Wheat: Rooted in Our Daily Lives

Wheat is an extremely important crop in United States agriculture, ranking third amongst acreage planted across farms, just behind corn and soybeans. Wheat harvest is beginning to wrap up in the United States and it looks like we had a big, healthy crop this year with most of the country seeing increased yields over last year's harvest. In fact, some are reporting that this is the best crop wheat farmers have seen since the record harvest of 2003. As the combines come in from the field, the trucks are unloaded, and grain storage is filled, we thought this would be an opportune time to look at the role wheat plays in our lives.  

Wheat’s vital role in nutrition

• Wheat foods are a significant source of dietary fiber.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Health and Human Services’ Dietary Guidelines for Americans stress the need for 5–10 oz. of grain products each day.
• Nutrition experts recommend that at least half of our daily grains should come from whole grain products.
• The average American consumes 134 pounds of wheat flour per year. 

Kansas: The “Breadbasket of America”

• Kansas produces enough wheat each year to bake 36 billion loaves of bread or enough to feed everyone in the world (over six billion people) for about two weeks.
• As the largest wheat producing state in the nation, Kansas is home to roughly 20,000 farmers who grow wheat with an average production of 328 million bushels over the last five years.  
• If Kansas’ annual wheat crop was put on a single train, it would stretch from the western part of the state to the Atlantic Ocean.
• Kansas could supply a day's worth of bread to 9,000 people from wheat grown on one acre of farmland.

Wheat production in the rest of the U.S.

• North Dakota is the second-largest wheat producing state. All 53 of the state’s counties grow wheat, with roughly 19,200 farmers growing the crop.
• 42 of the 50 states grow wheat
• U.S. farmers grow nearly 2.4 billion bushels of wheat on 63 million acres of land, and a modern combine can harvest about 1,000 bushels an hour.
• The United States is responsible for 13% of the world’s wheat production, and about half of this is used domestically.  

What does a bushel of wheat produce?

• One bushel of wheat weighs 60 pounds and yields 42 pounds of white flour.
• A bushel of wheat yields forty-two 1.5-pound commercial loaves of white bread or ninety 1-pound loaves of whole wheat bread.

Wheat’s role in the foods we love

• A bushel of wheat makes 42 pounds of pasta or 210 servings of spaghetti.
• The U.S. consumes roughly 3 billion pizzas made with wheat flour per year, and 93% of U.S. residents eat at least one pizza per month.
• More than pasta and pizza, wheat is a primary ingredient in cookies, crackers, baked goods, and tortillas.

As the numbers above indicate, wheat is not only important to agriculture and the economy, but is also an essential part of our daily lives. Farming is a tough business, and our farm tires are committed to reducing the strain on America’s wheat farmers. By incorporating innovative solutions, such as our IF/VF tire technology, we can help farmers be more productive in harvesting and transporting the large yields we see this year. IF/VF tires can also help farmers get into wet fields like the ones seen in Kansas at the end of harvest this year while helping to minimize soil compaction. With this year's harvest wrapping up, it's already time to start thinking about next year. Contact your local tire dealer to learn what our tires can do for you.