Marketplace All-in-One The Dry Line
Nov 5, 2025
In this engaging discussion, Dr. Gorong Zhang, a public wheat breeder at Kansas State University, shares his innovative work developing drought-resistant wheat varieties for a changing climate. Fifth-generation farmer Paul Penner provides firsthand insight into adapting farming practices like no-till methods in response to shifting rainfall patterns. Together, they explore the impacts of the moving dry line, the threat of the wheat streak mosaic virus, and the critical relationship between local farming adaptations and global food security.
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Dry Line Shifting Eastward
- The 100th meridian historically split humid East from arid West, shaping farming patterns across the plains.
- Climate change has pushed that dry line roughly 140 miles east since 1980 and models show it will continue moving.
Emkes' Triticale Gamble Paid Off
- Vance and Louise Emke converted a grain bin into an office and built Emke Seed while farming 14,000 acres.
- They expanded into triticale after testing it in the 1990s and it became a drought-resilient cash crop for their region.
Ogallala Depletion Reshaped Cropping
- The Ogallala Aquifer has been heavily depleted, forcing large-scale changes in irrigation and crop choices.
- Farmers shifted from water-intensive crops like corn to dryland varieties to cope with finite groundwater.