1. Kansas Wheat Created by Tanya Belcher

2. This is wheat. There are several golden kernels of wheat at the top of a stalk.

3. Wheat is grown in Kansas. Kansas is the top grower of wheat in the nation.

4. Wheat is important to the United States. It is the 4 th most important field crop grown in the U.S.

5. It is our nation’s number one export crop. That means we send it to other countries and they pay us for the wheat. They need our wheat.

6. Wheat is important to the economy of Kansas. That means it helps bring money to our state and the people that live in Kansas.

7. Farmers in Kansas plant the wheat, wait for it to grow, and then harvest it.

8. This combine is harvesting the wheat. The combine is pouring all the wheat kernels it just cut into a truck to be taken to a grain elevator. combine wheat

9. Farmers sell the wheat they grow to the local elevators that will store it and then sell it to flour mills or other food processors. Farmers get about 5 cents for each loaf of bread that is sold. Kansas ranks first among the states in wheat milled into flour.

10. At the flour mill the wheat is ground into flour. Do you know what wheat is used for?

11. From wheat we can make: all kinds of breads, pastas,

12. cereals, pizza dough,

13. cookies, cakes,

14. crackers, tortillas,

15. and animal foods.

16. Wheat is needed to make lots of different foods. These foods feed everyone, even the poor. We all need wheat! Did you know that Kansas produces enough wheat each year to bake 36 billion loaves of bread which is enough to feed everyone in the world (6 billion people) for 2 weeks.