Wichita ? Their ranks decimated by drought, fewer custom harvesters will follow the ripening winter wheat harvest northward across the nation this year.

At U.S. Custom Harvesters — the Hutchinson-based industry group representing the nation’s custom cutters — membership ranks have dropped by 15 percent, said Tim Baker, operations manager for the 400-member trade group.

“It has been a tough year, and there has been some fallout of people giving up the business,” Baker said.

If there is another drought year, it will probably eliminate the rest of them, he said.

“There is a tremendous number of them that are in financial doldrums,” Baker said.

But even with fewer numbers of custom cutters on the road this year, farmers should be able to find an “adequate supply” of harvesters for their 2003 wheat crop, he said.

That is because harvest machinery continues to get larger, he said. Fewer acres will be harvested this year.