Great Plains States Wheat and Small Grain Harvest, 1943-1947

Excerpts from the report: Early in 1943, the Congress assigned to the Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and the State extension services of the land-grant colleges, responsibility for assisting in providing an adequate supply of workers for the production, harvesting, and preparation for market of needed agricultural commodities. Under this new responsibility, the extension services of the Great Plains States acquired the job of assisting farmers in finding an adequate amount of labor and machines to help harvest wheat and other small grain crops. In the Great Plains area, ten states produce annually the major portion of the small grains grown in our country. In this group are Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana. Wheat constitutes the major portion of the acreage planted to small grains. The others are oats, barley, rye, and flax. From a farm labor standpoint, harvesting of these crops requires the help of thousands of workers from outside the producing area. In recent years, due to the non-availability of new machines, it has also been necessary to move combines and trucks into these heavy-producing grain areas to help supplement the work of local machines.