The winter wheat harvest is expected to begin within days in south-central Kansas amid a mostly poor crop but lofty prices for whatever farmers manage to salvage.

The OK Co-op Grain elevator reported Thursday that growers around Kiowa (KEYE’-oh-wah) have already begun test-cutting.

Assistant elevator manager Dennis Carroll says the early samples are still too high in moisture, but the first Kansas fields should be ready to harvest within a day or two. He says the elevator expects to get half its normal crop.

The cash price at the Kiowa elevator is $8.55 a bushel – more than double last year’s price of roughly $3 a bushel.