Sorghum U / Wheat U discusses hot topics for Kansas farmers

As producers turn their attention from a prolonged and frustrating summer season to fall fieldwork season, approximately 130 Kansas producers gathered in Wichita on August 9 for Sorghum U / Wheat U to hear from their peers, learn the latest from researchers and commodity analysts and discuss the outlook for the upcoming sorghum harvest and wheat planting. 

The free, one-day educational event, organized by High Plains Journal, highlighted management techniques, drought discussion, fertility recommendations and other commodity-focused topics. 

The day started with a panel moderated by Craig Meeker of Wellington, and featuring farmers Michael Peters of Okarche, Okla; Brant Peterson of Johnson; Kent Winter of Andale; and Brett Oelke of Hoxie. Peters is currently serving Chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates. The panelists shared their methods of growing high yielding, high quality wheat and sorghum, marketing opportunities, including direct to flour mills or food grade sorghum producers, on-farm storage solutions, and technologies they wouldn’t want to be without on their farming operations. They agreed that when looking at these two crops, it’s important to be frugal, but not cheap, indicating that fertilizer and fungicides will pay off in the end.

Following the panel discussion, attendees broke into commodity-focused breakout sessions. The first session addressed a top decision that wheat farmers are making right now — what varieties of wheat should they select to plant? K-State wheat breeder Allan Fritz presented an update on current wheat varieties, including the availability of new varieties and details on upcoming variety releases. Fritz said that while there will be seed available for planting this fall, chosen variety seed may have been sold already, stating that farmers looking for a specific variety may have needed to make their decisions and secured seed earlier in the year.

Battling weeds was a common theme across the state for wheat farmers this season and the second session tackled this challenge. Sarah Lancaster, K-State assistant professor and extension specialist, discussed the different weed management options available to wheat farmers at different points in the wheat growing season.  

Following the breakout sessions, the sorghum and wheat joined together for a luncheon featuring a keynote presentation on Kansas weather trends by Ross Janssen, chief meteorologist at KWCH, and updates from Kansas Wheat and Kansas Grain Sorghum. Janssen told attendees that he expects this fall and winter to be mild, with average to above average precipitation because of the current El Niño weather pattern. Aaron Harries, Kansas Wheat’s vice president of research and operations, provided a wheat industry update and shared the video tour of the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center.

Afternoon breakout sessions covered soil health by Josh Lofton, Oklahoma State University cropping system specialist, market outlook from Michael O’Dea with StoneX Financial Inc, and common and recent pests by Jeff Whitworth, K-State entomology specialist. A final panel focused on how to enhance wheat quality and yields, featuring perspectives from Dr. Sarah Lancaster, Michael Bahr, Dr. Kelsey Onofre and Randall Varnell.

Sorghum U/Wheat U was sponsored by High Plains Journal, Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission, Kansas Wheat, United Sorghum Checkoff Program, Kauffman Seed, EGE Products, Exapta Solutions, Inc., Heartland Soil Services, Koch Agronomic Services, Conklin AgroVantage, FMC, DoubleTeam Sorghum Cropping Solution. 

Miss the event but still want to explore these topics? Check out WheatRx for the latest researcher recommendations on the key management areas of HRW wheat, including the 2023 Kansas Wheat Variety Guide. Check these resources at kswheat.com/wheatrx.