After record-breaking rains ruined upper Midwest wheat harvests, drought now threatens the nation's grain growing farther south, reports UPI.
Lack of rain during the fall left farmers in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas -- where the majority of the nation's winter wheat is grown -- struggling to get their plants to grow.
Marsha Boswell, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Wheat Commission, told UPI the fall drought meant much of this year's wheat did not develop the roots needed to overwinter well.
During that same period, rain pummeled the upper Midwest. States like North Dakota, which produces large quantities of spring wheat, experienced massive flooding, and farmers battled mud and ice to harvest their crops.
The two opposing -- and damaging -- weather patterns hit the two areas of the country that grow the majority of U.S. wheat.
