Kansas farmers could soon play a role in spaghetti night or be the source of macaroni salad for the community cook out.
More Kansas farmers are testing out a new breed of the durum wheat species milled into semolina flour used in pasta. Kansas State University released the new variety, and it’s coming at a time when wheat farmers need it most.
The state has been such a huge wheat producer that it earned the nickname “The Wheat State” since Russian immigrants brought wheat to the Plains in the 1870s. That wheat is the type traditionally used for flour, bread, tortillas and other baked goods.
But for decades, there have been entire wheat fields disappearing from the state, falling away to other crops that bring in more cash like corn and sorghum.
K-State agronomist Logan Simon said change isn’t new for Kansas agriculture. In fact, some diversity could be a good thing.
“Kansas ag has been evolving from the beginning, crop diversity makes sense agronomy wise,” Simon said.
The new durum variety could bring farmers back to wheat to pursue the pasta market. Going from bread to noodles could make Kansas farmers more money.
Simon has seen farmers try out durum wheat in his own backyard in southwest Kansas. It looks very similar to common Kansas winter wheat, but it consistently boasts more protein.
Simon said the best part of the new durum variety is its still wheat, which is an easier transition compared to totally new crops such as canola or cowpeas.
“The difference between durum and other alternative crops is, this is wheat, and Kansas farmers definitely know how to grow wheat,” Simon said.
The wheat game isn’t the same
Kansas used to control the wheat market. But nowadays, Russia and eastern Europe easily outpace Kansas in wheat production. Acres of winter wheat last year fell to 32.6 million, one of the lowest levels since 1909.
Russia's massive exports have hurt the value of the traditional wheat grown in Kansas. But durum wheat is more rare, is more of a specialty crop and it can give Kansas farmers an edge.
Tanner Ehmke grew up in western Kansas. He now is a lead economist for the farm credit business CoBank. He said durum wheat could increase Kansas farmers’ profits.
“It's all about profit. Durum historically pays quite a bit more than hard red winter wheat,” Ehmke said.
That can amount to a couple dollars more per bushel of wheat. And when an acre produces up to 37 bushels at roughly $6 per bushel, it adds up quickly, especially considering the tough year.
Drought hampered wheat this year. Kansas had one of its smallest wheat crops in 50 years. From February through April, critical growing months for wheat, much of western Kansas received less than an inch of rain, with some areas reporting as little as a quarter inch.
Even with small harvests, the more valuable durum might have been one of the only profitable wheat crops.
Despite wheat’s low prices, it still has a special place in Kansas. It’s a good dryland crop, meaning it can grow without irrigation. Western Kansas is losing more of its irrigation water pumps because of declines in the Ogallala Aquifer.
A wheat breed that can make more money and doesn’t require irrigation could be very valuable to the state’s farmers.
“If somebody has good water, they're going to use that for corn,” Ehmke said. “Dryland acres is where durum is going to have to compete.”
The market is starting to respond. Ehmke said there is a mill near Scott City, Kansas, that has started to take durum wheat to process. From there, it’s shipped to Kansas City and turned into pasta.
That’s a critical step if the crop is going to take off. Farmers need mills that will buy durum wheat and industries that want the semolina flour the mills produce.
Agriculture is the largest single sector of Kansas’ economy. Wheat alone in 2024 generated $1.6 billion for the state. When farmers turn a profit, it’s usually felt in rural economies.
Challenges for the wheat variety
But Kansas probably won’t give up its bread-based identity for pasta anytime soon.
That’s mostly because far less durum wheat is grown in total compared to winter wheat. Last year, Kansas harvested almost 7 million acres of winter wheat, and the whole country produced only 2 million acres of durum wheat.
Plus, the market is brand new. Growing durum wheat in Kansas only became a viable option in 2023, when K-State released the variety made for western Kansas. But it’s been in the making for almost 25 years.
The buyers for durum wheat are also much more particular. A farmer can do everything right, and grow a decent crop. But if untimely rains or drought hit, that can affect the color or protein content. If those wheat grains don’t meet the specifications, a pasta production company will not buy it.
When that happens, a farmer would likely have to turn their premium wheat into cattle feed, losing out on a significant profit. But when things go well, it can reward farmers with premium prices.
The road to making Kansas pasta
Allan Fritz first started working on breeding durum wheat for Kansas back in 2002. He is a wheat breeder for K-State and part of his job is anticipating the needs of Kansas farmers.
“Not just right now, but what are they really going to need a decade from now,” Fritz said.
His hope was to offer something to western Kansas farmers that could save water usage, while offering more profit.
He saw the writing on the wall ahead of coming industry changes. Most of the nation’s durum wheat is produced in the northern states like the Dakotas, Montana and Canada. But some is produced as an irrigated crop in the southwestern U.S. near Arizona.
He suspected the major urban areas would be demanding that water.
“My thought was probably the highest and best use of water in the desert southwest is not going to be wheat production,” Fritz said. “It felt like maybe there was an opportunity to be able to bring durum into western Kansas.”
With that market open, western Kansas farmers could capitalize and fill the gap.
The next hurdle Fritz navigated was making a durum wheat variety that can handle the Kansas winter growing season. Wheat is planted in the fall and goes dormant in the cold months before growing again in the spring. Most durum is initially planted in the spring, but Kansas is too hot for that.
It took years to fine tune the crop to grow properly in Kansas. It almost got to the point that Fritz was going to give up on the project.
“I had kind of made the decision to stick everything in the cold room and just kind of walk away from it,” Fritz said. “And then that week I got about two or three calls just out of the blue from processors or other people asking about the potential in winter durum.”
Now there’s been about 9,000 acres planted in Kansas. Fritz hopes to see 100,000 acres or more across the state in the future.
Calen Moore covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can email him at cmoore@hppr.org.
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