Wheat has been the most important crop in Kansas for over 100 years, and Kansas State University has played a major role in the development of new wheat varieties during that time, said Jim Shroyer, K-State Research and Extension crop production specialist.

"Most producers in the state are very familiar with some of the most widely grown varieties released by the K-State wheat breeding program - Overley, Jagger, Karl, Newton, Larned, and many others," Shroyer said. But there are some little-known facts that may surprise even the most experienced Kansas wheat producers, according to Shroyer:

• The first crop of wheat in Kansas was grown in Johnson County, near Fairway, in 1839.
• Although Kansas now raises 300 million bushels or more of wheat almost every year, the harvest didn´t even reach 1 million bushels until 1866.
• Spring wheat was the most common type of wheat grown in Kansas until the 1870´s. The wheat from these varieties matured so late in the season that the crop was routinely hurt by heat and diseases before it could be harvested.
• The first winter wheat grown in Kansas was not the hard red variety Turkey, but soft red winter wheat. The soft wheats were poorly adapted to conditions on the Plains, and were often devastated by winterkill and  drought.
• Turkey was not introduced in Kansas until 1873, 34 years after wheat was first grown in the state. As late as 1889, 16 years after Turkey began to be grown in southcentral Kansas, a soft red winter wheat known as "Little May" and several other names was designated by K-State as its standard variety for cropping practices.
• During the early years of wheat production in Kansas, hard wheats were heavily discounted by millers because of processing difficulties.
• Turkey was not hardy enough for much of Kansas. It was not until M.A. Carleton, a U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist and former K-State faculty member, brought Kharkof and Crimean to Kansas from Russia, that wheat production began to spread to western and northern Kansas.
• By 1919, more than 11 million acres of wheat were being grown in Kansas, and more than 82 percent of that acreage was planted to Kharkof and other Turkey-type wheats. 
• The first improved variety released by K-State was Kanred (Turkey- type wheat), which was selected by K-State´s first wheat breeder, Herbert Fuller Roberts, in 1917. The most recent hard red winter wheat variety released by K-State this summer is named Fuller, in his honor.

A complete history of wheat variety development and production in Kansas will be one of several historical presentations made at the Centennial Celebration of K-State´s Department of Agronomy in Manhattan on Sept. 29-30, 2006.

The public is invited to the celebration. Those who want to come should contact Dana Minihan at 785-532-7258, or go online (www.agronomy.ksu.edu) to register. The deadline for registration is Sept. 15. There is a fee to play in the golf tournament on Friday and to attend the banquet on Saturday evening. Otherwise, there is no charge to attend the Centennial events.

The Field Day on Saturday will be from 9 a.m. until noon at the North Farm, 2200 Kimball Ave., across from the Bill Snyder Family football stadium complex. A complimentary lunch will be provided at noon at the North Farm. In the afternoon, an Open House will be held in Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center, at the corner of Denison Ave. and Claflin Rd. Later in the afternoon, participants can tour the Rannells Flint Hills Prairie Preserve, 845 Deep Creek Rd., and hear a presentation on the history of range research at K-State.

More information on the Agronomy Centennial celebration is available by contacting Dana Minihan at 785-532-7258 or prplpwr@ksu.edu or on the Web site www.agronomy.ksu.edu. 

K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus in Manhattan.