It was 1874 when a large influx of Russian immigrants settled in Kansas bringing with them a hard red variety of wheat.
This wheat variety grew well in the harsh summers and dry winters.
Hard red winter wheat swallowed the Plains, and when you drive across Kansas in June you see it turn the land gold. Kansas has even been known in the past as the “breadbasket of the world.”
Today, Kansas embraces its wheat identity, and still is one of the top wheat producing states. But wheat acres have continued to trend downward, falling away to other crops like corn and sorghum.
For over a century, wheat hasn’t changed too much from when it first took over. Other crops have been improved and hybridized. But scientists now think hybrid varieties will create a new wheat era.
Agronomist Logan Simon wipes his brow with a cloth as he walks through test plots used to experiment with corn, cotton and wheat just outside Garden City.
The success of Kansas agriculture relies on research like this.
“It gives us some greater optimism as we move into a potentially drier future,” Simon said.
Hybrid varieties can bring better bread to your stores, healthy livestock that you eat and biofuels for your cars. And it is becoming increasingly crucial as climate change produces challenging environments for Kansas farmers.
These hybrids usually take good traits from different varieties of a crop and combine them to make a plant that’s healthier, hardier or produces more, even in harsh environments.
But it hasn’t been so easy with wheat. Scientists have racked their brains trying to make better wheat hybrids. The plant's physiology makes hybridizing wheat difficult.
Katherine Frels has worked for years in wheat breeding at the University of Nebraska. She said people witness the scientific success of agriculture without even realizing it.
“Whatever crop they're looking at as they go to church, go to the grocery store. Someone had to develop that variety,” Frels said.
Farmers have had innovations in corn hybrids since the 1930s. Soybeans followed shortly in the 1940s. Since corn was hybridized, farmers’ yields have increased about 700%, going from 26 bushels per acre to 183 bushels.
But even with the advent of fertilizers and pesticides, wheat has barely doubled its yields in that same time.
With corn, to make hybrids simply cut off the tassel at the top which produces pollen and plant it with another variety to cross the two.
The problem is wheat pollinates itself, which has made creating hybrid varieties nearly impossible.
Frels has worked on a lot of potential solutions, like chemically sterilizing the plant. She said from their research, out of 1700 wheat hybrid variety trials, there is a yield increase on average.
Universities aren’t alone. Seed companies are also diving in as well, studying how to make enough hybrid wheat seeds so it’s consistently available.
Corteva is a global agriculture company that has recently announced a breakthrough with their wheat hybrids.
Jessie Alt is the lead wheat breeder at Corteva. Hybrids have consumed most of her career, and it’s been a challenge.
Back in 2018, after decades of research, scientists mapped out the genome of wheat. That allows people like Alt to find ways to stop wheat from pollinating itself and breed it to make unique hybrids.
“It has been the most exciting thing of my career,” Alt said. “Like, we can do this.”
Alt said combining different field tools such as drones and understanding genetics have allowed for more hybrid innovations on a larger scale.
What this breakthrough means for Kansas farmers is potentially 20% higher yields in water stressed environments, which will be critical as the Ogallala Aquifer runs dry and farmers switch to non-irrigated crops once their water pumps fail.
It will also help farmers transition more smoothly to limited irrigation, while still producing a profitable crop.
Wheat hybrids could use less water, fertilizer or herbicides, and result in a product with more fiber and protein.
But farmers will need to be able to see and feel the crop if they are going to take a chance on it.
“Kick the tires, if you will,” said Jason Gaeddert, a farmer from Buhler, Kansas.
Corteva used Kansas for 70% of their test plots, one of them being on Gaeddert’s land. He said that the hybrid wheat has looked good, and even produced higher yields. He wants to see how much better that wheat will handle dry times when the rains don’t come.
“If it can handle that stress better, then you're going to clearly get a better yield or better quality product. Then, that becomes more profitable,” Gaeddert said.
Corteva hopes to roll out hybrid wheat on the markets in 2027. But there is a problem with wheat hybrids on the horizon. They will be pretty pricey, and in order to change agriculture, farmers have to actually use the seed.
Farmers are able to salvage wheat seed from harvest, saving some money the next planting season.
With hybrids, the seed won’t be reusable because the offspring won’t be the same as the parents. Can the hybrids make farmers enough money to justify the increased cost?
Gaeddert said he will gladly spend more money to make more money. Other farmers might feel the same.
Mike Krieghauser is an agronomist for Pioneer, a seed brand of Corteva. He works with farmers in northwest Kansas.
Despite the financial challenges for farmers, Krieghauser is optimistic they’ll adopt hybrid wheat.
“I mean, it's wheat. It should be the easiest adopting hybrid thing that we've ever done in the history of agriculture,” he said.
Calen Moore covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can email him at cmoore@hppr.org.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
