A July 10 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected 196 million bushels for the Kansas winter wheat harvest, down from nearly 347 million last year, said Dan O’Brien, agricultural economist and Kansas State University professor. Nationally, winter wheat production is expected to be 471 million bushels, O’Brien said, compared with last year’s 804 million. Kansas farmers were affected primarily by drought, and there were also freezes early in the season that damaged crops, a weather pattern that Nick Levendofsky, executive director of the Kansas Farmers Union, said he expects to see for a long time. Kansas Farm Bureau reported that Chapter 12 bankruptcies filed nationally by farmers increased to 315 filings in 2025, a 46% increase from 2024. The future remains uncertain for Kansas wheat farmers, O’Brien said.