Anthony ? The wheat in fields here is so short the big combines often dig their headers into the soil trying to cut it. Stands are so thin, it takes twice as long to get enough grain cut to fill the trucks hauling the grain.

And elevators have cut back staffing of their usual harvest crews to compensate for the anticipated smaller crop.

“Moisture for the most part is good – the wheat is ready. But there is not enough of it,” said Dan Cashier, manager of the Anthony Farmer’s Co-op.

Cashier said he expected wheat production this year to be half, or less, than normal in the area. Yields are running anywhere from 10 to 35 bushels an acre, with most loads coming in at around 20 bushels. That is half of normal yields.

“I was expecting more than that. It is not a happy feeling,” Cashier said.

The disastrous winter wheat crops in Texas and Oklahoma have focused more attention than usual on the start of the Kansas wheat harvest. Wheat prices, especially for the hard red winter wheat grown in the southern Plains states, have not been this high for years.

On Monday, the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service reported that 1 percent of the Kansas wheat crop has been harvested. About 13 percent of the crop is now ripe.

The latest crop update from KASS echoed that grim outlook. About 53 percent of the Kansas wheat crop was rated in poor to very poor condition in Monday’s report. Another 31 percent was in fair shape. Just 15 percent was rated as good, and only 1 percent as excellent.

Rain stalled the start of harvest last week, but hot temperatures over the weekend allowed farmers in southern Kansas to get their combines back into the fields.