A sure promise of hope

RONAN - Pray for rain - but be more specific next time, okay?

Last week's steady precipitation was too much, too late, as local farmers braced for signs of excess moisture that could ruin their harvest-ready crops.

"The rain was kind of persistent, and it kind of came at the wrong time for most people," Ronan rancher Roy Lake said. "It was too late to do an awful lot of good, because we were in the middle of harvest."

Francine Dupuis said they also would have been cutting their wheat fields northeast of Ronan last week, had it not been raining.

"In some of the fields, the grain kernels have started sprouting," she said.

In this case, sprouting is not a good thing.

When wheat kernels sprout in the head, the crop becomes less marketable in the normal trade channels, Lake explained.

"It will cause a reduction in the value quite a bit." Lake said. "We're hoping it wasn't a high percentage."

Wheat varieties whose heads turn down will shed the water better than varieties with an upright head that holds the water in. In hard wheat varieties commonly used for bread making, the rain can also reduce the protein content and ultimately discount the price. Farmers hope to get about $4.50 per bushel for hard wheat - minus the cost of freighting it to the west coast - and $5 per bushel for soft wheat for baking.

The rain will also have an effect on test weight, explained Lake. Farmers look for wheat that weighs 60 pounds per bushel or better, and the rain can lesson the test weight and the quality of the grain.

Also, if the moisture content exceeds 12.5 to 13 percent, it can't be stored.

"We need some dry weather this week to get the grain dry enough to harvest and store," he said.

Lake does appreciate the rain, however.

"It suppressed the potential forest fires and is good for the pastures and such. We just hope is didn't stay around long enough so as to cause sprouting," he said.

Farmers are a tough lot, Lake said, and have loads of resilience.

"They have faith and they're optimistic. 'Whatever way the wind doth blow, some heart would have it so,'" he quoted.

Lake, who has been growing wheat crops for "50-some-years-plus," said he's certainly not an expert, but is always learning.

When farmers begin to harvest the wheat, they first lop the tops, where the important kernels have grown, leaving 12-16 inches of lower stubble. They can harvest and bale the remaining straw stubble to use as bedding for livestock, or as a filler to stretch feed, "although there's not much there for feed value," Lake said.

Farmers can cut the straw and spread it through the field, then work it into the ground. As it's broken down, it turns into soil to produce the next crop.

"But if you get too much straw, it takes up nitrogen in the soil and you have to add nitrogen to get your next crop to do well," Lake explained.

The wheat kernels can be used for wheat germ, or milled into flour to bake cereals, breads, cakes and cookies.

"There's a lot of people that don't realize where their food really comes from. It's not the grocery store," Lake said.

Some wheat is even used to create wallpaper paste. As a young student, Lake used flour and water to make glue.

"We didn't have Elmer's," he said. "And if you needed some gum, you'd take a small handful of wheat and chew and chew and chew. That's the poor man's gum."