From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 20, 1974:

Local grain farmers reported this week that they had planted more winter wheat this year than the previous year, and that if all went well, next summer’s harvest might be a record. The government’s official report on the number of acres planted and the condition of the crop was not due for another few days, but industry sources already were estimating that the number of acres planted was up 5 to 10 percent and crop conditions were better than at this time in 1973. A 5 percent increase would have added 3.5 million acres to the 70 million planted to wheat in the U.S. the previous year. “But it’s a long way from December until July,” said Tom Ostrander, president of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, referring to the many possible dangers from disease, pests, or Kansas weather.