Kansas agriculture

‘I need more Mexicans.’

Several southwest Kansans are featured in a June 20 Bloomberg Businessweek article with that headline – a message the article reports Kansas farmers are sending to President Donald Trump.

According to Blooomberg, arrests of suspected undocumented workers have jumped 38 percent since Trump signed a pair of executive orders targeting immigration in January. This has some in the state worried about the impact on the rural economy.

Cropland in the Midwest is losing its value as the downturn in the agriculture economy continues, according to a number of surveys by agricultural economists. Record-high crop prices contributed to record-high land values in 2012 and 2013, but now, that party is over.

Wheat is falling out of favor in Kansas, reports Farm Futures.

Wheat acreage may be reduced by as much as five percent this fall. That means, in the autumn of 2016, Kansas will record its fewest wheat acres in more than 100 years. Most of the decline can be attributed to low prices and a late soybean harvest. Wheat hasn’t been as profitable as other crops lately, and current prices show that trend continuing.

Kansas farmers are looking to build a relationship with Cuba, reports The High-Plains/Midwest Ag Journal.

Sugarcane aphids have returned to Kansas’s grain sorghum fields, reports The Wichita Eagle. According to a K-State Extension Office report, the invasive insects are once again threatening the state’s sorghum profits, as they did last year.