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Comment by pragmatic | Hacker News Reader

Wheat isn’t grown in the same places that beans grow.

If you can, you’re rotating beans and corn every year. (“Roundup ready” of course)

Wheat is on the marginal drier land. Not that they couldn’t plant wheat there but beans are way more profitable and so they don’t.

The plains is by definition more arid, marginal land a step up from pasture/grazing.

A lot of traditional wheat/sunflower/barley/oats has gone over to beans and corn bc roundup and GMO.

On my family’s farm I don’t remember the last time we had wheat crop but that was our staple for like 50 years.

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> Wheat isn’t grown in the same places that beans grow.

It depends on what you mean by "beans". The Palouse agricultural region is famously one of the highest yielding wheat and legume producing regions in North America.

Wheat is absolutely grown on the same place they grow beans. The field directly across from my house did that last year. I don't survey all the farms in my area, but It does seem like there is much less wheat this year on fields where I know it was grown in previous seasons.

Whean and soybeans are often grown on the same land. Your 1st and 5th sentences seem to contradict eachother, I might not be understanding.

> If you can, you’re rotating beans and corn every year.

Nah. Wheat isn't profitable if you look at it in isolation, but it is still net advantageous to have in the rotation.

> (“Roundup ready” of course)

Nah. IP soys aren't as attractive as they once were, granted, but the premium is still compelling enough to grow some.

> Wheat isn’t grown in the same places that beans grow.

...

> A lot of traditional wheat/sunflower/barley/oats has gone over to beans and corn bc roundup and GMO.

So wheat absolutely can be grown on the same places that beans grow, despite your leading claim. And I grew up in the Midwest plains; wheat IS a crop that can be grown there. Marginal? The breadbasket of the US? Huh. News to those who live there.

US farmers are planting less wheat, which made the crop harvest marginal, and along came a drought.

My parents live in Ohio and rotate wheat/soy/corn every year as do their neighbors

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