The wheat harvest in Kansas is turning out to be the best one in 3 years. The impact on a small town is chronicled in this story which helps underscore how important agriculture is to the overall Kansas economy.
Here are some photos of the wheat harvest north of Lindsborg, taken over the past few days:
Field of wheat being harvested:
Combine, used to harvest the wheat:
Once harvest is complete, the fields of stubble are burned off. This is done primarily when crop rotation is not practiced as it reduces the effects of disease caused by planting the same crop in the same field 2 or more years in a row. The primary downfall of burning stubble is the loss of the valuable organic matter, which is better utilized by being worked back into the soil. Given these 2 viewpoints, the burning of wheat stubble is not without controversy.
I don’t know about “primary,” but putting all that smoke in the air is a significant externality of the practice of field burning. Maybe nobody cares out in Kansas, but it’s a big deal in Idaho. See this “Newstrack” of stories from the (Spokane, Wash.) Spokesman Review, for example: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/NewsTrak/newstracks.asp?Direc=lists&ID=L86