Wichita ? Nearly 90 percent of the wheat acres planted in Elkhart have been abandoned as drought and wind takes a heavy toll on the 2002 wheat crop in southwest Kansas.

Larry Dunn, general manager of the Elkhart Equity Exchange, said Wednesday that nearly all of the dryland wheat is gone, and few farmers irrigate wheat in that part of the state.

He estimated there was 85 to 90 percent abandonment of wheat acres.

“The drought has impacted us severely,” he said Wednesday. “The farmers don’t have any money to spend. The cattlemen are having to sell their cattle because they do not have pasture.”

His elevator normally takes in 3.5 million to 4 million bushels of wheat each year, he said. This year they are expecting to harvest just 260,000 bushels.

Some farmers have started cutting in the northeast corner of Morton County and are getting yields of 10 to 12 bushels per acre on dryland fields, Dunn said. Harvest of irrigated fields is not expected to begin until Tuesday or Wednesday.

The Elkhart elevator typically hires five to six people to help during wheat harvest time, he said. This year they have hired no summer help. And farmers aren’t hiring any extra help either.

Test cutting has also started around Liberal.

The Perryton Equity Exchange there said producers have brought in 15,000 bushels since Saturday.

Rich Balman, branch manager at Perryton Equity, described the wheat crop as “slim pickings.”

“Nobody has spoken about yields it is just dry,” he said.

Test weights of harvested acres are running between 58 and 60 pounds per bushel.