They’re called the Lane County “dryland” wheat plots—and this year you’ll see why!  On Wednesday, May 29 starting at 6 pm at the Vance and Louise Ehmke farm, you’ll be able to see all the new and up-and-coming wheat varieties such as KSU’s exciting new release KS Bill Snyder which will be available this fall…

Vance and Louise Ehmke at Ehmke Seed are anxiously looking forward to wheat harvest this year and are even more excited to see how the new K-State wheat variety KS Bill Snyder does. The variety, named after the legendary KSU football coach, promises very high yields and other strong traits like drought hardiness. The Ehmkes…

Wheat and More…or LessBy Vance Ehmke3-27-2024Thanks to super optimum planting conditions last fall, many wheat farmers in the central and southern Plains now have some of the best-looking wheat stands in years. That was followed by a relatively wet winter which made the potential look even better. But did the weather just throw us a…

In 2022-2023 KSU forage tests, all three Ehmke Seed triticale varieties scored in the top yield group with ThunderTall and ThunderTall ll topping the trials with dry matter production of 7439 pounds and 7354 pounds when harvested at soft dough. These were irrigated trials at the Garden City Experiment Station. In addition, ThunderCale V, a…

Wheat and More…..or LessBy Vance Ehmke11-22-23The thing that very nearly led to the extinction of an entire species, the American Bison, was what they call, “The Tragedy of the Commons”. In other words, the 19th century Americans saw the bison as owned by everybody, but owned by no one. And the parallels between how we…

Wheat and More….or less By Vance Ehmke 11-8-23 Wheat grower Don Hineman of Dighton KS couldn’t believe his good luck when early September rains dumped 3 to 5 inches on parched dry fields setting  him and other Lane County farmers up with near perfect planting conditions. But the mild and even hot conditions since then…

Ehmke Seed of western Lane County was established back in the mid-1980s when Vance and Louise Ehmke couldn’t find a source of seed for the newly released TAM 107 wheat variety. That variety was literally light years ahead in yield of all other commercial varieties at the time. Anxious to incorporate thisnew seed technology in…

Wheat and More…or less By Vance Ehmke In talking with wheat growers from southwest Oklahoma up well into northern Kansas, I’m hearing the same story over and over again. “It’s dry, dry, dry.” Here we go again. If I didn’t know better, I’d say we slipped back in time and it’s September 2022 all over…