Kansas Wheat Prices A Boon To Kansas Farmers

Kansas wheat farmers are reaping the benefits of a global concern over the shortage of grains.

Prices have jumped nearly $3 since the middle of the harvest after Russia announced it would ban grain exports for the rest of the year. Dry weather in Europe and an influx of money from speculators have also contributed to the highest prices for wheat in two years.

Ken Jameson, vice president of the Garden City Coop’s grain division, says farmers have already sold 75 percent of their wheat crop. He says it normally would be March before that much wheat was sold.

Wheat prices at Garden City were $6.35 at the close of market Thursday and hovered around $6.70 in Hutchinson. Prices at many of the state’s elevators in June reached a low of nearly $3.50.