Scrawny wheat leads Texas farmer to pull out the ‘drought paddles’

WITH wheat harvest a few weeks away and heat nearing a record high, Texas farmer Allen Meissner knows what to do: bring out the drought paddles.

He hasn’t used the homemade device since 2011, when lack of rain resulted in stunted growth for his crops. Standard equipment couldn’t harvest his scrawny wheat or corn, so Meissner got creative, cutting up scrap aluminum to create a combine attachment to “paddle in that crop,” pushing it into the machine.

Now, he once again needs the invention as dry conditions scorch his fields. Meissner will use it in a couple weeks to harvest hard red winter wheat so small that he expects a yield of only 15 to 20 bushels an acre, down from the typical 60 to 70. The third-generation farmer is hopeful conditions improve enough by late July, when he plans to harvest the corn crop, that he won’t need the paddles, but it’s not clear yet.

“The 2011 drought was one for the ages,” said Meissner, who this year has 1,000 acres of wheat and 5,000 acres of corn on the line. “We aren’t there yet but it sure is trending in that same direction.”

With soaring inflation and supply-chain disruptions making it tough for some producers to buy new farming gear or make timely repairs, Meissner’s ingenuity is especially relevant. But the do-it-yourself approach to farm tools has long been a mainstay of the agriculture industry, with growers constantly brainstorming about how to get a bigger crop with the greatest ease.

“Who was John Deere? A dude who made a better plow in 1837,” said Greg Peterson, a man known as “Machinery Pete” and the author of a used-equipment index by the same name.

Profit is another strong motivation for on-the-fly inventions. Futures tied to hard red winter wheat, the kind Meissner grows, are trading near an all-time high reached in 2008, another big drought year. Corn has climbed about 30 percent this year and is less than a dollar away from a record.

Meissner’s farm is in Bartlett, Texas, about a 50-minute drive north from Austin. The area is seeing severe drought, with even worse conditions to the west. The forecast for the next two weeks calls for temperatures between 92 and 101 degrees Fahrenheit (about 33 to 38 degrees Celsius) and little chance of rainfall. “It’s not good at all,” said Meissner, 41.

Crops across the United States and from other global producers are under pressure as war in Ukraine hinders grain exports and prompts hoarding of crucial agriculture supplies.

“Everything is so disrupted at this point,” said Ben Buckner, grains analyst for Agresource Co. “We have higher demand and smaller supplies.”

Fear that extreme drought in Kansas, Texas and the surrounding region will severely shrink US yields is adding to fears of worsening global food inflation and shortages.