MONTEZUMA, Kan. (AP) — Orville Williams has had a healthy wheat crop on his 2,600-acre farm in Montezuma, Kansas, every year since he was a teenager.
From
To
Farmer Orville Williams sifts powder dry soil as he checks the moisture in a drought-stressed wheat field Saturday, May 16, 2026, on his farm near Montezuma, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Storm clouds build in the distance beyond a drought-stressed wheat field Friday, May 15, 2026, near Cimarron, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Farmer Orville Williams looks at drought-stressed wheat in one of his fields Saturday, May 16, 2026, near Montezuma, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Farmer Orville Williams looks at drought-stressed wheat in one of his fields Saturday, May 16, 2026, near Montezuma, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Drought-stressed wheat plants stand adjacent to parched ground in a field near Macksville, Kan., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Cattle graze in a field of abandoned wheat Friday, May 15, 2026, near Cimarron, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
A drought-stressed stalk of wheat lies on a parched field Saturday, May 16, 2026, near Macksville, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Wheat plants struggle to survive in a drought-stressed field near Macksville, Kan., Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Farmer Vance Ehmke checks a wheat field decimated by wheat streak mosaic virus Friday, May 15, 2026, on his farm near Healy, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)