BOONE COUNTY - Winter wheat planted in the fall has no problem surviving through the winter, but what happens to the wheat when a winter freeze hits in the springtime?
The eighty-degree temperatures a few weeks ago allowed the wheat to begin blooming, but for those blooms to survive, farmers need the warm temperatures to last.
Missouri farmers planted 1,050,000 acres of winter wheat this year which is 50,000 acres more than last year and twice as many acres as two years ago.
"Last year the 2006 crop was worth about $175 million, so it's an important crop to the state of Missouri and if we lose the whole thing it could be, you know, very devastating economically," agricultural statistician Gene Danekas said.
Danekas says some farmers will will harvest the wheat and accept low yields while others may decide to plant corn, rather than wheat, in the fields.
Missouri analysts said farmers in the southern part of the state will probably see the worst wheat yields.
That doesn't mean the price of bread and other wheat products will be lower this year. The farmer's share of a loaf of bread is less than a nickel.
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