a family-owned operation that was started when Michael Peters’ great-great-grandfather homesteaded a piece of land in central Oklahoma in the 1880s. Today, Michael farms with his father, Fred Peters, and his son Tyler. They grow hard red winter (HRW) wheat and graze cattle on some of that crop over the late fall and winter. Linda Peters, Michael’s wife, is a teacher and church musician who remains an active participant in the farm operations.

Location: Okarche, Okla.
Classes of Wheat Grown:  Hard Red Winter (HRW)
Leadership: Michael Peters: 2020/21 Secretary/Treasurer, U.S. Wheat Associates; Commissioner, Oklahoma Wheat Commission (OWC); Chair, USW Audit Committee; Past Chair, USW Wheat Quality Committee; member of the USW and National Association of Wheat Growers Joint International Trade Committee; Past President, St. John’s Lutheran Church; Past President, CHS Western Oklahoma Cooperative; member of Okarche Rural Fire Fighters’ Association Board.


View other videos and stories in this “Stories from the Wheat Farm” series:

The Next Generation in Kansas
Loving the Work in Ohio
Committed to Stewardship in Washington
Living with Purpose in North Dakota
Committed to Wheat Quality in Oregon
Embracing the Agricultural Lifestyle in Montana